Fall round-up

It's been a while since I updated, and since we're pretty close to the end of the season, I thought I'd wrap up what's been done and what the current issues are and what expectations have and haven't been met.

• The pump out hose replacement got completed.  It was a chore getting the old hose off the fittings -- a combination of scraping with an old knife and cutting the spiral wire was required, essentially cutting the hose loose.  The old hose had visible dry rot cracking, which I'm hoping the toilet-to-tank hose does NOT have as that hose will be very, very difficult to replace considering its routing.  The new hose is vastly superior in flexibility and ease of use and the first test of pump out was a success.|
  
• The latest "big" problem is the asymmetrical fuel consumption between port and starboard engines.  The starboard engine is consuming 50% more fuel than port, confirmed by a second full fueling that showed 61.5 gallons added starboard, and 41.3 gallons port.
  
  I made a service call to the nearby marine mechanics who couldn't provide an explanation.  They didn't put more than an hour into it, but they were able to exclude any problems associated with leakage or engine malfunction codes from the engine computer.  I don't have an obvious engine malfunction that's causing this problem, but I don't have a very good theory as to why its happening.
  
  The leading contender I have is the deferred outdrive maintenance (mild dings in props and skegs) leading to inefficient prop loading.  The steering wheel is not centered when running straight, either, and this could be evidence of this as well in addition to contributing to greater starboard engine load (or could just be a cosmetic misalignment between the wheel position and the steering mechanism caused by cable stretching).   I plan to get detailed photos of the outdrives and props at haul out and have that work done, steering alignment checked to see if it has any effect, but probably none of it will be done until spring.
  
• The galley fridge failed about a month after installing it.  I replaced it with the same model against my better judgement, but there just weren't many choices easily available or known to fit the cabinetry or cabin entry.   We had a brief panic 3 weeks ago when it appeared to stop working *again*, but we're not sure what caused it as the cockpit fridge was partially defrosted.  The new fridge returned to normal function, so hopefully it will continue working.
  
• Never did any of my battery monitoring projects.  A lot of my labor and money bandwidth went into fixing broken items (vacuflush pump, pumpout hose, refrigerator, new TV).  I'd also call the mystery of fishing wire to the helm a big part of it.   Until we start overnighting on the lake, our use cases seem to make it less useful.
  
• Never overnighted on the lake itself.  I feel somewhat disappointed by this, but it's easy to see why we didn't.  One, the dog.  If the dog is with us, he has to have access to shore for potty breaks.  Two, the slip gives us power for air conditioning.  We could run the generator for that, but it's noisier than we expected and probably not a great idea overnight.  Three, there's a certain convenience to access to land -- groceries, restaurants, etc.
  
• Never got updates maps for the navigation system.  The local "marine electronics expert" has been frustrating to deal with -- hard to get ahold of and worse, hard to talk to.  Doesn't give me options I want and does a bad job explaining the difference between products.