Exactly three months to the day of our lightning strike, our major order with replacement equipment arrived at the boat! Even though our order was fully outlined and ready to "press go" once we received our insurance check, the next steps of purchasing parts and consolidating them through Marine Warehouse took some time; it is a four-page order after all.
In coordination with our insurance company Commandeur, we decided that it would be best to air-ship the gear via FedEx. We figured the cost of the air shipment would equal the month's stay in a marina that we would otherwise spend waiting for an ocean- freight delivery. Almost ALL of our order arrived at the marina on a rainy Friday evening at cocktail hour and this gave us a real occasion to celebrate!!
Mark got to work quickly the next day installing a few quick wins, like the Alpine stereo and LaCrosse weather station. He then went for the new MorningStar MPPT solar controller and only cracked one stray spark with smoke wafting out of the electrical panel!
That evening, he installed the Raymarine autopilot ram, checking measurements that will require adjusting to the mounting bracket from our old ram. Sunday brought out the new Victron inverter/charger for installation and testing. Damn - not bad for a weekend's work... and it isn't over yet!!
P.S. In case you're wondering, my job is to stay out of the way... not counting the annoying picture-taking

