Shortly after 6 AM on 28 October, we fired up the engine, gathered up our dock lines, and left Deale for points south. We'd been in the water for only a few days, been towed from the launching area to our slip on Herrington Harbour's B dock, and hadn't managed to get in a test sail before leaving. Still, there were good service yards along t
he way, and TowBOAT/US in between. What could possibly go wrong? In fact, nothing did go wrong. We had a pleasant trip and arrived in Solomons safe and sound. It was the days after that were so much fun.
I'm obliged to Ken Gross of Alegria for pointing out that it's only among cruisers that one can discuss with total strangers the intricacies of one's toilet facilities. And here follows just such a discussion.
We use a device called a LectraSan to treat all of our toilet waste so that what's pumped out is at least as clean as municipal waste and often much cleaner. The LectraSan uses electricity to turn ordinary salt water into sodium hypochlorate, a bleaching agent. The evening of the day we arrived in Solomons, the LectraSan stopped working. Midday on Friday, I called Raritan Engineering for help with troubleshooting the problem. Quite simply, the logic board that controls the LectraSan was toast. Our only choice was to order the replacement part and have it shipped overnight for Saturday delivery. The good news... the part actually arrived as promised and it actually worked! Without it, our trip would have come to a smelly halt. 
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