How do you lose a dead octopus

Yesterday was one of those days when, by evening, you just see black and start wondering why on earth you’re doing all this.
But after a good night’s sleep, our motivation was back. Today, the electrical problem was going to be solved, once and for all.

My dad had given me a tip over the phone: “Measure everything against the battery ground to see where the readings start going crazy.”
So, in the morning, we armed ourselves with a multimeter, a notepad, and a healthy dose of hope. Alex took the measurements, I wrote them down, and together we worked our way from cable to cable.

The trail led us to a grounding board where eleven cables were attached, all of which had a non-zero voltage. We tested each one individually, hoping to find which was causing these unexpected measurements. During a short break, the probe happened to touch Alex’s leg and the voltmeter showed eight volts. “Excuse me, what?!” From that moment on, nothing was safe. Alex started testing everything even remotely conductive, all the way to the engine block, which showed... nine volts. Why on earth would the engine block have nine volt charge? Unless...

Alex disappeared headfirst into the engine compartment, and a moment later I heard a triumphant “Aha!”. The thick grounding cable to the battery looked fine from the outside, but underneath, the copper was completely corroded. No wonder almost nothing was working, except for the fridge, which was wired directly to the battery. Everything else ran over the engine ground… or didn’t.

And the bilge light? It kept turning on because the current was flowing “backwards,” and the light happened to be the first consumer in line. Suddenly, everything made sense!

We’d found the culprit. The only thing missing was a replacement cable which needed to be about 1.5 meters long, with a nice thick diameter and end connectors. Of course, we didn’t have that on board. So off we went in the dinghy to the little marine shop nearby. And believe it or not, they had exactly what we needed! We asked the shopkeeper how to best attach the connectors to the cable. He just grinned and said, “With the right tool, of course.” Then, after a pause: “If you leave me an ID, you can borrow my crimping tool.” We were over the moon, left the ID, and returned to the boat with an oversized crimping tool. Alex got to work right away and half an hour later, everything was working again!

We could hardly believe it. After two frustrating days of troubleshooting, we finally had success! Persistence really does pay off. We fired up the stove, and soon the first fresh fish was sizzling in the pan, our first hot meal in days. It tasted amazing.

We may have lost a day of sailing because of all the drama, but the mood was fantastic. Alex returned the crimping tool while I tackled Project Window. Half an hour later, the new seal was in place. Alex came back with two new rollers for the traveler system, not perfect, but definitely better than before. I installed them, swapped out the sheet and traveler lines, and even replaced a broken pulley. Then we hoisted the front and mainsail, which had been stored inside, and got the boat shipshape again.

By evening, everything felt just right. Alex cooked his first fresh octopus while I hung up a string of lights in the cockpit to make things cozy. At some point, I heard him shouting through the boat: “How do you lose a dead octopus?!” He had poured out the cooking water and then completely forgotten where he’d put the pot, with the octopus still in it.

I laughed until I cried. Definitely the quote of the day and maybe even of the whole trip.
And so ended a day that began with determination, continued with cable chaos, and wrapped up with laughter, lights, and a delicious dinner.

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