Glory Days: Friday

Friday was a 62 mile day with new and exciting experiences and discoveries!
Today is Saturday and I just spoke to John while underway.
After asking him about where he was, and what "issues" he had found thus far, I asked him: "what has been the biggest positive surprises you have found?" - Summary of his answer:

VERY comfortable boat
GREAT handling and that definitely you can see that it is not only a great boat, but one that was VERY WELL taken care of by Joe.
He was also was very thankful to Joe for a call he did to John to tell him how to solve a few of those learning mysteries John is going through right now.
Again, THANKS JOE!
I really felt that John is having a great time!!
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So, here is the latest:
John's email from last night - Friday comments:

We are at mile 193 in a small marina in the middle of nowhere.(62 mile day) Could not get a slip in Oriental and I wanted to fuel up and pump out. Used 120 gallons to date. We had a really nice day, sunny, winds from the N at 15, only a few places where it got sloppy. The boat is running great but a few more system mysteries to decipher.

1. Water gets in the bilge during hard crossings like yesterday and when we have the waves and winds on our beam , which happens occasionally, when we are crossing big sounds. The mid bilge pump breaker is being set off and requires resetting, which is at the battery panel in the engine room (Ugg, have to go down there underway. Good I have the Bose headphones). I will do some more exploring before we leave tomorrow.

2. The holding tank gauge is a mystery, It showed barely full one day, and then showed totally full. So we will continue this exploration as well.

3. The fresh water pump cycles every 2 to 3 hours. I suspect a very small leak but so far have not found the source. Will keep looking….

We are well and happy. Bill is a good companion for a shakedown cruise, flexible and competent. The boat runs great and we are looking forward to warmer weather.

PS FP, U asked about bleeding the steering system. That involved removing a screw cap at the top helm and allowing air to escape and then adding steering fluid into the helm and turning it over a few times. I find it odd that we needed to do that, and suggests a small leak somewhere?
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And for pictures - here are a few more:

Friday's trip