Electrical

• Handheld GPS - Garmin 48: I started to use this again going to Las Aves. I hadn't used it in over a year and although the unit works fine, the memory battery is gone now and so will not hold any waypoints in memory after the unit is turned off. Its about 4 years old and I guess that's about as long as you might expect it to last. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until we go back to the States to get it replaced since it will be too expensive to ship back to Garemin from Venezuela.
• Laptop computer - Toshiba 780CD, Dell Inspiron 8000: These machines still work fine. The Toshiba works again now that I replaced the hard drive and so we're back to having 'his' and 'her' laptops again. I mention this to let people know that buying a 'marinized' computer is unnecessary, expecially if you don't try to use it in the cockpit.
• Remote thermometer - Radio Shack: We got another remote sensor and it works fine. Its somewhat tempermental, but I find it invaluable to let us know what the refrigerator is doing. We keep one sensor in the frig, one in the forward cabin and the main unit is on the nav station.
• Wireless Doorbell: I'm not sure who makes this thing, and although we got a replacement, it stopped working again. I think I'll give up on it - just not worth the trouble since we only use it at the dock and most people don't notice the bell anyway.

Plumbing

• Marine toilets (intake/outlets): On our head, a Wilcox-Crittenden Skipper, one of the most expensive around, I found that if I didn't put a valve on the intake line, the bowl would fill up through some leakage in the internal flapper valves. The installation has a vented loop in the discharge and probably should have one for the intake, but doesn't and I would be hard pressed to do it now. The solution was to put a ball valve in the intake hose line where it was easily accessible and leave it closed except when in use.

Rigging

• Running Backstays: These were made if 3/16 inch lifeline wire, covered in vinyl. I never used them much and the vinyl covering started to crack and had rust weeping through the cracks. I removed them (so I can't use the inner forestay now) and will replace them at some point with regular 7x19 wire although I'm not sure how I will rig it yet.
• Boom bails: One of the original boom bails exploded during a gentle gybe (the stainless steel must have work hardened or crystallized) and I finally had it replaced with one made up by a welder. He made one much stronger than the original, with welds on both side of the bail itself rather than just on the bottom of the flat plate that holds it. I had a spare made in anticipation of the next one disintegrating. I suppose I can't complain too much - the original bails are almost 20 years old.

Hull

• Bottom Paint - Pettit ACP Ultima: My original bottom paint of choice may not be my choice in the future although I'm not sure any paint would do better. The hull, when we cleaned it last, had a lot of soft growth on it, although not too many barnacles. Unfortunately, the bottom of the keel was pretty bad since its impossible to paint here until you're ready to launch, and then the paint only has a few minutes (maybe an hour) to dry. Its interesting to see the difference in the paints betweeen the ACP Ultima I put on and the patches where the yard (PowerBoats in Trinidad), very kindly, put on some Jotun on the jackstand areas when I ran out of paint completely. Of course, the Jotun is in a small area but it seems to be doing pretty well.
• Underwater Barrier coat - Pettit Interprotect 2000: I think this worked well in sealing the lead against seawater intrusion but its probably too soon to tell. We'll see what it looks like when we haul again.
• Underwater Metal Primer - Pettit Metal Primer: These seems to have done its job in providing a good surface for the Interprotect to adhere to. Again, we'll see how it looks at haulout.
• Propeller Paint - Velox by Marlin: As with the rest of the paint on the bottom, its only been 6 months, but so far, this paint has proved itself. The propeller had only some weed and the odd barnacle or 2 and the shaft had some more but they came off easily. If it keeps working, I'll get some more while in PLC for the next time we haul, even though it was extremely expensive.

Outfitting

• Varnish - Epiphanes Clear Gloss: This is the best stuff but expensive. It looks great on our interior teak and will probably last for years. We used Cetol on the outside teak before this but would use this varnish now. I think it looks better and would probably hold up as well. The only thing is you need some skill to apply it and it requires some extra preparation, unless the old finish is really in bad shape.
• Metal Caulk Primer - Metal Primer by Lifecalk: This stuff is used to make Lifecalk, or presumably any polysuphide caulk, adhere better to metal, including stainless steel. I had noticed that when I rebedded some stainless fittings, where I had used polysulphide (either Lifecalk or 3M 101) that the caulk didn't stick to the metal fittings well. It was fine on the fiberglass. A friend said, "read the label on the sealant" and sure enough, it says it may not stick well to metal, and this primer is supposed to help that. If it does, I would assume that the fittings won't rust as badly underneath the caulk as they sometimes do. So far, I can't tell.
• Laquered Brass: Any instrument, or any piece of hardware, that is lacquered brass will tarnish eventually unless you are really, really careful about cleaning it and don't leave oily fingerprints on it. The oils are acidic and eat through the laquer, and even dust attracts moisture to the surface and starts to eat away the protective lacquer finish. Once it starts to tarnish, you've lost. The brass can be brought back but then its a constant battle again and its tougher to polish the brass than to clean the lacquer.