Lucky Me

After the run around the bay the other day I decided it was time to fix the leak around the propeller shaft. The packing gland had 40 years of corrosion and no way to get a wrench on it given it's tight location. In the process of uncoupling the hose between the boat (shaft log) and gland I discovered what 42 years does to a length of rubber hose. So much for a somewhat easy fix, the shaft has to slide back and engine mount flange has to come off the end. Tap tap tap for 2 hours with a hammer and the flange is off. I slide the gland off. With the shaft loose I'm wondering about the stave bearing since the shaft has a lot of movement. Now I could have spent a few hours on the internet researching the answer to this stave bearing issue but why, I have a master at boat rebuilding as a neighbor. Lucky Me.

He was there in a flash, wiggled the shaft, scratched around with his knife, and confirmed the need to replace said bearing. We BS for a while and decide the rudder has to be removed to get the shaft out. It was late and we call it a day.

Now for you non nautical term folks, a stave bearing is sometimes referred to as a cutlass bearing which is not to be confused with a cutless bearing, a trademarked name for a stave bearing by the Johnson company. (Do I need more commas in that run on sentence?) The word cutlass was coined after the Johnson copy write. a and e makes all the difference. I had to endure much discussion on the internet about these terms when all I wanted to do was order the damn bearing.

The next day I'm messing about pricing tires for the O'Day trailer for the upcoming Mohave trip and meet the Lovely Lee for lunch. While eating lunch said neighbors wife and daughter appear and tell me that neighbor has been over several times to work on the S2. Well what would you do. I rush home, after stopping at Smiths to use the fuel points and save $24 on the 30 gallons of diesel for the truck. Lucky Me.

I start pulling the steering quadrant from the rudder post and just when I need help the neighbor appears like magic. Lucky me. He wiggles the rudder out while I hold the quadrant. We thought it might be more difficult since I could not break the rudder post packing gland loose under the quadrant. Urrr packing glands.

He had mentioned that the prop shaft zinc should have been tighter and then showed me the reason why after pulling the shaft. Some pit corrosion where the shaft runs in the stave bearing. We decided it was not bad enough to buy a new $300 shaft. Lucky me.

I had sanded the tube (shaft log) holding the bearing in search of finding set screws that hold the bearing to no avail. We decided to pound away with a socket that he provided that fit perfectly in the log. ( I will leave my log jokes out for now)  It starts moving and after a couple of minutes he calls for the pounding to stop. He scratches around and finds the set screw under the one piece of paint that remained and removed the screw. A few taps later and the bearing was free. Lucky me.

Wow things are going pretty good. Why don't we pull the prop from the shaft? We soak things in muriatic acid for a few minutes and give the nut a try. It comes right off. Lucky me. Hell lets see if we can get the prop off. I search the garage for my puller and conclude I loaned it to someone or gave it away. I guess that's one in the same if I no longer have it. While neighbor is designing a puller in his mind and holding the shaft I start with the old 16 oz tap tap tap. After a couple of minutes, nothing. I call for a 90 degree spin of the shaft, one more tap and I'm thinking of getting on the ferry to the casino.

OK my luck has to stop somewhere, let's see if the rudder stock packing nut will separate. I really don't want to pour acid in there, the stink might never go away. There is barely enough room to get the pipe wrench in the compartment. He holds the wrench and I hammer with the 16 oz and "guess what? Caroline", your God in heaven, it came loose.

We stand around and look at the parts and BS for a while with Juan and the neighbor calls it a day. Juan and I retreat to one of my other projects, The Wall (to keep non thinking people out) and he gives me a fantastic price to apply the stucco. Lucky me.

I go in. Maybe I'll get Lucky.

Ordering the parts, had sex earlier

IT LIVES!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

We just sacrificed our Hobie tandem kayak for funds for TOPOSS.  So before we start spending HUGE amounts on this old piece of shit, we thought we should make sure she floats and doesn't have structural damage that would negate this entire project.  (Why DO we buy boats that we've not seen on the water????  Because they're there....).

So we took her down to the marina and slid her into the water.  Since Rick has not had time or money yet to build this trailer into a fantastic one like the O'Day's, we did the old chain extension method (no tongue extender on this trailer).  Oh, and I might add there is no tongue wheel on the trailer either.  So my ingenious husband welded a ball hitch onto a hand cart to suffice for that!!

Rick even had to get WET to launch this time.  For that, he resurrected his 1975 farmer-john wetsuit from his Hobie racing days.  They were a little sketchy in the butt.   (Ha, should've gotten a picture of THAT!)

Craig Daniel and Richard Sexton were there for the show and to assist.  I wonder if they had any wagers going on....

The Atomic 4 engine fired right up, rich and sassy with racing fuel.  So we decided to motor around the bay for awhile -- a risky proposition since we had no oars in case A4 bonked.  While out there, we encountered our resident favorite photographer, Carolyn Wilcox and husband Richard, out for a sunny afternoon on Catnap.  She got some great photos of TOPOSS' maiden cruise.  For the record, from what we can tell, the last time this boat has been on the water was 2001....

Wow!!  What a nice surprise...not only does she FLOAT just fine, but that A4 is the bomb!  It purrs!!  Supposedly 30 hp -- just dilly-dallying we almost made a wake -- can't imagine what we could do full open throttle.  Don't think we'll have any trouble fighting the winds on Yellowstone Lake with this boat.  (FYI, we struggled on the O'Day the year before last trying to get back to harbor against a 30 knot headwind, with gusts over 40, on Yellowstone.)  And, this boat turns on a dime.  Better than the O'Day.  Seems to pivot around the steering wheel.  Oh yes, and the wheel.  My first wheeled boat.  (A wheel for Wheeler???? Ok, that's dumb.)  Well, I like it.  In fact, I liked TOPOSS a great deal more after this cruise and feel pretty good about opening up that hole in the water and throwing money into it.