Still working on the Boat!!!

This is getting a little old! We can't believe how long the engine work is taking. The mechanic is such a perfectionist. Everything is taken out, methodically cleaned and then put back. As a somewhat perfectionist myself, you would think I would have an appreciation for this festidious work. However, there is a limit to my appreciation and they have exceeded that. We were to be on the water and traveling by now. Not so. The engine is not even in the boat yet. A week behind the last stated schedule. I use the word schedule, as if there ws one. Hmmm. The head went on the engine 3 days ago. It is still sitting on the shop floor. It is anyone's guess what to expect. Peter checked the exhaust manifold and found the seawater had ate a hole in one section of it, and more and more he thinks the seawater got into the engine, and into the last piston and blew it up. He has searched and searched for another manifold. Thought we had one. It came in, only to find it was the wrong one. We don't seem to be able to find a freshwater manifold. Yesterday he contacted someone in Fairhope, Alabama, who will build a stainless steel manifold. Sent photos of the existing one. And guess what! It will take 3 weeks. Git 'Er Done. You might ask about the Windlass installation? One of the components fried during installation, new one was ordered and shipped Thursday. There seems to be a pervasive theme within this story. One step forward and 2 steps back. There is some good news. Peter took a metal bristled brush and a man tool and cleaned all the crustaceans off the propellers and shafts. They are brass, and are looking great. He emptied the bilge water and I was able to get down into the well and paint it white. Not sure how long it will last, but it looks great right now. He also sucked all the oily water from under the starboard engine well and I have cleaned it. Ready for a coat of white. But first ..... I had painted under the splash rail at the bow of the hull. It had looked awful. What a difference. And yes, you guessed it. We decided that while the boat is out of the water and everything is taking so long. We probably have time to paint the hull. Peter has been sanding and then he helps me with the painting. We have one coat on the hull and Peter has sanded the port side again ready for the second coat. Brightside is a great product. We are rolling it on, and while it is not perfect ..... It is an improvement. It is a 38 year old hull. It no longer is oxidized, it is all one color and shiny. Do you have any idea how long it takes to paint a 43 foot hull in 90 degee weather and high humidty. Waay tooo long, but the results are compelling. We also used a navy blue Brightside to paint th stripe on the fly bridge. Looking good. This is Saturday morning. I am sitting on the front porch at Jim and Linda's overlooking the saltwater marsh. We are approaching low tide. The birds are singing. Enjoying my second cup of coffee and considering a third one. Life is good. The boatyard is closed on the weekend, so no painting today. To bad, because 2 or 3 more days should finish the hull. We will need to decide whether or not to put a navy blue boot stripe on the hull. Kathy and Martin have been to Florida looking at houses. Last night she texted that they were Snowbirds. Found a house on a lake. They are dropping by today and we will hear more. We are house sitting for the next week while Jim and Linda are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with their family on the Turks. The Franko's found a boat in the upper states, a 28 foot Bayliner that they want to keep in Canada to summer on the Trent and the Great Lakes. They said everyone else had 2 boats, and thought they should also. Well, we will see what next week brings. The successes and the challenges. Isn't that boating.

Back to the Boat

We crossed the border on June 2nd to make our way back to the
boat, hoping that they had completed the work or would be just about done. They have had the boat for 6 weeks now.

We arrived Charleston on Monday as we expected and got a hotel room in North Charleston. We ended up staying the second day at the hotel as Peter had either got food poisoning or the flu. He was down for the day and I got a day to sit around and do nothing. He was apologizing as he thought it was so boring to have to sit in a hotel room for the day; but I was entirely enjoying doing absolutely nothing.

On Wednesday, we joined our friends Jim and Linda Murray at their home on Edisto Island. They had been up to Rhode Island for a sea trial and to get a survey on a Symbol. The decision was made, the boat is theirs. Now they also are a multiple boat owner. Now the fun begins. The original boat "Selah" is in Iuka, Mississippi "for sale". Anyone who wants a good trawler should have a look at her. Linda needed a boat with a chair that she could put her feet up at the end of the day. Don't we all have our motivating factors. This is one of the worst cases of foot itus; from a 36 to a 42. WOW! They will enjoy. Hopefully we will be boating with them later this summer.

We stopped at the marina to check on the boat on our way to Jim and Linda's. The news was not good. The engine was still at the machine shop, the transmission had just been taken to another specialist, and very little had been done on the part of the engine that was still at the marina. The good news was that the generator had been fixed. Six weeks and very little to show for it. It is probably a good thing we came down to get them motivated to understand that we want the work done and get moving.

Steve and Linda from Yesterday's Dream were heading north, and Jim called them to join us on Edisto. They arrived Friday afternoon, and left very early Sunday morning.

Jim and Linda's grounds were being used for an outdoor wedding on Saturday, so we were able to watch the preparation and then sat on the screened porch watched the wedding. We felt like voyeurs. What a truly beautiful venue. Jim has a lot of lights around the grounds, some are high up in the huge live oaks. What a beautiful sight with the spanish moss blowing in the breeze. They also have every light on in every room of the house, which makes the house and grounds very inviting. We were really glad to be here and experience one of their weddings. Very well done.

We took Steve and Linda to see the boat with the new enclosure and they were going to help Peter install the windlass. Off we went, breakfast at the Waffle House and then on to the boat. The boat is about 1 hour away. We got to the marina only to find that the gates were locked. It was Saturday. No entrance. A marina that closes for the weekend???? You have got to be kidding.  We drove back to Cypress Trees, but decided we should go down to the beach for a soft shell crab sandwich. Steve, Linda and Peter had one, and I had a cheeseburger. Somehow I could not get my head around a "soft shell crab" I took a piece of Peter's from his plate and it was very good. Perhaps another time.

So far that day the only thing we had accomplished was driving and eating. There are worse ways to spend a day.

On Sunday we attended Sunday School and Church with the Murray's. Interesting, their Sunday School is for adults and it is more of a Bible Study and debate/discussion.
As it was Sunday, and the marina was closed we relaxed and enjoyed their front deck overlooking the salt water marsh. During our conversations, Linda said she did not know what butter tarts were. Off to the grocery store to get some ingredients, and I made butter tarts for dinner. While they may have not been my best, they still disappeared at the same rate.

Monday. Hurray! We can go to the boat and get some work done.  Peter installed the new windlass and I was able to get into the bilge and paint the port side. So much easier with the engine out.

The Gulfstar that we saw in St. Augustine where the owner had worked on it for 2 years and it was immaculate had the entire bilge painted white. Well that was my inspiration and determination. I too would have a white bilge and this motor problem was creating the opportunity. It looks wonderful!!!!

The news still is not good relative to the boat repairs. The engine has returned from the machine shop. They will work on it the remainder of the week and hope to have it in the boat by Friday!. The transmission will return Friday!!!! They then will move the boat and get it into the water Monday!!! Then they will align everything and Anthony said we would be able to travel either Wednesday or Friday!!!! I am sure they have hired the handicap to do this work. It is taking so long. Oh well. The bright side is that we can do more work on the boat while we wait.

Peter is off to get the outboard motor that has been repaired and bring it back, then we will be off to the boat. We have a list of things we would like to get done during this interval. Peter wants to finish wiring the windlass, have a look at the alternator, try to install the deck wash pump. I'm sure there are other things but I can't remember all of his list. I would like to interfere with his list and ask him to pump out the main, huge bilge so that I can wash it out and continue painting the bilge. Steve introduced me to West Marine's product that removes the rust from stainless steel, and I would like to go over all of the stanchions and deck plates. It does a great job. After some 40 years the deck plates need it. There is a huge gaping hole in the floor of the salon area where they took the engine out, so there is not much I can do on the boat interior until the engine is back.

If I run out of work I may have to go up to the flybridge and enjoy the new enclosure. He He. I don't think there is much chance of that, but it is fun just to think about it.

Oh, and our other friends Steve and Linda, only got to Charleston and ran into trouble. The fresh water pump went on their boat, and they did not have another on board. They have to wait one day for one and they will be on their way. They said we are bad luck for them. They have never broke down while they were travelling, and now it has happened twice while they have been either with us or near us. Hmmm. Perhaps we are a bad luck jinx. We certainly have had our share of problems ourselves. Hopefully we will have turned the page on this chapter, when our boat is repaired.

I can't help but think, "here we go again". We dropped in to see Jim and Linda before we continued on our trip. We dropped in a week ago today, and...... looks like we will be here for awhile yet. And they have such busy lives, just what you want a houseguest with no deadline for leaving. They have welcomed us and made us feel most welcome and said we can stay as long as we need. We just do not to want to overstay. They are such good friends and do not want to stress the friendship.

The same thing happened in the spring, when we dropped in to say hi to Steve and Linda, and 3 weeks later we got off their boat. You would think the word would get out not to let Peter and Cheryl come for a quick visit ......... they never leave.

What would we do without our southern looper friends?