Day 63 Almost fixed

Almost there!!  Picked up the stainless steel brackets and went at it.  For those of you who missed my earlier posts, this is the bracket that holds our propeller shaft in place between the transmission and the propeller.  The wood bracket blew apart a few days ago and we had to figure out how to fix it without having to remove the entire assembly as it was all fiberglassed onto the hull of the boat.

I had to chisel off a layer of the plywood in order make room for the new stainless steel plates I had made.  The tolerances were that close.  Used a chisel and scraped off one layer.  Since I screwed up the template for the first plate, I had a second made and it fit like a glove.  I bedded the entire assembly in 3m's 5200 adhesive and bolted both the plates to the original wood bracket.  Had to get a few new bolts as the assembly was a good bit thicker but it's almost done.  I have to let the adhesive cure for 24 hours.  Then I plan to fill the void created by the wood blowing out with an epoxy putty to make it absolutely stable.  I'm sure you've seen the Billy Mays commercial for the miracle epoxy putty that comes in a tube and you cut off what you need and mush it together and shazam, you've got epoxy ready to go--it will even pull a ten ton truck or fix a broken coffee mug.  I got mine from West Marine so I'm sure since it says "marine" it is better than what Billy Mays sells--yeah right.  That's one of the last project that we have to do before setting off for Astoria.

Tracy got called for jury duty back in Arapahoe County back in Colorado.  She appealed and has been excused.  She told them where we lived and that's all it took.  I on the other hand have never been called and I'm the one with lots of lawyers in the family and would love to be on a jury.  Go figure--karma I guess.

We had lunch at the roadside dinner I talked about a long time ago--the one with classical music playing and peeling linoleum on the floor.  It was packed with people--and this was at 2:30 in the afternoon.  The shrimp I had was great.  I did notice something strange though.  Over each door to the restaurant and the grocery store next door was a zip lock bag full half full of water stapled to the door jam.  I asked them the purpose--it keeps the flies out!!  I had to admit, there were no flies in the place.  Didn't see a one--unless you went outside.  They--the restaurant people claim that the flies eyes see this bag of water as a sort of waterfall and they won't come thru the door.  Any one ever hear of this???  So for all of you that have problems with flies in your house or store, hang a bag of water over your door and you will be fly free.

We had a new screen made for the hatch in the master stateroom by a local carpenter.  The old screen bit the dust earlier when the joints came loose.  If we were still in Denver, I could have made one but I don't have all the tools here to do it.  He did a great job with the teak--lap joints to make it very stable.  We bought the fiberglass screen and a nail gun and just have to install the screen and it will be set.  Fits the hatch like a glove.  I'd have him do the rest of the screens we have, but as this one took over a month since I dropped it off, there just isn't enough time before we set sail.

We've ordered some two way radios for Zephyr so Tracy and I can communicate with each other when we are out sailing or coming into the slip.  They come with a head phone and mic so it will make it a lot easier to relay directions between us and requires a lot less yelling.  I know that Bill(previous owner) had a set of hand signals between he and his wife Susan.  I'm sure we will develop a similar set as time goes by but until then, this will do nicely.  They should be here by the weekend.  

Since the weather has changed and the winds are now coming from the North, we are stuck here till they shift from the South.  With the holiday weekend coming, there is no reason to set off as most places will be closed for the three day weekend.  Oh well, from what I hear, Newport has a great fireworks display in the harbor.  We will be right in the middle of it here at the marina. 

Have a great day.