Day 310 Decisions!

Before.
After the cutting.  The final cuts and fiber glassing should be done today and the project completed.  There was lots of foam under the counter top.  It all fits together like a cork in a bottle.  Big hole at the top to a smaller hole into the box.  It's going to make getting food out a lot easier.    

Yesterday was a big day.  Lots going on.

First, we had to empty the refrigerator so the Bob (wood worker) could have free access to it.  He showed up at 9:15 and went to town.  Measured and took off for the shop to make a template for cutting the top of the counter.  He came back in the early afternoon and went at it.  We stayed out of the cabin so as not to disturb him.

I ordered 4 gasoline "jerry" cans to stow on deck for our trip North.  They'll be attached to a board that is attached to the stanchions.  We figure we will be needing the fuel for the generator as well as the out board motor.  While there,I picked up the replacement thermostat for the Webasto heater that I had had so much fun with last week.  It had come in.   Over to Zephyr.  Out with the tools and in went the new thermostat.  Set the temperature and on came the heater.  Worked just fine.  I've set it for a 3 degree setting so we will see how she does.  It's got to be better than the 8 degree difference of the old thermostat.  I've boxed up the "broken" one to go back today.  Check that off the list.

We started up the engine to check the transmission.  In prior posts, I'd written about how the prop shaft rotates even while it is in neutral.   This time, we wanted to see if it got faster as we increased the RPMs.  Yes, it sped up.  Not a good thing.  This means that if we are at anchor and fire up the engine to charge the batteries, we will be moving around the anchorage.  Not a good thing.  We talked to the yard manager(Mark) about what we had found and he was going to talk to the tech that installed it to see what could be done.

After lunch, we unloaded the dingy and put her in the water.  Using the whisker pole, it couldn't have been easier.  Hook the pole to the mast,  attach lines to it to make it into a crane.  Attach a set of block and tackle and clip that to the dingy and over she went.  Slick as a whistle.   Over to the stern and down came the motor.  Tightened up the screws that hold it on and we were ready to go.  I was smart enough to not disengage from Zephyr while doing all this.  Yes, I do have a set of oars but I'd rather stay attached till I got the motor going.  A few pulls of the lanyard and nothing.  Oh, yeah, turn the switch to "on" helps.  Switch turned on and another pull and she started right up!!!  With Bob(the woodworker) working down below, we took off for West Marine in the dingy.  Time to get some experience in "Puff", our dingy.   It's about a mile and a half over so out we went.  A nice trip.   Sunny on the way down and cloudy on the way back.  We made sure to avoid the ferry that comes out of Port Townsend.  They're bigger than us.  I had to pick up a handle for the new hatch board for the refrigerator.

We got back, detached the motor and craned it on board.  Pulled Puff over.  Attached the block and tackle and up it came to the deck.  Turned her over and she was stowed.  

Just as we were finishing this job(Bob was leaving for the day) over comes Larry.  He's the mechanic that installed our transmission.  He's been in contact with the folks at Great Lakes Marine that sold them the transmission.  After much conversation, they don't think it can be adjusted while on Zephyr to stop the prop shaft from turning while in neutral.  To do it properly, the transmission will need to be taken out, crated and returned to them in Michigan.  This would entail us being hauled out and put back on the hard for God knows how long!!!  We could be here for at least another month--conservatively.  Will we ever get out of here?  We really don't know what to do now.  Have it done now?  Go to Alaska or at least the North end of Vancouver Island first?  This really complicates matters.  We are so tired of not being able to go out and have some fun.  This isn't "living the dream"!!!!  It's living the nightmare!!  

Now the discussion starts as to who is going to pay for all this.  We already paid to have it installed and don't think it's our responsibility to pay to have a defective piece of equipment taken out and put back in when it returns.  There will be several conversations today between different companies and us.  You can't get blood out of a turnip.  They have already taken a pound of our flesh and we don't want to give them any more. 

It's now raining outside so we will see how today progresses.

Have a great day everyone.