Day 316 Out she comes-sort of.

Now you see it!
Now you don't!

About 0900, Larry the mechanic showed up at our boat.  They had decided to not pull us out of the water but were going to yank the transmission right here while we are in the water.  That works out fine with us as we will then be guaranteed 30 amps of power plus we can wash the dishes without having to take the dishwater off the boat in a bucket to get rid of it.  We can fill out water tanks as necessary and can take showers inside if we want to instead of going on shore and using theirs.

I discussed the money end of the rip out with Matt--one of the owners before they started.  His estimate is about another $3,000 labor fees for this time.  He feels though that the people at Great Lakes Marine will stand behind the transmission and pay the fees after they get the transmission back and find out that it is not right.  Anyone out there believe in the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny?  We all know that they won't find anything wrong with it just to keep themselves off the hook for the labor fees.  Times are tough and that is just money most companies won't want to part with if there is an easy way out of it.  It's easier to say there is nothing wrong and we're not paying than to do the right thing and cover the expenses.  I guess time will tell.  Just call me a realist or a pessimist.  If they don't pay, we get too(for a second time)

We drove Matt--our son--to the ferry on Bainbridge Island for his trip back to Seattle.  He is off to meet up with his girl friend when she flies in in the afternoon.  It was great seeing him again and being able to spend some time getting to know him again.

We then drove down to Silverdale to Walmart and Costco for more supplies.  They just have things we can't get here in Port Townsend.  With the car all loaded, we headed back home with a quick stop at Port Townsend Rigging to see our new spinnaker pole.  They had called us while we were heading up the channel from Seattle on Monday.  At 22 feet, it sure is long.  If it's too long, they will be happy to cut it down at no charge.  They also have the fittings to attach it to the stanchions.  We'll see if those fit as our stanchions are a bit bigger than standard.

Once back home, I washed off Zephyr to try and get all the salt residue off that had washed on during our trip back on Monday.  The canvas was all encrusted in salt and left a white stain on the fabric.  I'm glad there are faucets nice and close to make it easier.  I will probably have to do it again just to make sure it's all gone.  That stuff can get down in the crevasses and be tough to get out.  It can mess up fittings real easy.

Once that job was finished, it was off to the showers.  It was nice to get clean again.  I'd planned on taking a shower as soon as I got up, but we had to take down the cockpit canvas so the mechanics could get the transmission off the boat without killing themselves.  It's much easier when you don't have a canvas roof above you that makes it impossible to stand up when you are lifting something as heavy as this transmission is.

A nice dinner of beef fondue and making plans on what we need to do during our extended stay here.  I have quite the list already and I'm sure there will be more items to add to it.

Have a great day everyone.