Day 539 & 540 Errands and the tranny.

We decided to rent a car for a week to run errands and get some jobs done.  We took off for Minney's, a store full of used marine stuff.  From used sails to hardware-some new and some used, they have just about everything a boater could use.  It's THE place to stop at when you come to the LA area.  We must be getting closer to being ready to go as we found very little that we needed or wanted.  We did find a new storm anchor(bigger than out regular anchor), but I pulled out our computer and got on the internet and found that their price was actually more than at West Marine.  No savings there.

Off for a quick lunch at El Pollo Loco.  They used to be in Albuquerque years ago but had closed all their stores years ago there.  It was like going back in time.  Then off to Costco for more supplies for down south.  Once done there, we headed for West Marine.  We'd printed out lots of maps to make the trip easier and we got lost a lot less than usual.

Today, the men showed up with our transmission.  Yep, that's right.  Out on Wednesday and in on Friday.  Now that's great service.  They showed up about 0930 and had it all set by just after 1100.  The bad thing is that they couldn't find anything wrong with it.  They put it on the test bench and ran it all night.  Towels were put all around it and not one drop of transmission oil dropped out of it.  They ripped it apart anyway as they had seen all the fluid under and around it in the engine room and they knew that something was wrong and replacing the seal would solve the problem.  They got called away on a "emergency" call to another mans boat they worked on several weeks ago.  While they were gone, I put all the exhaust pipes, water lines, and muffler back in.  By the time they returned, we were ready to go.  

On Wednesday, when they first showed up, they were surprised at how the cooling system was set up.  The raw water cools the engine oil and then cools the transmission oil.  That means that the water that is used to cool the transmission is already quite hot and it isn't going to cool one of the hottest things in the engine room.  They decide to reroute the hoses so that it will cool the transmission first and then the engine oil.  That is how it is now done on just about every engine.  Out came the old hoses and in went the new ones and we were done.  Now the transmission will get cooled first and the engine oil last.  This will keep the transmission nice and cool even in the warm waters of down south.

We started the engine and they did some adjusting of the gear shift lever and the water in the exhaust was checked and we were done, at least with the transmission.  Now we had to address the leaking oil line that lead to the new oil cooler I installed on Tuesday.   They checked the oil line and found that it had developed a small leak where the rubber line went into the metal adapter that screwed into the cooler.  There was no way to attach it to the cooler with out it leaking.  They took it off and are making a new one over the weekend and will be back on Monday to install it.  At that point, we will be up and running and back in business.  I'll be running the engine for a while at the dock making sure nothing leaks.  I'll be having it in gear so we've got to make sure that the dock lines are good and tight.  

Early in the afternoon, we'd gotten a call from George and Celeste that they were headed for our marina.  At $15.00 a night, it was a deal that couldn't be beat and since they had been anchored at Redondo they could now have a nice slip at a great price, plus they would be just two slips over from us.  I checked with the marina and they were thrilled that was had passed on their name to our friends and that they had a new tenant for their marina.  George and Celeste expected to be at the marina late in the afternoon. 

 

During the installation of the transmission, I was discussing with Tracy the desire to get a bigger anchor for Zephyr.  One that will keep us safe during bad storms.  Fred--one of the repairmen--piped up with the comment "I've got three big anchors at my house that you can have if you want".  Well, OK, some one offers you three big anchors and I'm not about to say no to an offer like that.  Heck, even if I can't use them, maybe I can make a swap with Minney's--three for one or at least a good discount.  We took off for Fred's house later in the afternoon and picked up all three--another CQR, a big Danforth high tensile steel, and a Danforth knockoff that was made in Korea.  A nice collection.

On the way back to Zephyr, we stopped at the local Albertson's for some groceries but we made it back just in time to help George and Celeste into their new slip.  Celeste has come down with a bug of some sort so they needed some help getting tied up.  Once they were in, we headed back to Zephyr for a nice quiet evening.

We have more projects for Saturday.