Here's how yesterday went:
Larry(mechanic at Sea Marine) said they would be at Zephyr at 0730 so we were up early. I was off to the showers by 0600 since I had no idea how the day would go. Larry showed up at 745 to announce that he had a meeting to go to but would send Terry down if he felt up to it(had back surgery a few weeks ago). If not, he would be back by 0930 to get us all finished up. Terry wasn't so we waited. He finally showed up at 1000 hours and went for the "gold". By 1100 he was done. We started the engine and went through all the tests--forward, reverse, neutral--over and over again. IT WORKED PERFECTLY!!!! There was no spinning propeller when in neutral!!! We were set and done finally. Larry was off to the next job by 1130 hours and we made plans to leave ASAP.
Now here is where it gets weird. Tracy went up to pay our bill for the installation of the counter top and for the parts we had had them bring in for the job that were outside the scope of putting the transmission back in(new motor mounts). She was back in about a half an hour carrying a bottle of wine with the bill all paid. I will be posting the "missing" blog (Day 323--"the ugly part I couldn't post"--you'll have to go back on our blog to see it as it didn't post next to this one--it's worth the time) after I post this one so watch for it. It's an amazing story of a manager/owner gone crazy. Once you read that post, you will understand why Tracy paid the bill instead of me. She was afraid what I might do or say if I ran into Matt. Andy, the front counter/jack of all trades(and real nice guy), called Matt(one of the owners and person I had had my run in with) down to get us all settled up. The bill was printed up and Tracy pulled out the credit card. Matt was all full of honey and sweet as sugar on steroids to her. He even gave her a bottle of wine as a going away and christening gift for us. His next comment "As far as the labor charges to put the transmission back in goes, don't worry about it. What the manufacturer doesn't absorb, we will just absorb it since you had already paid for the job once." OK, who is this guy and what happened to his evil twin brother that I had run into a few weeks ago??? Up until that part, we were on the hook for the repairs and would have to pay up front and Sea Marine would send us what money they managed to recover from Great Lakes Power--no if, ands, or buts about it!! Honey and sugar flowed from his mouth. Had the drugs kicked in? Or was he off them? Don't know and don't care. We were done and ready to get out of there ASAP!!
We restarted the engine, untied the lines and headed out by 1230 hours and set off for Boat Haven. In there before 1300 hours and all tied up. We were finally free!!!
After a great lunch at SeaJ's, we took off on more errands(took the bus since the car was still at Sea Marine). To West Marine to say goodbye. Off to the print shop that is having a rubber stamp made for us. It has our names, boat name and it's USCG registration number on it. This stamp will be used on any kind of documents we may run into when we head into any foreign ports. Most cruising people carry one so that when the immigration people come on board, we can stamp all their documents just like they can.
Over to see Brion Toss to let him know we were having some boxes delivered to his rigging shop. Two had already come in--new jerry cans for extra diesel and the fans for the freezer/refrigerator to stir up the cold air for better cooling. Another is due today--replacement cowl vent I had discussed in an earlier post. Brion told us that the local merchants were having a meeting to discuss what to do about Matt at Sea Marine. They are afraid that his attitude toward boaters will start having an effect on their business. If people hear bad stories about Sea Marine, they won't come into Point Hudson and all the local businesses will suffer and they can't afford to have that happen.
We stopped in at Sea Marine to pay for a few items that had been missed in the final billing. Parts that I had had Tony in parts order in for us a few weeks ago when we could still order parts through them. Stainless steel ratchet straps and our four jerry cans for gasoline. They had been missed when Tracy paid the "final" bill. There was no way I was going to get Tony in trouble. He's been to good a friend to have that happen. Sure enough, their accounting was so bad that they had missed them. Tracy paid while I sat in the car. They may be a strange company but honesty is always the best policy.
Back to Zephyr to change the engine oil. I wanted it changed before we set off. We had reached the time schedule to have it done. Plus the mechanic that had last changed it(in Newport) had over filled it and I wanted it back to where it it is supposed to be. I pulled out the manual pumper that sucks the oil our through the dip stick tube(almost impossible to get to the drain port). I pumped and pumped and pumped. It's like a garden sprayer assembly except instead of spraying, it sucks inward. Ninety minutes later, I had 2.5 gallons sucked out(takes time to get the thick stuff out). The tanks is supposed to only have 2 gallons in it so he had put way too much in and that's not good for the engine. I finally got the job done by 1800 hours and we started the engine. No leaks. The strangest thing is that when they built this engine, that have the filter upside down. When you unscrew it, the oil that is in it flows out all over the place. What's with that? I put lots of oil absorber pads under it and wrenched it free(stuck solid). I kept a gallon plastic bag handy to put the filter in once it was out. Now the engine has nice clean oil. We ran the engine for a few minutes and then shut her down. I waited a while and checked the dip stick--we were right where we needed to be and with nice and clean oil. Another big project done.
After the exciting day we had it was nice to just sit and veg for the rest of the night and that is exactly what we did.
Today--with the weather starting out crappy and the forecast for more of the same(35 knot winds) we will finalize the last of what we need to have done and with luck be out by Wednesday if Mother Nature cooperates. Wish us luck.
Have a great day everyone.
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