Wow I forgot to write the last couple of days. Some of that is due to the fact that I visited my grandparents up in Stuart for a few days and did not take my computer with me.
Lets start from the beginning and get some pictures up.
Last Thursday.... Holy cow can I even remember this far back? Lets just sum up the last few days before I went on vacation. Boat projects were moving forward and the boat was starting to make progress towards finally leaving for the Bahamas (original departure date: December 15th). We finally got the props looked at and sure enough we sheared the strut for the spurs and bent the starboard wheel. I will make the statement that I wasn't at the helm when the boat hit, but it was unavoidable as we were in the fairway in the marina...you can't miss what you can't see. We pulled the starboard prop and as of this blog post on Feb. 1, still no prop.
I ripped apart the entire audio rack in the salon and replaced the center speaker as well as the receiver. It was dropping out at higher volumes and these were the best two options. While replacing these two things I got frustrated with previous work done on the system and could not stand how sloppy everything was put together. Old wires were left in place just dangling there. I ripped the whole rack out and cut every wire tie. I re-built the entire rack, removed about 300 feet of wire and put everything back in place. It took about 3 days and a total of 35 hours of labor to complete the project but it looks great now, and we can really rock!
Our new hatch came for the access to the fly bridge and I think we may need to put a warning sign up. Even when I know the hatch is closed I can't see the glass...it is crystal clear, and its even got a tint to it. So if you are on Soundwaves in the future mind the hatch.
I finally found time to go visit my grandparents and it was great to get off of the boat. It was about an hour and a half drive north. I got in late on Friday night and we played 18 holes of golf on saturday. I didn't play well at all, but who cares. It was great to just get out there and spend some time with my Grandpa. And I will say this, for 86 years old he still can really play!
The weekend consisted of golf and laying low. It is always good to visit the grandparents and I am really glad that it worked out that I could go see them.
I got back to the boat around noon today (Tuesday) and went right back in to million mile an hour mode. The boat is really starting to come together though and we are hoping to pull back from Lauderdale with the Bahamas in our sights within the next week. Tomorrow my number one task...take the turbo chargers off of the engines so that I can get them to a machine shop. This will be my biggest task on an engine thus far, but I'm really not nervous about it. I have come a long way since I started working on boats and diving in to a project like pulling turbo's doesn't really scare me anymore. Two years ago I couldn't tell you what turbo's did or what they even looked like. Now, the engine hiccups and I have a pretty good idea what is wrong. Am I a diesel mechanic? Hell no. Would I suggest you letting me work on your engines? Probably not, but I know that if I do my research and back myself with a knowledgeable person that can give me a good walk through before hand...its no problem. While there will be no mechanic on hand tomorrow I still am not worried. Actually a little excited.
As I look on the weather channel I see that Chicago has declared a state of emergency due to the storm of the century. Two feet of snow is expected. I walk out on to the aft deck and the air is still full of moisture. The humidity today? 94% with a high of 77. There is nothing better than going outside after the sun has said its goodbyes for the day and feeling a warm, humid air on the skin. While the heat makes your shirt sticky throughout the day it offers relief and comfort come happy hour. I may spend the rest of the night up on the fly bridge as I try and hang on to a little bit of this short vacation I had.
Enjoy the pictures:
Hangin' out at Shooters for the Bears vs. Packers game...too bad they lost
86 Years Old....Still got it
One of my for fun shots. Eagle Marsh
Island Dunes. Hole #8 Par 3 Over the marsh. Nice tee shot Eric :-)
Hole #9 Island Dunes
The view from my Grandparents balcony....nothing better. Ocean on the right. ICW on the left
Sunset from my Grandparents balcony. One of the best
Audio project in the salon after I lost my cool and ripped everything out.
60 wires down to one, neat wire bundle to the rack. We are getting a sleeve to clean it up even more!
The rack re-built!
Starboard wheel hanging from the davit
Sound Waves Out
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