Wednesday May 15: Two Good Days on Land

Our list of things to do before we leave Yesterday's Dream is getting smaller thanks to two really good work days. Monday was all about flushing the engine and generator will fresh water, changing the antifreeze in both engines, checking oil levels and greasing parts that might rust because of the lack of use while we're gone.

Steve also got a start on installing the new windlass. Now we know what parts we need to finish the job.



Meanwhile, up on the flybridge, I removed the controls for the shift and throttle and then placed the cable ends into a baggie with oil.

In theory, the oil will make it's way down the length of the cables to the engine with the end result of smoother lever controls.

I left that for overnight and will hook them back up today - we'll see how well it worked!

Just spending the night at the boat saves us the 40 minutes back and forth to Matt and Wendy's place and, fortunately, Wendy didn't need her car either Monday or Tuesday so that worked great for us!

First thing yesterday morning, we emptied the aft cabin and sealed (hopefully at least!) off the aft cabin from the rest of the boat.

It's time to start digging down into the concrete to see what we can of the shaft tube. It has at least 3 holes in it and is why a small amount of water is able to make it's way into the bilge.

.The plastic did it's job quite well as the aft cabin was full of dust from Steve air chiseling away at the concrete/fiberglass surrounding the shaft tube.

It took about 5 hours to really make enough of a dent in it to see the hole in the tube.

It's circled in the picture below. Hard to believe this little hole could be such a project!







In the meantime, I spent part of the day working on the wiring for the wiring for the windlass. It was a relatively straightforward replacement and so needed a few new holes drilled and wires replaced but otherwise no major changes.

Best of all? It should work and I didn't blow any fuses or shock myself :-)

Back to Matt and Wendy's for some R & R. Sometimes it's good to have deadlines for us to leave the boat :-)

And of course the night would not be complete without a nice sunset over the Neuse River ....