October 25, 2008.

Late Thursday afternoon we had another mechanic, Justin, show up to start the reinstallation of the transmission. Once again with Christy and I doing the winching we were able to get the transmission in place. It went in a lot easier than it had come out. Gravity is your friend.

By the time it was bolted into place it was time for Justin to punch out and go home. After he was gone I used the opportunity to bolt the support brackets for the V-drive back where they belong.

On Friday morning Justin was back to do the alignment of the shaft, transmission and engine. It went really well as the alignment was spot on to begin with.

Once he was gone we started in earnest with the re assembly of the boats systems. I replaced several aging hoses and a couple of suspect hose clamps as we worked our way through the muddle of wires and hoses. I also cleaned every electrical connection as I reconnected everything. I cleaned both raw water strainers as well.

I refilled the transmission and Christy started the engine and everything seems to work as it should. Once I was satisfied that things were okay we used the halyard to maneuver the generator back to its spot above the transmission.

During the day we took the time to go up to the office and settle up our bill. It actually wasn’t that painful, especially when compared to the beating absorbed for pretty much the same job up in Connecticut. In Connecticut the marina staff did all the work as per their rules. Here at Atlantic Yacht Basin we were allowed to do as much of the work as we could handle ourselves. We did spend a lot more on parts in Connecticut as there were several parts we had to replace while here there were only a few pieces to be replaced. The big difference was the labor. In Connecticut we paid for 60 hours of labor while here it was only 11 hours. Huge difference; especially when labor rates are upwards of 70 dollars an hour. Thank God for do it yourself yards like AYB.

So we’re sitting here with everything done by 1800 hours on Friday evening. We would be able to leave on Saturday as planned but there’s just one problem. The weather.

Its supposed to blow a hoolie from the south. The weather forecast is for 25 knots straight out of the south with gusts into the 30’s with torrential rains. Christy talked to Nancy from Solitaire and they’re currently in the middle of this weather system down in Georgetown, SC. Nancy said they went food shopping in their foulies and still got soaked to the bone. Of course we’re headed south so traveling into this mess isn’t something we want to do. The forecast calls for it to blow through here during Saturday and the winds are supposed to clock and be from the northwest by Sunday, so it looks like we’ll be outta here on Sunday.