Well France has come and gone for the Trefethen's. Our time in Oregon went all too quickly and I regret not having the chance to see all our friends there one more time before the kids and I flew back to Maryland. We have been no less busy here on the East Coast. The Omarsea having limped into Maryland with a bad motor and rotted thruhulls is now being transformed into a safer vessel. We have pulled the engine as you know and are now in the process of stripping all the usfull parts off the old motor and installing them on the rebuilt one we purchased in Oregon. I have ordered new thruhulls and these will be installed in the springtime. We have talked seriously about a shakedown cruise to Burmuda in the late spring but it now appears that the amount of work required on the boat will delay that launch at least until the late fall possibly until the next spring. It has been slow going for me as the scale of projects; i.e removing the rudder, cutlass bearing and shaft as well as constructing a stainless steel solar arch and bow sprit are very time consumming tasks.
We do have good news though. I have decided to put off building a garage on the property for a year and that free's up loads of my time.
I spent the better part of today working through a list of items we need both for the boat and the house and was able to find all of these online at reduced costs. I don't know if you can relate to this but I have put off the purchases of many smaller items that are just, well for lack of a better description are boring. Things like shift cables, thru hulls and hose clamps. Necessary, but no one will ever see them once they are installed. This is the hardest part of the work on the boat. All that I am doing and all I will be doing for the next many months are tasks that will keep the boat afloat and make her faster but you will not be able to see them. Things like replumbing the fresh water system. Big deal right? Well it will be when you turn on the faucet and water comes out. I like to be able to brush my teeth, take showers and wash the dishes on a daily basis as I am sure you do too.
It was all part of my delayed maintenance plan. Buy a boat that works. Travel as far as you can and enjoy as much as you can before having to come back to the states and fix all the stuff that will need attention. Well I played and now I am paying. Good thing working on boats is mostly fun for me. I say mostly because there are several jobs that have passed the fun phase and gone straight into being candidates for that TV show " Dirtiest Jobs".
Cutting the retaining collar on the rudder is one of these. 1.5" of solid stainless steel wedged into a tiny area that required me to hold a sawsall for 6 hours while hacking away at it. I am pleased to report - that part is done and the kids and I are pulling the rudder tomorrow. Thank God!!!
We are also pulling the Prop for repairs and the replacement of the cutlass bearing which is 15 years old and in need of retirement. Keep in mind and this is not bragging mearly lamenting the lack of good fiscal judgement in letting the pro's handle these jobs. But, pulling the rudder and changing the cutlass bearing is something 99% of boat owners would pay a yard an extravagant amount of money to do. No! Not the Tref's. If we can do it we are doing it! No job is too big for us!!!!
I will blog an update on how the boat is coming along soon.
Fair Winds
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