3/26/10 - A day in the life at St Pete

It rained HARD last night but it was a beautiful morning. We started the day at a real fiberglass supply outlet and got penetrating epoxy, epoxy paste, a few other fiberglass supplies and lots of good advice. This is all for Linda of course. We went to the boat for a bit and then walked over to the St Pete Grand Prix (about two miles). Incredible noise and lots of very well organized racing teams. We saw Danica Patrick up close as well as a bunch of those "men" drivers.

Got back to the boat about 3:00 and Linda started sanding the rub rail again. See photo.

I talked to big Jim who runs the yard and it looks like we need new cutlass bearings ($1k) as well as the shaft on the starboard side ($1.5k). This was our daily surprise.

I poked around on the generator exhaust hose and the fitting that goes through the genny "box" broke off in my hand. It was a mess. I took off the hose (2" dia) on both sides of the fitting and they were full of rust and corrosion. I knocked out the fitting, cleaned up the hole and now plan on putting on a new hose that goes right through the hole where the fitting was. Then I moved on to the head "demo" work. I determined that the hose that goes from the back head (non operational) that goes through the engine room and up to the holding tank area should go. I started in the holding tank area and cut the hose close to the bulkhead. AAAAAAh. Boy did it smell. Stuff dribbled out and I had to hold a small bowl under it while it drained out of the Lectra San (sewage treatment device that we are discarding). Linda supervised from above and handed me towels and stuff. The hose is completely full of fresh brown stuff. We called it a day and will ATTACK this tomorrow. Something to look forward to. Heading home to the Comfort Inn at 8:00 for showers and then crackers, cheese and wine.

Estimated launch date is now late April.