It helps to remember that this is our first breakdown of the year (and only one tow in 2010 was due to a disabled engine), and this shit does happen. So, all in all, we have no complaints about this experience. As our good friend Kevin Whiteley reminded us from his home in Hudson, Wisconsin, we were still wearing shorts! And Palm Coast marina has been very gracious to us -- even with us taking up half of their fuel dock -- and having Edisel, a skilled mechanic who lives at the marina, was invaluable. He came by many times during the project to offer Dan advice, help, tools, etc. Dan wouldn't have had the confidence to plunge in and start pulling off the starter and transmission w/o Edisel coaching him along, assuring Dan that this repair is not as hard as other work Dan has done on the engine. And so far, so good. Taking everything apart went just like clockwork. The damper plate between the transmission and the engine was obviously broken (evidenced by the many small pieces that fell out when the unit was disassembled!).
Once Edisel's diagnosis was confirmed, the next step required finding the part. We are finding this stage of repair work to be kinda dicey as we have an older engine ... and in this economy, suppliers do not carry a very deep inventory, so we heard the line "well, we can order it for you with delivery in 5-7 days" a lot! Considering that we are paying $60/nite at the marina, this could end up being one expensive part!
https://marineandrvpartssupply.com/
So our praises go to Tom at Marine and RV Parts and Supply. He was the only supplier we contacted who was actually able to get his hands on the part we needed. Tom went directly to the transmission manufacturer and got us the the part for $250 (we'd been quoted a range of $279-$441). Plus, he got the order processed in time for UPS overnight air, so we will be back in business by noon tomorrow. We definitely bookmarked this web site. This is what customer service is all about.
Around 6pm, we could finally relax, take showers, eat a sandwich (no cooking because everything in the cabin/settee area is filled with bedding and other stuff that got in the way of work!) and at least be glad we're hooked to cable TV so we can watch the Viking/Packers game on Monday Night Football. We didn't expect much; and we got less than that.
Tuesday, Nov 15
It's here!
Putting all this back together was not as easy as it was getting it out. Why is that?
Reinstalling the transmission and starter was definitely a 2-man job ... and I found my apprenticeship in the engine room to be a good learning opportunity. I always valued the work that Dan was able to do ... but, now I have a taste of how physically hard the job is as well as how intellectually challenging it is to figure out why this stuff doesn't work like it's supposed to! There's just no room for easy maneuvering of a transmission, that's incredibly heavy when you have to hold it in one position, and very little room to leverage the ratchet wrench.
You reach, you lay into the engine room.
You get bruised by the positions you have to hold.
And don't get me started on the blood!
We finished the installation after Edisel showed up around 6pm. Bless that man ... he had just returned from a job in Titusville, had to return there tomorrow, and had to make one more call yet tonight, and still he stops by Maja to see how Dan is doing. Which was a wonderful thing because Dan wasn't happy with how the transmission cable was reconnected, so together they figured out the best way to make that adjustment. It didn't take long ... but it was invaluable help ... how do you compensate someone for that type of expertise?
Test drive on the dock proves that everything is working! We can go to bed tonight knowing that we will in fact get underway tomorrow.
That hot shower never felt so good.
1 comment:
When did you change Christmas o Georgia? I went on Google Earth and I think I saw your boat fafted with two others. It was grainy enough when you zoomed in that I couldn't be sure, but, there were only twwo triple rafted boats at the marina.
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