Happy To Report

that the transmission came back, was re installed and after a test run on the boat we can now safely say the clacking noise has gone! Once that was established we quickly closed up the camper, loaded up the boat and headed out. Not far. Twenty miles down the canal to Stuart where are now on a mooring ball swaying in the breeze. We have officially begun our two and a half week winter vacation! It's been a long haul. Time to relax...

Where were we?

Oh. Yes. Transmission. The next step in what has become an increasingly frustrating puzzle. Yesterday we took it to Fort Lauderdale, an hour and a half from here. We left it with a transmission "expert" who made no promises with respect to solving anything, but agreed to take it apart to see what he could see. We drove away feeling like we had dropped off our child at day care after a full blown temper tantrum - glad to have a break! While we wait to hear anything Darryl seems happy to be puttering around on small projects, and the weather is quite pleasant. Hot actually. And two days ago the fact that my fire ant bites had subsided enough to put my walking shoes on was magically combined with a day with no rain. Yay!! I also got my bicycle out for the first time this season.  Not to much to see out here, but at least you don't run the risk of getting hit by a car.
Today is laundry day. They put brand new washing machines and dryers in the laundry room  so now when you do a wash your clothes actually get clean.  Unless you drop them on the way back to the camper... JUST KIDDING! They all made it back clean and fresh. Now I just have to put them away, so I will sign off for now... Have a great day!

The Last Two Days

Our "Rube Goldberg" Rain Diverter

The Verdict

As you know, Darryl has been working on a problem with the boat that has to do with a clattering  noise that the engine makes. After several failed$$$ attempts by the yard mechanic to solve the problem, Darryl has been working on it himself with the help of a couple of friends. Last week after the new motor mounts had been put in place the shaft couldn't be aligned because of an extra 1/8th of an inch taken up by the exhaust hose. He then discovered the motor mounts were on upside down, so he took them off. But alas, when he put them right side up, nothing fit. He finally figured out the mounts could be ground down to compensate for the extra 1/8th inch. So everything came off again, got ground down and then put back in place. That took 5 days. Then came the triumphant shaft alignment. Recommendation was to align it to at least 8/10,000 of an inch and Darryl got it to 3/10,000 of an inch!! Victory!! Friends came down for dinner on Sunday night and a good time was had by all. Just a few more tweaks to the mounts on Monday (took ALL day) - then came the test drive yesterday... AND??
Nothing. Nothing had changed with the clattering noise. Nothing at all. After I talked him out of sinking the boat right at the dock Darryl went back to talk to the mechanic, who at this point seems genuinely sympathetic to the situation, and got the name of another mechanic in Tampa. As we speak, Darryl is attempting to remove the transmission from the boat so we can drive it over to Tampa and have the guy look at it. The man is a trouper!
On a side note, with all the work going on over the past few weeks the last of the frogs who had taken up residence on our boat have vacated. There were enough of them that I believe they had their own small village complete with zip code. It must have been a very wet summer here.
Today I am heading to the "boat parts"store. Not too exciting, but something to do on a rainy day. Fortunately it is also near a great grocery store, so off I go! Until next time...

There it goes

Our neighbor, sunshade and wind-block...

Nestled In With The Boats