Wednesday 10-22-08
Murray, a Ross Marine mechanical tech. was at the boat at 08:00 and had my complete confidence within 10 minutes. He went into the engine compartment with no tools at all so he could evaluate the space he had to work in and some specifics about which tools he would need (wrench sizes etc.) then went back to his cart on the dock and came back with most all of what the job would take. He was immediately puzzled by how hard it was to rotate the assembled shaft and theorized how that might tie into the noise. He proceeded to remove the four large bolts and nuts that hold the shaft to the transmission, with no trouble at all, but was very surprised that the two flanges didn’t then separate on their own. I (RCB) then assisted Murray, and with chisels, hammer and a pry bar, we finally were able to separate the shaft from the transmission flange. Murray then tried to rotate the shaft and it was still too tight to move manually. Murray then called his fellow tech., Jimmy Johnston aboard, for a consult and the result was that something may be out of alignment between the cutlass bearing and the outboard support strut that supports the shaft, just in front of the prop. If indeed, that is the case, it would reflect a factory defect when the boat was built. The only way to be certain is to haul the boat out of the water and do a visual inspection. Whatever the cause, it must be made right and FLIGHT will be lifted out tomorrow if weather and current don’t get in the way. If the solution requires the strut to be removed and properly aligned with the cutlass bearing, the boat could be tied up for a week or slightly more.

Company for Flight

SECURITY

Ross Marine has 24 hour security so we feel comfortable leaving Flight here.

Faced with the situation, we have decided to rent a car and drive home for a break. We feel confident that Ross Marine has the crew of experts to correct the problem so we can continue south, and so we will.

Flight, patiently waiting attention.


TO BE CONTINUED...