The Boat In Our Garage Part 2 - Motor Swap

You can find part 1 of The Boat In Our Garage here.

Every family has it's own language.

Things that in some way define who they are.

At our house one of the things that most amuses me is when the guys take on a little problem solving.

My hubby is the king of figuring out how to make something work.

Throw a couple of the boys into the mix and things are about to get real interesting.

Since my last post there had been a whole lotta scraping and grinding goin on.

There were layers of dust on any uncovered surface.

And progress was progressing.




The word on the hotline in late March was that Collin would be around for the weekend and that can only mean one thing.

A whole bunch of stuff is about to get done.

We like to take ample advantage of Collin's education and professional experience whenever he's around.

It was the perfect time for the motor swap.





Here's a hint...

It involves this...

Yes...

A garden tractor and a motorcycle ramp.

Can you see why I just revel in these things? 

How can you not smile just trying to visualize what they could possibly have in mind when you see something like this in the garage??




So boat A...meaning the one in our garage... was to receive a motor transplant from Craigslist donor boat B

I'm going to refrain from much mechanically oriented commentary here cause pretty much anything I say I will be totally making up and it will assuredly be wrong.

You're welcome.

Collin catches me at this every time I try.

It's kind of become a sport for him

So here's where the tractor/ramp gadget comes in...

Unfortunately for all of us the tractor/ramp thing didn't have enough hydraulic power and try as they might the motor stayed put and the rear tractor wheels lifted.


It was definitely the most entertaining solution...





On to solution 2...

While I was gone all three of them hung from the pull up bar in the garage to see if it could take that much weight....

Can I just say...

I'm still kicking myself for not witnessing that.

We'll all just have to take a moment to make up some crazy mental image of that...



Since that idea seemed to be working out they moved on with solution 2...

The problem with solution 2 was that they neglected to all hang from exactly one point on the bar.

And... on to a borrowed solution 3.

Boring yet effective...

I'm so glad they didn't get to this solution in too much of a hurry.

 I bet some of you have wondered aloud what people who don't have cable or satellite do with themselves...

Well now ya know.

Collin hopped right in there and got a lot of the electrical run in no time.

Electrical systems are kinda his thing.

For which his dad is very grateful.

More work has gone on since this little weekend of amusement and I'll have more stuff coming.

Collin is supposed to be here again this weekend .

Ya never know what might happen.

I'll be on the look out for cheap entertainment.

Happy Easter to all,

Cath

Raising The Lion's Whelp - Port Clean Up Part 2

In case you haven't been following along you can find my post about the tsunami aftermath here and part 1 of the clean up here.

On day three of working to raise the Lion's Whelp I got one early message....really early....like still dark out early... that this would be the likely day that she would be floated to the surface.

The next message I got was that she was up ...

I know.

I'm gonna have to dock his pay for that.

Soo I don't have the part when she came up but there was plenty of other interesting stuff....

She had some good sized holes in her hull that hampered the floating a bit.  The crew had to find all the holes so that they could be closed off and the pumps could be effective.

With some constant pumping they were able to keep her afloat.

There was a little timing involved.

The plan was to utilize the hoist at high tide.

Sean was in a dive suit as well since he had helped to find the last of the holes that needed securing.

I came back later when the tide was right for the hoist.

It was pretty interesting.

So I shifted to a better vantage point.

Once everything looked like it was in place they began to raise her.

The range of colors in this one blows me away.  92 feet of Gor.geous.ness.  Who knew?

Sooo about this time the boat was raised up pretty well and they seemed to reach a resting point.

My ADD kicked in and as I waited for the progress to renew I looked around at interested bystanders.

Both sides of the basin were lined with fellow watchers of interesting things.

Then all the watchers and I heard a SNAP.

About then I saw the wave headed my way....

And Mama didn't raise no dummies...

I sprinted (Dylan will debate my definition of a sprint but it was as sprintly as I get) to get off the end of the dock.

You all know I love ya more than my flip flops ....

but after the recent battering from the tsunami I wasn't real secure about how much more they could take.

Plus I'm kinda wimpy.

So we will now pick up after the sprint :).

From a safer angle.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the old girl...

And the Port officials...

And the work crews.

They will continue to get the thing done.

I have no doubt.

In order to make the most efficient use of the  resources currently available the Port has opted to reduce the crews so Sean's dive boat job is done for now and I won't have the tip line but I'll try to keep my eyes open. 

I find it all to be so amazing.

The everyday gift of seeing something extraordinary on an ordinary day.


Lookin around for the extraordinary,
Cath