Titusville - The new transmission is installed!

Plenty of room behind the engine!

We had the rear oil seal ready for installation for the last several days but the transmission was late in arriving so we held off on the work until everything could be done all at once. Today was that day. Mike, the mechanic, showed up at 8:45 and started in. The Beneteaus are a favorite of the charter companies partially because they are easy to work on, there's plenty of room in the engine compartment unlike my previous boat, a 38 foot Ericson which had no room at all!

All the components came off in short order with the heaviest being the flywheel which weighed in a about 100 lbs! After everything was off, Mike said he would be back the first thing next week to complete the job... We were waiting for that comment! He was only joking of course. He took a lunch break and return around 1:00 pm to wrapped everything up. The hardest part was putting the flywheel back on. It takes a lot of strength but the hardest part was aligning the bolt holes with the back of the engine which trying to heft a 100 lb flywheel where you couldn't see the bolt holes. It took the two of us about 30 minutes at least to finally hit the right combination of twist and heft.; I was on the motor shaft to keep it from turning and Mike was hefting the flywheel.

Looks pretty innocent but at what cost?

Once past the flywheel re-installation, the rest was smooth sailing. Overall, installing the new rear oil seal and new transmission took 5.5 hours, about 1/2 hour longer than I anticipated. I made a pdf file of the whole procedure, Volvo D2-55 Rear Seal Replacement. Now Fleetwing is whole again and ready for the rest of the trip south. We'll leave for New York Friday morning and hope to arrive at our daughter's house by 3:00 pm or so on Saturday.

Since this is our last night on Fleetwing, it will also be the last night of the blog. The blog will resume January 4 upon our return to Titusville and this year we will have Finn in tow assuming everyone is healthy. We will have all the home schooling material with us and we plan on doing a lot of exploring with Finn to include the Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and the Brevard County Zoo which is much better than you might expect!

Join us again when the blog will restart on January 4, 2017!

Titusville - The transmission arrives!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! It's a beautiful sight, the new transmission!

I was starting to get worried about the transmission when I got a call from the office that it arrived! I had everyone on lookout for a heavy box from Europe. The box was bigger than I expected. I guess they really wanted to provide multiple layers of protection for the transmission. The outside box was huge and barely fit in the dock cart.

The box inside the box, getting closer

Once on the dock I started to unpack. The exterior box was just a cushion for the interior box that actually housed the transmission. It had a plainly printed arrow that was horizontal relative to how the box sat. Oh well, I guess it really didn't matter since it had no oil in it. The lubrication is added after the transmission is installed.

Finally, the transmission itself

I called the mechanic and he's due over on Thursday at 8:30 am to begin the installation of both the transmission and the aft oil seal which I already have. The entire process should not take more than 5 hours, hopefully less. Once that is done we'll pack and leave for points north.

I picked up the rental car today, a  Hyundai Sonata. It's a great car for long distance trips and usually gets around 40 miles/gal. Now I would like to explain that in renting Florida cars I carefully examined all the particulars and then realized that the windshield washer fluid was not protected to below freezing. I would like to say I got to this conclusion through deductive reason but nothing could be further from the truth! In actuality, I rented a car one year and in driving north discovered that when I used the window washing option, the window was then covered in solid ice! Humm, something is not right here. Eventually I concluded that in Florida there is no need of freeze resistant window washing fluid so they just put in plain water or perhaps water with a little soap, not good for trips north. So armed with memory of a bad trip north last year, I drained all the fluid (lots of window washing) and replenished the reservoir with fluid good to 0 F! In my experience, I only learn by doing the wrong thing and then correcting the problem on the next try. All that led to my list of "tips" in negotiating the ICW and my slogan of, "I make all the mistakes first so you don't have to!"

Titusville - No transmission yet

I moved the dinghy between Fleetwing and the boat next door, protected for our stay up north

Oh, there's no joy in Mudville today, Casey didn't deliver the transmission! Today I finally got confirmation that it was shipped although the date was a day later than it should have been, 11/11/2016, last Friday. Counting three business days, it should have been here today but then they probably don't count the shipping day which would make it due tomorrow, Wednesday. Well, there's nothing we can do about it but wait. I still don't have the tracking number yet, I suppose I'll get that soon.

The teak after a treatment of Semco

Meanwhile, it's more of the same - getting the boat cleaned and ready for our departure. I use a teak treatment by Semco that gives the teak a natural look. It's advertised to last a season but it doesn't. It's a stain so it's easy to apply, I use a microfiber cloth which is good for no spillage. I've found that in the Florida sun you have to apply it every two months but then it's no big deal since you just dip the microfiber cloth into the Semco and then rub the stain into the teak. You can do it in a bout 15 minutes when at anchor, standing in the dinghy. At a dock it takes longer since it's a little awkward bending down to apply the Semco, about 1/2 hour. It does keep the teak looking good in my opinion.

The transmission is coming from Europe, the east, this direction!

My mechanic is due Wednesday but I'll have to delay since I don't have the transmission in hand. Everything else is going fine. The boat is all cleaned up and we will be packing Wednesday which is when I'll also pick up the car for the trip home. Now if that transmission would only arrive!

Titusville - Getting ready

The wood storks were out today

Pins and needles are still in order, no transmission today although we really didn't expect it to arrive today even though it would have been three business days since ordering. However, if it doesn't arrive Tuesday, then we'll start to worry.

This is for Finn - see, we have trains down here!

Meanwhile we continue to get the boat ready for our extended stay away from "home". We try to take everything out of the freezer ever since we didn't do that one year and lost electricity. The mess in the freezer was unbelievable. We never want to go through that again! We are going to see if we can get some dry ice for the cooler to keep our frozen meats still frozen. It's an experiment so we'll see how it turns out. We bought a foam cooler for that purpose for $2.75 at Walmart.

The plan is for the transmission to arrive on Tuesday and be installed on Wednesday with us leaving Thursday. It's a nice plan if it works out. Otherwise we'll have it done when we return in January assuming the part eventually arrives. I promised the Yahoo Group at Beneteau 423 that I would take step by step pictures of the procedure. Replacing the aft oil seal turns out to be a common repair on the Volvo D2-55 engine.

Titusville - We visit Harvey's and the super moon

A bag of large grapefruit is $14.95, about 21 large grapefruit, very fresh, right off the trees

We wanted to stock up on citrus before we left for our trip north. The go to place around here is Harvey's Groves. They sell grapefruit and navel oranges already bagged but we go out back and pick out our grapefruit from a seconds bin. They taste just as good if not better since they are fresher due being such a good seller. The ones bagged may sit around awhile, we've tried both. Ann also got her fix of fudge for the trip home and for Sarah.

I'm fascinated by the long bow on this boat, I've never seen anything like it anywhere else

We got some last minute things at Walmart on the way home and now it's just waiting for our transmission to arrive, the first day it might be here is Monday. The last two days have been nice and easy but all that changes Monday when we must get the boat ready to be abandoned for almost two months while we"re up north.

A super moon over Titusville!

The alligator has not made an appearance since we first saw him but we did see a manatee today. The marina is famous for its manatees but there haven't been so many this year. Now it's pins and needles time waiting for the transmission to arrive from Denmark.

Titusville - A day at the beach

It really is a beautiful beach at Merritt Island

We have a lot to do in closing up the boat for our trip north for the holidays but today and Sunday will be holidays for us. So we visited the beach today and just drove around town and to the beach. Going to Merritt Island requires either a Golden Passport or a one day ticket. Since we have a Golden Passport, we breezed through the entry gate.

Lots of wildlife since the island is on the migration flight path

The beach is a classic sand beach with mile upon mile of soft sand. It is so large that there is very little crowding. We walked the beach and just enjoyed the sun and sand. Then we headed to Coco Beach and just saw the sights. Nothing was accomplished on the boat.

You are never too far from alligators on Merritt Island, this one along side of the road to Merritt Island

Sunday is donut day and more relaxing but Monday is work to include teak, anti mold, window washing and a good hosing down for the deck. Now we're just waiting for the new transmission to arrive from Denmark. It could get here by Monday but it will probably be delayed at least a day. We would really like to get everything done before we leave for New York. When we return in January, Finn will be with us and we want to visit the Space Center, Merritt Island and the Brevard Zoo. which is a real gem in the area, much better than we expected when we visited for the first time with Sarah. The zoo focuses on kid/animal interactions with great success. They even have a train ride around the premises and since Finn is such a train enthusiastist, I'm sure that will be a big hit. .

Cactus has flowers with seeds too

Meanwhile, we waiting for the transmission to arrive so we will be ready to leave for Key West in January.

Titusville - We get a car

The dog park is a daily occurrence in the afternoon. Hoolie just likes to run, never-mind the other dogs 

Titusville is recovering. When the shuttle program ended, Titusville went into decline. They did the best they could  but many stores closed and one shopping center went kaput! Gradually things got better. Today Ann went to the rebuilding of the shopping center that was just razed. The first store is a huge Hobby Lobby and there are many more to follow. The marina is in a revitalization program that started last year with a new WiFi system that actually works and allows streaming of Netflix, for example, in the evening.They are renovating the showers and restrooms over the next two months and you heard previously that there is now an indoor, air conditioned captain's room for cruisers. The outside captain's room is still there but now you have a choice, both have a panel HDTV.

We have a banana tree, sometimes we even have bananas

So today I took Ann by Hobby Lobby and I went on to the ACE hardware store just south of there. When you walk through the doors, there's a greeter right at the entrance to ask you what you need so they can direct you to the right aisle. I haven't found that level of service at too many places anywhere.

The tops of masts are just built for the pleasure of ospreys

The nearest Publix supermarket had our usual Friday night fare, a rotisserie chicken and sushi. I developed a taste for sushi during my six trips to Japan for IBM. Meanwhile we are waiting for news on the transmission but it will probably arrive ahead of any tracking information according to my dealer in Connecticut, Paul of McDonnell Marine.  The whole weekend will be exploration time for us, just visit around the area to see what's new. We will save packing for next week.