One step forward, two steps back

[Maryanne]After calling Raymarine all week to chase up our autopilot and being told it was not in the system - Kyle sent me off to the post office to check out delivery (and possible insurance claim). It was signed for at Raymarine on the 23rd... By the 30th they were still denying it had arrived. THAT mystery was finally solved today, when we discovered (with the aid of the serial number) that the parts had arrived, and they expected to start work on them Monday or Tuesday.

Original plans to tour Boston city today, were changed yesterday when the guys in charge of replacing our transmission said they wanted to do it today. We were excited at the thought of having the boat up and running. Unfortunately it turned into a wasted day - they arrived late (after getting lost), came expecting to us to be at a dock, not a mooring (a little altercation and some expense afterwards, we were towed up to a dock); when at the dock the guy was expecting to fix a transmission on a Beneteau (A different make of boat), and one that had oil in it (Not ATF). They poor guy basically came, undid some parts, and then realized that either the engine had to move forward, or the drive leg backwards - put it all back together again and left. So now we are busy planning our next move.

[Kyle]After the mechanic got the transmission back together, and filled with fluid, we got the engine started and a test run quickly demonstrated our problem. The boat would not go into forward gear (nor reverse for a while); the mechanic watched and agreed that we were not doing anything wrong, it was not working as it was supposed to work. After eventually getting into both gears a few times (reasonably reliably) we finally left the dock to head back to our mooring - to avoid another towing fee on a zero progress day. We got the boat into reverse to back away from the crowded dock, but then it would not go into forward and we drifted back into a different dock (with some quick line handling by Maryanne to save the boat). We fiddled with it for a while until forward finally engaged, Maryanne untied the line and jumped on the boat before I sped away from her. We stayed in gear until we reached the mooring, which we knew would need to be a one shot deal - Securely tied to our mooring, Maryanne began the phone call rounds to determine what next?


[Maryanne]The only Good news (really good) is, that we finally managed to remove the steering wheel. The trick (Thanks to Tony of PCI) was shock loading the wheel shaft (hitting it with a hammer). See - you do need a hammer on a boat.

Unfortunately our day is blown - it is already 3:30 pm.

On a separate note I did (among all my chores this week) manage to find some (unapproved) down time yesterday - I went to the local movie theater and watched Mama Mia, the musical. It was corny and fun, with bad singing, but some great scenes with Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, shirtless and wet (Don't tell Kyle). It also had some classic middle aged women behaving badly. :-) Worth it for a chuckle.