22 October 2009 | Oriental, NC
Mike
October 20th, 2009 Oriental, NC
After coffee I looked into the projects that we needed to complete while here in Oriental. The water maker needs to be wired and the fresh water line needs to be installed from the pump to the tank. I need two hose clamps and a fuse holder at the store today or tomorrow.
Installing Rick and Linda's radar in place of ours will take a little more effort but should be worth it. When I started the project I was immediately faced with a problem. The cables entering the back of the old head unit were would not turn. They are plugs that have a collar that screws then in tightly. I couldn't budge them. I got out vise grips and dosed them up with solvent, but they were not going to move.
So we would be using the new cable and not the old. Stringing wire up and down the mizzen is not what we call fun, but we've done it before.
Steve came over a little later and hauled me up the mast to remove the old scanner. It took two trips but eventually it was down. We had some lunch and then went for a ride to find a piece of starboard to attach to the existing mount to accept the new dome. After a couple of stops we drove to Deaton's, who cut exactly what we needed.
Back at the boat I worked out the lay out... four bolts to hold the starboard to the mounting bracket and four to hold the new dome to the starboard. Once again I faced a problem. The bolts that hold the dome to the starboard go through the starboard from the bottom and then into the base of the dome. The length of the bolts is critical and with the ¾ inch starboard, the ones that come with the unit were too short. To compound the problem, two of the holes had to go through the starboard and the mounting bracket, which made them another 3/8 of an inch longer.
The mounting bracket had to come down to get some exact measurements. I walked back to Steve and Kim's condo, explained the situation and walked back with Steve who hauled me back up the mizzen. With the bracket in hand it was easy to figure out the length of the necessary bolts so it was back to the hardware before it closed.
Enough work. We hung out at Steve and Kim's ... where Kathy had spent the afternoon doing laundry, and ordered two for one pizzas from the Silos. The pizza was excellent and we fed four for a little under $13