Kaimusailing

I should disclaim my CRV, Constant Repair Vehicle, misnomer. The series 2 Honda CRV is actually a very reliable and well engineered and built vehicle. This particular vehicle has 247,000 miles on it, and a lot of deferred maintenance and repairs. As I work on it, it gets more and more viable. I wonder what is going to fail next. In about a month is the trek up to Crisfield, about 700 miles. Gulp.
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There is an oil leak on the passenger side near where the oil filter is, but the filter itself is not leaking. Geoff thought the valve cover might be leaking, but it doesn’t look so to me. I fear it is the crankshaft seal which can fail.
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So far we’ve replaced the front brakes, left tie rod end, right front strut, alignment, the original tape player radio replaced with Atoto touch screen double DIN stereo, driver window jam fixed, and now the alternator. I worry about the water pump. Fingers crossed.
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When we replaced the alternator the front splash shield on the underbody had to be removed involving a bunch of plastic clips. The same clips are used on other plastic shield, like the inner wheel well shields and cowlings in the engine compartment. We put the car together using available plastic clips but left the lower splash shield off until we could get more of the plastic clips.
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I went to a local auto parts store and the counter person could not find the proper clips but had packs of two for 5 or 6 bucks. I asked if getting the Honda part number would help and he said yes, he could cross reference. I returned to the boatyard and took one of the clips I had and mic’d it, then began searching online using my phone. The Honda part number is 700-080. I ordered online and waited for a package of 20 to come in.
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Geoff said we could work on it at 10AM, knowing I wouldn’t be up at the crack of dawn, but I got him to relent and do it at 11AM. I actually was ready a quarter past 10, called, and arrived at his garage where he was doing an oil change on an almost new Volkswagen Jetta. He thought I also needed the lift, but I just needed Geoff and his air tool and large pump jack, the front wheels had to come off.
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After he finished the oil change we jacked up the Honda and put jack stands to either side and removed the pump jack and the front wheels. Zip, zip, zip, off they came. The under tray went on quickly. We took a look at the crankshaft pulled and there was no oil leaking from its seal. A very good sign.
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I felt awkward, it was about noon and my job was done. It would have taken me 10 times longer with my little jack in the boatyard. Was I just going to buzz off, thanks Geoff, we agreed to meet later at the gas station restaurant where I wanted to watch the ladies NCAA basketball championship, UConn Lady Huskies will play. I worked in Connecticut for about a decade and UConn was the team we would root for.
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I had been working on the rudder and centerboard for the dinghy and found myself with a 3X18 belt sander and only 2 used belts for it while I had a bunch of 3X21 belts, including the 36 grit extra coarse belts that would remove wood very efficiently. When I purchased a 3X21 belt sander on clearance, only 27 bucks, it destroyed the coarse belts in about 20 minutes. Now I was on my way to Harbor Freight to buy some 3X18 coarse belts and return the 3X21 sander. Then I went to China Wok.
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It’s a very good Chinese take out restaurant and near Lowe’s lumber where I would pick up some hardware for the dinghy. I ordered shrimp with garlic sauce, got my hardware, returned, got my Chinese food, and went to Walmart to shop for essentials, including wine.
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Back in the boatyard I took my time enjoying the shrimp when Geoff showed up with an electric planer. Here, he said, this will speed things up. After he left and I was done eating, I began shaping the rudder. The planer destroyed the plywood of the rudder very quickly. He was right, it did speed things up.
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I sat down for a few minutes and then went to the gas station restaurant which opened at the same time that the basketball time started. I sat at the bar and watched the preliminaries, anthem, Diana Taurasi and other retired WNBA analysts. I paced myself, keep it down to 2 wines per hour.
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The game was on, I actually prefer watching women’s basketball, there is less of an abrupt nature to it. UConn won, Geoff and Karen arrived. I told Geoff of the electric planer’s shortcomings. They invited me to join them to have wine while they had dinner.
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It was Sunday and I needed to get back to the boatyard and make my Sunday evening call to Hawaii. A front was forecast to come through overnight. I had to remember to cover tools, etc. I went on board. The NBC show The Americas was due to be on. More phone calls came in, plus I called Hawaii, then my sister called from California. It went past midnight. By that time I was not remembering too clearly. I know I didn’t get to see my show.
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The next day I was recuperating on the pandemic porch when Denis, the Canadian truck driver rode up on his yellow Yamaha scooter. Zuma. I sent him a video by YouTuber “2Vintage”, aka Joe Weber, who fixes these things up and generates meticulously detailed videos. Later Denis texted me how great the video was. Yes, I watch all of Joe Weber’s stuff.
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My problems with the electric planer might be that I was using old bad plywood. I looked at the planer’s blades. They were dull and nicked. The blades can be removed and flipped over, they have two cutting edges. I took one blade out and looked at it. The other edge was like new. I could flip it over and reinstall it and then do the other blade. I had done this before on another planer. It is a tedious, but follow the procedure carefully and all will be well. The other blade was broken but it also had a new edge to offer. It looked like I could flip it and when tightened into place, the broken part would be just as secure as the other part.
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Geoff showed up and I showed him the blades etc. He commented that he could go to Harbor Freight and buy a set of new blades. It wasn’t worth it to drive up there just for the blades. I could do it.
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The adjustment for the height of the blades is with allen screws that have been lock tited on this planer. I tried my Harbor Freight allen wrenches that didn’t seem to work. I mumbled to Geoff, bicycle repair kit, and went to my bike and got a multitool that had allen bits along with everything else. One of them fit the allen screws. Geoff left. I was able to get the blades lined up properly with new sharp edges perfectly aligned. I made a pass on some of the plywood. It cut perfectly. I texted Geoff with a photo of the cut, “Nicey Nice”.
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I continued shaping both the centerboard and the rudder. The plywood was bad and had divots removed by the power tools in spite of the alignment. I made adjustments, glued some displaced plies, almost good as new, and used the rest of the glue to make fumed silica putty to fill screw holes and other divots. I felt a little better.
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The next day I laboriously moved the dinghy from in front of the catamaran to the work area where the dinghy sailing rig and centerboard and rudder are. I needed also to move a stout timber frame that may have been an engine support or something like that. I needed a hand truck. I had to walk all the way across the boatyard to find one, move things, then return the hand truck. The dinghy had to be lifted onto the support which was difficult without banging it or damaging the paint.
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I took the unfinished centerboard and tried to slide it into the centerboard slot but it caught, the slot needed to be relieved. Epoxy putty from when it was constructed last year had blobs in the slot that needed to be trimmed smooth. I tried various tools. The angle grinder couldn’t cut deep enough, jig saw wouldn’t cut the hardened putty, but the giant Sawz All with an aggressive blade quickly cut the slot to size. I also worked on the rudder.
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The rudder is made out of ¾” thick plywood but the rudder fittings are for maybe 1//2” ply. They are Optimist dinghy fittings. I marked the rudder for 1/2” thickness at the front edge and marked the sides of the rudder to match the length of the straps of the fittings. I used the now sharp planer to remove wood so that the front edge of the rudder where it mated to the hull would be like a wedge. The fittings would splay out to 3/4” at their ends while snuggly fitting the 1/2” dimension. The planer still made some gouges in the wood, but the belt sander cleaned them up. I liked how it came out and did the same on the other side.
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Rain was forecast, so I covered everything and retreated to the gas station restaurant for libations. Geoff and Karen showed up and a fellow at the end of the bar got into a conversation with me about West Virginia and longevity of our forefathers.
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That night I awoke at about 2AM, sore, and couldn’t even think about sleeping. I put a movie on and after a while I felt tired. The morning was interrupted by an early phone call, don’t they know. Then another call. I felt stiff and sore. Didn’t want to get up.
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I had breakfast early, like 11AM. I ran around the boatyard on the bike to loosen up. I still had some work to do on the dinghy, but didn’t want to do it. Too stiff, too sore.
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When I have to do something I don’t want to do I end up doing something else instead. There was an old roller furling drum sitting on the M25 diesel on top of the frayed tarp. I picked it up. Hood Seafurl model 705. It was seized.
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I don’t remember why I had it, maybe to make furling gear for a flying headsail. It was one of those endless furlers that cost so much. But it was seized. Maybe I could unseize it.
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It turns out that this was a popular furler on the Catalina 30’s and there were a lot of positive comments on the Catalina forums. I removed a clamping bolt from the lower part but nothing moved. There was a set screw deep inside and I was able to remove it with the furler in the vise in the wood shop. I banged on it some more. I lubricated it with 3-in-1 oil.
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I was about to give up and make some pasta with mushroom meat sauce when I found a user’s manual on the internet for this furler. It had exploded views of the parts and a warning not to disassemble it. Then a posting on the Catalina 30 forum had someone disassembling it and ball bearings falling out all over the place. He remarked that there were 4 set screws.
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I went back and removed the other 3 set screws. Nothing came apart. I liberally applied the oil wherever it might do some good. I began banging again. Geoff rode up on his bicycle. He left when he saw what I was doing. I finally got the lower fitting off the furler. The rest remained immovable. I gave up and went up to the galley.
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I sauteed diced onion and chopped beef till the onion was translucent, added thinly sliced mushrooms and garlic. Spices and tomato puree followed. The mixture was too watery, I uncovered it to get it to thicken. I tasted some on open face ciabatta rolls and took a nap.
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The image is of a St Marys sunset viewed through some live oak trees at the North River Causeway.

On my way back from the post office a bunch of trouble lights came on about a mile from the boatyard. When I pulled in and parked I shut the car and started the car again, hoping it would clear the trouble lights. The engine would not turn over, the battery was too low.
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I got my electric meter and battery charger, charged the battery a bit, then started the car. The battery was at 11 volts with the car running, but 12 volts when off. It looked like the alternator had quit. I ordered a remanufactured alternator online and began disassembly.
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There are many YouTube videos on changing out the alternator on the Honda series 2 CRV, the 03-06 models, because it is a daunting task and the DIY’ers are going to look for any advice they can get. Basically, the alternator sits down in front of the passenger side of the engine, obscured by the power steering pump. There is no way to remove it from below the car, as in putting the car on a lift to make it easier. What’s left is to remove a crossbeam at the radiator, remove the coolant expansion tank, remove the radiator fan, remove cowlings below the front of the car and the one on top of the crossbeam. The power steering pump has to be removed along with its fluid reservoir. At some point the hood latch has to go.
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A single bolt, below the hood latch, way down near the bottom, has to be removed, and this bolt was somewhat rounded off, my 3/8 drive 10mm socket, 12 points, would not grab it. My ¼ drive 10mm socket, 6 points, needed an adapter and was too big to fit in the space to grab on the nut. I began wandering around looking for a 3/8 drive 10mm socket, 6 points, or a 10mm wrench. I found that the wrenches were 12 points and wouldn’t grab the bolt.
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Along came Chris and Ilena, a couple we met a couple years ago. Oh, hi, yeah, I didn’t get up to the other side of the boatyard to meet up with you. But Chris dived into the mechanical mess and began taking over. He removed the recalcitrant bolt.
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We worked together but he did most of the work. No-see-ums were swarming on us. Irena sprayed Chris and rubbed the No-see-um spray into his neck. We removed more and more of the front end of the car to get at the alternator. We were finally able to remove it and found it barely turned, almost frozen up. I said I’m buying you dinner.
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I washed but still wore my shorts with grease stains, arms riddled with bug bites, and we went to the gas station restaurant. Geoff and Karen were there. The food was good. I had calamari and fish basket. The conversation was mostly about boats, marinas, boatyards, and Honda alternators. A fellow at the bar was an expert Honda mechanic and said the series 2 CRV alternator was maybe the worst repair ever on a Honda.
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Komputer Ken let me borrow his car to get foodstuffs, etc., from Walmart. He said don’t exceed 3,000 RPM. His car is old. I shopped. I got wine and ingredients for the langostino recipe, a meatball recipe, and marinara sauce for pasta.
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I existed for about 5 years without a car, but my plans to sail around without a car didn’t pan out. I still had help from my comrades, hate to use that term these days, but yeah, we depend on each other no matter who we are. There are others who try to crush. Like the Nazis they target and crush. If you see something like that you should stand up to it, but it seems no one does. I don’t like that others are denied the opportunity to camp out on the beaches of Central America with sand flies and mosquitoes, on their way to get into the USA.
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I have to deal with an 18 year old alternator. I can hopefully handle that. Others have to deal with this stupid government that vacillates from the left to the right about every 4 years. Yeah, come here, you are welcome, then, stop, go away, we don’t want you. I don’t know who the we is any more. It seems the we is someone with a psychological impairment. I am not we.
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The way I look at it, no one wants war, but if someone in high power wants war or doesn’t care if there is war, there will be war. And the young men seem to be the ones who have to give their lives. There is also attrition to the enemies. Kill them, subdue them, demolish their schools and hospitals, their everything. That is not war against armies of governments, it is genocide. At least I can speak up, for now.
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Every one of us lives in our society with rules and also there are cues if we are out of line, so we realize we must adapt a bit. We have talented people from other lands who have to learn how to adapt. After they have done so, and after they have been productive for years, they are still considered aliens and marked for deportation by the current administration. I don’t care what I say, I’m not afraid to die anymore. I’m afraid if I don’t say anything many others will die or suffer.
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This country that I grew up in values the individual and gives the opportunity for any individual to rise to whatever they are able to achieve, based on their ability, performance, not based on race, religion, or ethnicity. That is America. You can come here and prosper or fail. It is a society for those who just want to prosper or get a foothold, raise a family, live, the way people should, but not maybe can’t in their home lands. That’s why they want to come here. Here you have a chance.
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So we will deny them and send them back.
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I made meatballs and some marinara sauce with mushrooms. As I cooked, I would take a walk about to see if the alternator was delivered. I over burned the meatballs here and there, and the sauce was thick with translucent bits of red onion, but I was hungry and ate a meat portion with some of the thick sauce. I couldn’t sit around and went around the yard in my area which got me into the mail room and there my package was sitting. I hadn’t noticed the UPS truck while I was cooking meatballs.
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I took the package onto the collapsible table and started unwrapping it. I predicted the Rock Auto “Famous Brand” was in fact Carquest. It was. These alternators go for 2 or 3 hundred dollars. A rebuilt one for 80 bucks is a sure sign you are in for a big downfall.
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As soon as I started unwrapping things and getting into my technical car repair guise, I had Geoff and Chris pull in to help me. I’ve been wrenching for a couple days, I can do this, but now I was up against real car repair mafia, no problem, don’t worry about it. They would both come at some old 10mm bolt with their tools at the same time, and I had one in my hand as well.
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Mine was special, it had a very light click, click, click, and it was stained with various epoxy mixes. Worked though. Sprayed it with Blaster, wiped off the resultant residue. Work it around, wipe it again. A tool like this that deserves respect is nothing unless I hold it in my hand and butt my way into the mechanical fray.
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I was not taken seriously by Chris and Geoff, we need to get to know each other, I guess. I need my space, and that means doing it by myself with people watching, like me watching when other people do it. It would have taken me about 2 days to get the new alternator in and the car all together, but with Geoff and Chris there, we worked together and got it done in just a few hours, like less than 3.
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After cleaning up I drove around anxiously watching for trouble lights on the dash. I went to O’Reilly’s auto parts to see if they had something called splash shield clips. I had one in my pocket and showed it to the counterman. He spent considerable time trying to find the correct clip in his huge autobody catalog. After a while I said I had to be somewhere and I would try to find the Honda part number for him. I took off for the gas station restaurant where Geoff and Karen were having a pint and a pinot grigio, respectively. We had calamari with marinara dip and I of course treated them. They invited me to stop over on my way back to the boatyard, but I reneged, I was bushed.
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I texted them sorry I can’t make it, then started my research for the splash shield clips. I needed about a dozen and a half. The Honda part number is 700-080. I ordered a package of 20 online that came to 20 dollars including shipping and tax.
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I wanted to watch a March Madness basketball game but the Onn TV, from Walmart, about 4 years old or older, failed. A replacement will cost me $88. It’s only 32 inch screen, but I can’t really put anything bigger in the galley on the boat.
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A front with thunderstorms and heavy rain is on its way, so we will hunker down and watch some March Madness on the new TV. The image is of the engine compartment of CRV, Constant Repair Vehicle. The removed alternator is sitting up on the passenger side near the firewall. It is probably the original alternator and is 19 years old.

When I say I cooked shrimp ramen, don’t sidle away side eyeing me. It is a good recipe, not the simple boiled noodles with a flavor packet.
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First I prepped a red onion, small dice, and 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced. A ¼ lb of gouda cheese is thinly sliced. The frozen shrimp had been precooked, peeled, and deveined, after soaking in a pint of cold water the tails were removed and the shrimp set aside. A package of ramen noodles is boiled in the same pot and set aside. In the same pot a half stick of butter is melted and the onion is sauteed on very low heat for 5-10 minutes. The garlic goes in next and 4 tbsp of flour is dusted over the mix.
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Still under very low heat the mix is continually worked with a square ended spatula. Pepper, paprika, parsley flakes, and nutmeg are dusted on the mix. After about 3 minutes half and half is added, total of a pint, but only about a quarter cup added at a time. The mix has to bubble and thicken before adding more liquid. The square ended spatula makes it easy to prevent sauce burning to the bottom of the pot. ¼ cup of sherry is added as well as a couple tbsp of tomato paste. The reserved ramen noodles are added.
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When the mix is bubbling again and thickening, the gouda is added. Now it takes a while to smooth the mix out and get the gouda melted. Taste and adjust the spicing. Finally the shrimp is added and the heat is turned off. After about 5 more minutes the concoction is ready to eat. It is rich, creamy, tasty, perfect for a lunch.
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The Check Engine Light problem that we thought might be the vehicle speed sensor failing was fixed by replacing the speed sensor. There are two on the transmission, one for the input shaft and one for the output shaft. The output shaft sensor is responsible for speed data, and if it fails the speedometer doesn’t work, nor cruise control, plus the car goes into LIMP mode, won’t shift above 3rd gear. I had that sensor on hand and waited all weekend for the input shaft sensor to arrive.
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After picking up the sensor at the post office I asked Geoff if he wanted to work on the car, he said yes at 1 PM. It was 11 AM so I decided to take a stab at it. It is a very easy task, remove the air cleaner box, two small bolts and a ring clamp and you just wriggle the box out of the engine bay. The sensors are held onto the transmission with small bolts. I could only get the output sensor changed, the input sensor bolt was too difficult to access. I put it all back together and voila, car runs normally.
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Geoff was home at 1 PM and I could sense he was somewhat upset that he wouldn’t get to work on the transmission sensors. There was still the one that I hadn’t been able to change, and he seemed eager to change it, but I said I don’t think that will be necessary. There is another problem to deal with. The driver’s power window would jam on the way up, then come down a bit and park about halfway down. To close it you had to hold the window from the top, help it up while activating the up switch, and steer with your knees.
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I had watched a video on YouTube and I thought the removal of the door’s inner panel was not too difficult and if we could do that there must be some way of correcting the wayward window.
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Geoff started removing screws and things and amazingly, even though he had never seen the YouTube video, he was proceeding right along, step by step. Then we stopped. I knew there were a couple of phillips headed screws to take out but I couldn’t remember where they were. They were well hidden. Geoff said let’s go inside and watch the video.
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When Geoff played the video we watched and then ran outside when we knew where the hidden screws were. Curiously, 3 small nuts that held the outside mirror were loose, so I tightened them. Geoff pulled the plastic shield that was contact cemented to the door to expose the inner workings. There was a bolt loose that held the lower end of one of the window channels. We held the window in its proper place and tightened the bolt. It was better but still jammed on the way up. Geoff took a can of lubricant with a long tube and sprayed the lubricant on the window channels. The window now ran up and down perfectly. We put it all back together using some of Geoff’s double sticky tape to hold the plastic shield.
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There was another problem, an exhaust pinhole, but we couldn’t find it. We were happy with our mechanical conquests and agreed to meet at Southern River Walk where I would buy Geoff and his wife Karen adult beverages.
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Unfortunately I was wearing my old bright orange tee shirt and it was St Paddy’s day. Everyone was wearing green at the bar. I tried to conceal my shirt, it was under a black pullover with a small bit of orange showing at my throat.
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An old friend who hadn’t seen me in a long time came over staring at my shirt, don’t hate me I said.
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When I started the car I had the check engine light come on and two new trouble codes from the OBDII connector. P1077 and P0139, one referring to the intake runners and the other to the O2 sensors on the catalytic converter. I texted to Cornelia Marie, CRV stands for Constant Repair Vehicle.
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The next day, after some thought, I disconnected the battery to clear the trouble codes. I took a ride around town to see if they came on again. Maybe they will. The intake runner problem is a particularly difficult remedy. The beautiful intake manifold has to be removed along with the metal beam in front of it. Lots of 10mm bolts. Then a rotary valve mechanism has to be pulled out of the manifold and cleaned or replaced. I was not going to do any of that unless I really had to. I checked the vacuum hoses, which there are many. The other 02 problem would probably clear by using Cataclean, a fuel additive that costs about $26. I can’t put that in the tank until it gets down to ¼. Otherwise the car is running great, so far.
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I needed to come up with my next food adventure as well as replenish my supply of breakfast ingredients. I really liked the gouda cheese so I went to Walmart and got that. I already had celery and carrot that would go bad if I didn’t use it, so I got a big red onion to make mirepoix, and I decided to make Cream of Chicken Mushroom Florentine soup. Get spinach, half and half, chicken of course, more Irish butter. No trouble lights on the way back.
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I had a laundry day and later made the soup. It turned out great. First I boiled boneless skinless chicken thighs in a pint of water with a tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon, roast chicken flavor. While it was cooking I prepped celery, carrot, and onion. I set them aside and removed the chicken from the broth, then reserved the broth in paper bowls that I saved from our trip to Ormond Beach. Unfortunately the bowls became soggy and droopy and started dripping chicken broth. I was simultaneously sopping up broth, trying to reserve the broth from a leaky bowl into another one, maybe I could stem the tide, melting Irish butter for a roux, dumping the mirepoix into the butter, dusting the mixture with flour, going back again and again, scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent burnt roux, dicing chicken, slicing mushrooms, and prepping 3 cloves of garlic. Some of the broth was added to the mix and the roux began to thicken. A bag of spinach was tossed in, filling the pot completely, the garlic, thinly sliced went in. The chicken was finally diced and the mixture in the pot was now really thick, a quart of half and half went in. Keep mixing. Taste and season with ground pepper. Keep mixing and scraping. It was basically done, just needed more time. But it was time to head to the gas station restaurant for adult beverages with Geoff and Karen.
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When I came back I microwaved a healthy portion of the soup. Very good. I put 4 portions of about 3 cups each into the fridge. Very nutritious.
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I began working on the dinghy sail. It is extremely easy to fabricate. I used a 7X9 tarp from Harbor Freight to provide the polytarp material. The luff and foot use the edge of the tarp, so no cutting there. The leech and head meet at a point near the top edge of the tarp. Double sticky tape is stuck along the leech and head, backing removed, and the leech and head are folded over so that the tape forms a double layer of tarp along the edges of the sail. Next I will be installing grommets along the luff, one grommet at the peak of the sprit, and a grommet at the clew. The mast and sprit are 8 foot closet poles from Lowe’s.
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The image is from the D4 dinghy plans showing the sprit rig.

Geoff and I worked on the Honda CRV, which stands for Constant Repair Vehicle, and eventually got the suspension fixed, but there was still a persistent Check Engine Light and the vehicle going into LIMP mode. In the past the CEL would be cleared by using a product called Cataclean to clear an O2 sensor problem. Now it was something else, the car would not shift higher than 3rd gear, the speedometer stayed at zero, cruise control was unavailable, I found out that this was LIMP mode, designed to protect the engine and transmission when it sensed that there was a problem internally.
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The car worked normally after the suspension strut repair. I was ready for our trip down to Ormond Beach, FL. Only about 2 ½ hours, they say. I left in the morning, leaving extra time in case the CEL and LIMP mode affected us. They did.
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The Check Engine Light came on and the car went into LIMP mode as soon as I went forward with it to get out of the boatyard. I had a plan if that happened to keep on the local slower roads. I made it to RT17 instead of the Big Road, I-95. The speedometer stayed at zero but the tachometer was operative and I figured out that we were at 30 MPH when the tach was at 3000 RPM, so I could use that to estimate my speed.
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We went down RT17 as if going to Amelia Island, but continued, ending up going on I-95 through Jacksonville, traffic was slow and we were not slowing anyone else down. It was like driving to St Augustine on RT1, which we ended up on, but we kept on. Kept on keeping on. Engine light on. See that old guy driving below the speed limit, have pity on him.
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I ended up upping my limit to 4000 rpm and keeping in the right lane following a pickup truck with some loose cargo. They were going slow and I was following. I could blame them. It’s not me and the Constant Repair Vehicle, it’s them, that pickup truck. Then they exited. I was the slow one.
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I wondered if I was wrecking the transmission on the CRV. They say not to do what I am doing. I took an Ormand Beach exit and ended up driving down the beach after crossing the Halifax River. Halifax River is the ICW and I had come through here some time ago on a yacht delivery. I was looking for the Chateau Mar Beach Resort now, not an anchorage.
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The hotel came up on the left and I drove in.
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My daughter, son in law, and most importantly, grandson, arrived while I was up in the suite looking down on the parking lot. I was evaluating all the cars, which was the most derelict, which was the most luxurious, the CRV was, you know, not the most luxurious, then a nice white BMW rolled in. How nice, my phone rang, it was my son in law, we’re here, no, it can’t be, yes, they rolled in with a BMW rental and I went down to greet them and ended up helping them schlep up tons of gear. The baby needs a lot of stuff.
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The reaction of them when they saw the suite was, as I expected, wondering where the furniture was, no furniture.
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When I booked the 2 room suite at Chateau Mar, I did it through Priceline and jumped at the chance for a 2 room suite on the beach at Ormond Beach at a 3 ½ star hotel. To get a deal like this Priceline will not name the hotel and the booking is nonrefundable.
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After I booked I was able to identify the hotel and look at the amenities. It looked great with a pool, beautiful rooms with water views, really great. Then I began reading the reviews.
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Strangely there were a lot of 5 star reviews but also a lot of 1 star reviews, and 1 is as low as you can go. I began reading them and became concerned. Some said don’t believe the photos or the 3 ½ star rating. Concerns included cockroach infestations, rooms with no mirror in the bathroom, bathroom door punched in, grimy floors, stained bedding, no chairs or tables in the room, doors that won’t lock, doors that won’t latch, no phone to the front desk, no one at the front desk after 8PM, groups of partying druggies, loud at night, loud motorcycles. And here I was booking for the week following Daytona Bike Week, and the week I was booking was Spring Break.
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So, it is important for me to give my own review and what I think is really going on at that hotel.
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My first impression was that the facade and entrance to the internal parking lot was impressive, columns, tiled driveway, looked the part of a 3 ½ star hotel. I checked in about a half hour earlier than scheduled with no problem with the staff. It seemed like the staff was very busy and occupied, but I had my keys to the room and I went up to see it. On the 3rd floor.
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There is a small elevator, but large enough for about a half dozen people or maybe a couple of staff with a cart and it took 15 seconds for it to climb from floor 1 to floor 3. The room was a short distance from the elevator and provided a view of the Atlantic Ocean and some nice surf.
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The room had two bedroom spaces, a living area space, and of course a bathroom and a nook with a full sized refrigerator. There was a microwave oven and a small coffee maker. They were situated on top of the fridge. Each of the two beds had a flat screen tv and an end table. The only other furniture was a small patio table and two chairs outside on the balcony. The floor was large tile and was not super clean. Anyone who walked into the suite with their shoes on would leave beach sand etc. I do believe the staff mops each room or suite when they turn them over, but I don’t think they provide any maid service, although if you ask them for anything you can probably get it. I was paying for a two room suite for less than half of what a lot of other hotels were charging for a single room. But I got what I paid for.
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The sunset view was marvelous. We had great weather, not quite warm enough to go jump in the ocean, for me, but there were a few who did, no spring break
crowds, a couple of bikers, some motorcycle noise from the local streets.
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The bathroom was a perfectly normal motel bathroom, a little threadbare here and there, but in good shape with good flow of water, hot and cold.
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The main street here is bleak, but we are not here to see that, we are here to see the beach, that is the 5 star view.
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At some point I asked my daughter how she would rate the hotel and she said “1”.
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3 and 4 star hotels have gyms, spas, maybe a restaurant, room service, laundry facilities, but not this one. It is not a 3 ½ star hotel, at this time. At some point when I was down to the car I was asked to move it for a truck to enter. I asked jokingly if it was our furniture. It was furniture.
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My guess is that this hotel was purchased after storm damage and is under renovation and maybe considering recent years of storm damage on the Florida coast, maybe renovation is a never ending thing. Perhaps another storm will come through and the suites will need new furniture again. The staff said internet and wifi have been out of action for 6 months after a storm last Fall.
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It looks like the hotel is offering cut rate rooms and slowly completing their renovation with what money they have. Staff said there are two suites complete, two that are bare, and ones like ours that are half complete. He said maybe in two months, July?, all suites will have all their basic furniture.
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What we did was add a folding table from Walmart and a couple of camping chairs. We weren’t there to hang around in a hotel room anyway. It worked out, not luxurious, but Spartan.
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All I can say about our stay is that my grandson is a gem of a kid, just a little tot, learning how to crawl and trying to verbalize. Charming. He waves at me and smiles, I tickle him.
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We had excellent food at the local restaurants. We put-put golfed at Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf, very recommended. My grandson enjoyed it while we played through, developing a thirst. Next door was Riley’s Coney House. Hot dogs and more. Really good.
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I was cajoled into going to Charlie Horse, right down the street. Excellent choice. Lots of kids. Grandson in his high chair interacting.
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He seems to attract other kids and also adults. He’s going to be a troublemaker soon. Charming, and going to take apart everything he gets his hands into.
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Other activities included the boardwalk at Daytona Beach, hiking at Ormond Beach Environmental Center, and hiking at Tomoka State Park. The state park reminded me of Crooked River up in Georgia. I was bushed by all the hiking.
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The next day I disconnected the battery on the CRV to clear the Check Engine Light and maybe get it to run properly and not go into LIMP mode. The engine light did not remain cleared for long, as soon as the car rolled forward it came on.
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To drive the car any distance in LIMP mode can lead to mechanical damage. I needed to keep the car down slow, at 3000 RPM’s or less. I planned a return route to the boatyard along slower roads, like the beach roads. We had a long way to go, so I pored over the street maps on Google all the way up the coast from Ormond Beach, FL, to St Marys, GA. There were a couple of sections where the slower beach roads weren’t available and there I had to go more inland and try not to get onto I-95, basically an 80 MPH road.
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I could drive along the beach up through Ormond by the Sea, Flagler Beach, Hammock, Fort Matanzas, and on into St. Augustine. There I had to cross a bridge to Ponte Vedra where the golf Players Championship was underway. The traffic there was thick and slow.
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Most of the way was very pleasant driving, stuck in 3rd due to LIMP mode, going along at about 35-45 mph. In some places I was holding up traffic and pulled off. I found I wasn’t really holding anyone up much at all, except on the faster sections.
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I planned to go North from Ponte Vedra to Mayport near Jacksonville, take the little ferry there and proceed on A1A onto Amelia Island and then take RT17 to St Marys Road, the rest being local driving to the boatyard.
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At some point I manually put the transmission into D3 mode to try to help it from self destruction. In LIMP mode the car is trying to shift gears, etc., with the caveat that some of the sensors are bad, so whatever algorithms they are using to manage the engine and transmission are going to use stock generic values. It’s as if the car’s AI has gone dead.
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After the ferry ride, which was very nice and not too long, I refueled and the speedometer began working again, although the transmission would not upshift when I took it out of D3. Then a while later it shifted with a bang noise and the car was operating normally. It didn’t make much difference in my rate of progress, these roads were slow, that’s why I chose them. Still, I was making very good time. I needed to shop for food, the boat was empty.
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I went to the Walmart at Amelia Plaza and found it had very few groceries. I went up the road to Yulee and shopped at a much larger Walmart. I was looking for langostinos. Unfortunately they didn’t have them there. I settled for shrimp as a replacement for the Trader Joe’s Langostino Bisue Pasta recipe. Try saying that 3 times fast.
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I arrived in St Marys with the car operating normally and picked up a car part at the post office. This was the output shaft speed sensor, a likely culprit in the Check Engine Light problem, but the other sensor, the input shaft sensor, was on its way from Jacksonville, and according to the post office, due to be delivered by 9PM tomorrow, Saturday, only the post office closes at noon. If the part wasn’t there early I wouldn’t be able to get it until Monday.
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I asked the clerk would I be able to pick it up before noon tomorrow and he nodded and said yeah, it should be here. I asked him if he wanted to bet on that and he laughed. It ended up not arriving.
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The image is of the full moon which later was total eclipse around 2AM. I got to see it.

OK, I have to admit poor planning and poor performance. The right front strut on the CRV was broken. I needed to replace it right away. I was advised to order from Rock Auto. No way. I ended up ordering from a semi local distributor on eBay who would have it here in 3 days. Free shipping.
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It arrived and it did not have the front coil spring on it, it was the strut without the spring. Well, we'll just move the old spring and associated parts, probably work out better, both front springs would be more alike.
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Geoff has a spring compressor, which I have worked with before long ago. It's like two hooks on a threaded rod. You have one on one side of the spring and the other on the other. The hooks grab the coils of the spring, the threaded rod lets you tighten them up and voila, the spring is compressed. Then you can take the strut apart and relocate those parts to the new strut.
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Geoff said come on over, he had air tools, I wanted to pop off the wheel and see what we got, we could do it there more easily. It was very easy for me, Geoff got in there with a breaker bar and broke free the lug nuts, then air wrenched them off, zip, zip, and off came the wheel.
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The strut failure was due to the spring breaking, so we had a replacement strut but no replacement spring. We went inside and cleaned up, looked at auto parts on line.
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I felt very grubby, unwashed, dirty from car work. We ended up ordering a replacement, with spring attached, from Rock Auto. I did not order from them just a couple days ago, because of very high shipping cost. Geoff searched now and his shipping cost was a lot less. I ended up letting him use my credit card to purchase the replacement.
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The car was exhibiting some other strange problems. When you parked, sometimes, it would not let you shift from Drive up through Neutral to Reverse or Park. Then I had engine light come on, speedometer go to zero, cruise control stopped working, and it seemed like the transmission is stuck in 3rd gear. Also the car would surge and slow, very strange.
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I cleaned up and went to join them down at the Southern River Walk restaurant. I had some bean soup there. Geoff said come on over for dinner. OK. It will be wine for me, but he made something called Crawdad Etufee, or something like that, Creole dish. I liked it and helped him and Karen drink wine.
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Lawyer John Morgan is forming a new political party in Florida. He is very successful. It sounds like he wants to create a centrist party. Dumb idea. That's like stepping into No Man's Land and and saying, "Here I am, who wants to hit me?". The political machine will go at him from both sides. But I like the idea of not having the Ship of State going off to a right handed helmsman for a while, then going to a left handed one. I don't drive like that, and I hope you don't either.
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Finding that middle course is difficult, because the rabblerousers try to paint extreme on everyone. You"re a Commie or a Nazi, come on, almost none of us are any of that. Political rhetoric.
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We have to face up to our deficit, that's the big problem, not government waste or inefficiency. You want to fire all the government workers and reduce aid to those that really need it. It's our congress that disperses money. There are plenty of safeguards and oversight to keep things in check. We need to pay down the debt at a sustainable rate, not give tax breaks to the rich.
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I don't want a surf-less society, I want a serf-less society.
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But I am not a Florida or Georgia voter.
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A front came through in the morning with gale force winds and a ton of rain. It was very abrupt and quick. Power was out. Geoff texted me that the new strut had come in. We started all over again. Remove the wheel, remove the castellated nut on the tie rod end knuckle, remove the two large pinch bolts, the two small retaining bolts for the wheel sensor and brake line, and remove the 3 nuts at the top of the strut to release it from the car. Out it came, rusty with a broken spring.
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The new strut was somewhat difficult to line up, first the three top studs have to be inserted through the inner fender and nuts loosely tightened, then the wheel and lower arm have to be lined up with the bottom of the strut and the pinch bolts replaced and tightened to 33 ft lbs. The tie rod end is refastened to the steering arm on the strut and the retaining bolts for the brakes and wheel sensor are refastened.
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A quick roll down the driveway revealed the alignment was way off, way toed out. How could it be so far out? We put it back up on the jack and removed the wheel. Geoff needed to put a torch on the tie rod end to loosen it and adjust it. He aligned by eye and I took it for a test ride. Did not pull to either side, seemed to be driveable.
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Geoff had done almost all the work on this and it came to about an hour and a half. I bought them drinks at the corner restaurant, but only later did he explain to me that the restaurant was comping him for work he had done there refinishing tables and lighting their outdoor sign. There was no charge for their drinks.
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I had had a molar crown come off and I saved it in a zip lok bag after cleaning with denatured alcohol. A local dentist took me in and quickly recemented the crown. I then drove up to Tires Plus to have the Honda properly aligned. After about an hour they were done and didn't charge me for the alignment. The front end could not be properly aligned and rear couldn't be aligned at all due to rust. I was only interested in the front end alignment. The detailed print out of the results showed the left front being out of alignment by .03 degrees. 3 hundredths of a degree. I was happy, no charge and the car was good to go.
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The other weird problems did not return. I called an automatic transmission expert friend in Hawaii about what symptoms I was seeing and he said it's probably the output shaft speed sensor. It could be the sensor or associated wiring.
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The crazy misalignment when we replaced the strut seemed to be related to the broken spring. When the car was inspected in Crisfield, MD, they replaced the left tie rod end and I assume they did a front end alignment. Neither of us caught the broken spring at that time, that's when I had replaced the front brakes. Geoff said the right end of the tie rod was bent, probably due to hitting a pothole or curb and that was probably when the spring was broken. So when the shop in Crisfield aligned the left tie rod end, that alignment was no good, now, when the new strut went in.
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Spring Break is upon us and my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson are arriving in Orlando and we will be meeting up at Ormond Beach for the week. Hopefully the Honda will make the 2 hour trip without breaking down. The image is of Ormond Beach.

It's like someone threw the switch and it's no longer winter, it's summer. Eighty degrees. I washed some plywood. How crazy is that. It was stained and will probably have to be replaced. I was recovering from a tooth extraction and some of the meds were wearing off. I was aware I might be woozy or do things unusual.
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I needed to eat something like soup and all I had to do was drive a couple miles up to Pirate's Point, the gas station restaurant, and get some soup. I made a quick call to a friend about getting a new phone and we both got off just in time for me to drive up to the restaurant. I should text Geoff and Karen that I will be there for Happy Hour, but there they are rolling up in her Miata, it is I think the Club version or M version, it is very desirable.
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I went in to the bar, or I should say, out to the bar, it was outside. Cece, the bartender and de facto runner of the restaurant pretended not to know what wine I drank. I am so particular. She had a shirt that said "Cat Woman". She asked if I had arranged to meet Geoff and Karen and I said no. She was already pouring drinks for them when they came in. How did she know?
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"No soup for you", that's not what she said, but there was no soup today, maybe tomorrow. I savored my pinot noir. I ended up having two although the dentist's print out said no alcohol. Aw, come on.
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Geoff invited me for gumbo, and he makes the best, but I had to retire. At the car I noticed it had a lean to the right. It had to be on a level ground like this to see it. I flagged down Geoff as he was leaving, does this look right to you? He thought the spring in front was broken. I thanked him and we left. I was waylaid though, I saw the sun setting like a bright red orb and took a side street.
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There was a family there on bicycles. I took a photo of the sun, not of them. I drove on and they were all over the road, going towards Land's End.
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I had microwaved meatballs with parmesan shaved on top. I posted a previous post. I looked up replacement parts for a Honda CRV front end. Both front struts, including springs would be less than 200 dollars. I should probably also replace the rear shock absorbers.
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I counseled a friend to get a Samsung Galaxy S20+ as his replacement for an older phone that had literally bit the dust. I think that is the last Samsung Galaxy flagship that had the replaceable memory chip, like an SD card, very small. I still have my old S20+, it is a beautiful phone. But they improve, year to year. After a few years the improvements add up and when you compare an older phone with one of the newer phones, the difference is remarkable. The S20+ is not that old, and I think the way the case and screen have rounded edges, it's like something nice, not like my S23+, which is not pale blue and rounded, it is black, like a slab of cold stone, but it moves quickly and the display is unreal. The cameras do a great job. I can wait some time to replace this one.
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The wind piped up today, maybe 25, gusty, and the small boats went out from the relocated floating dock. There was a Hobie adventure triple canoe, he got out OK and scooted up the river. The other was the Chesapeake Light Craft dinghy kit, the one with red sails, such a sweet boat. Worth every penny.
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The red sailed dinghy struggled to get away from the dock and was rigged with a lug sail. The lug sail lets you adjust the rig and get it balanced perfectly. I've never sailed like that. Even if I thought I did. He got it sailing. I hope I present a better instructional video when I sail my dinghy.
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Geoff wanted me to buy a strut(s) from Rock Auto, online. So, I now had a weird sequence of calls and texts.
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The Rock Auto Geoff wanted me to buy from had sold me a pair of lower ball joints for a Mazda Miata years ago. They say to replace them at something like 60,000 miles and this car was more than twice that, so I replaced them with ball joints from Rock Auto.

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Back then I was working in Northern Virginia. I had a 68 mile commute to the office. I went to a client that was at least as far and when I pulled into the parking lot, I thought I had hit a pothole. It was one of the new ball joints, failed after less than 100 miles. AAA flatbedded the Miata back home and I replaced the broken ball joint with one from a local auto parts store.
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My friend Marco called and said he was at the Ravens' stadium, done for the day, let's go drinking at Fell's Point. I picked him up and was in the middle of telling him about the broken ball joint when, blam, the other Rock Auto ball joint failed. I was flat bedded again home.
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So, I did not buy a replacement strut for the Honda CRV from Rock Auto. They had a good deal on one, closeout, but no estimate on shipping time. I instead bought one on eBay with 3 day delivery. It was ten bucks cheaper than the closeout special.
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I was advised to replace both struts in the front at the same time, but I decided to replace the broken one, see how that went, then replace the other if necessary and get the front end aligned. The car seemed to be driving OK as is.
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The image is of my grandson Ike in Oxford, UK. He and his folks will be visiting just South of me next week. He is one cute keiki.