10 July: Wednesday is Adrian's boat watch day and he spends the day going from boat to boat and providing housekeeping chores: we have the day off. Between the heat and the long days of work, it's exhausting when it's day after day, so it's nice to have a day with no scheduled work.

We met Dave and Liska from S/V Vagabon (sic) (home port Seattle) a week ago as they were walking the docks one night. They made the crossing from Puerto Vallarta to Nuku Hiva just this season and were plagued with bad equipment failures that soured their willingness to continue: a common end to many voyages. They decided to sell their Island Packet 34 and head home, so we spent a few hours last evening with them, consuming a bottle of champaign that they'd earmarked for a successful crossing celebration. They said that now it'll celebrate the hopes for a successful boat sale, and we hope that they are. They're very nice people and each group took to the other quickly. Dave, a nurse practitioner by trade, had worked in Alaska for various native corporations and oil companies for many years so was drawn to our "Anchorage, Alaska" home port emblazoned on our stern. He has some terribly funny but poignant stories to tell about being the medical person in many Alaskan bush communities.

The rest of the day, we took on light but important chores. With Conni's extremely valuable help, we completed the reinstallation of the forward dorade vent that was dislodged by a bucking dinghy during our trip from Raiatea to Tahiti. Hopefully, it'll hold. Since the fiberglass had several pieces missing when it was dislodged, I had to re-glass several sections and wait the curing time. When done, there were a few hours of sanding, then Conni and I drilled holes, caulked the ring, and re-assembled the entire thing. It wasn't a difficult project, but required some time to complete.

A northeast wind was blowing, and pushing Wings directly into the damned quay. Grrr... We burst one fender in the slamming, and it was not a restful night. The seas were rough and we got NO sleep at all, so awakened a bit grumpy and tired this morning, 11 June. Walking around the boat was like doing so during a crossing: take a step only while holding on to something.

12 July Adrian and a third helper arrived at the usual 0800. The helper, Gabriel, is from Patagonia. Not a trained mechanic, he knows how to be helpful and he made several breath-holding dives to make measurements on our prop shaft.

Today's big task was to ascertain whether we should shorten the prop shaft to account for our new engine position and the large coupling. Moving the engine back and forth and side to side to try and center it was accomplished, and then Gabriel took one of his many dives. In the end, with Adrian, Conni, Gabriel, and I working on the task, we finally ascertained that we needed to remove 3-inches of prop shaft in order to remove the keyway at the inside end and we could accomplish that while allowing the propeller hub sufficient distance from the strut, and with enough clearance for the propeller to turn with clearance with the hull. If we were wrong, we'd have to have a new propeller shaft made here: not ideal. Adrian used an angle grinder powered by our Honda generator, and I turned the shaft by hand and after a half-hour of patient work, we were done. We cleaned the cut end with my flat file and some fine sandpaper, slipped on the coupling, and voila, we were done. It was quite a day's work.

We also removed several hoses that were new 35-years ago. The exhaust hose removal required all three (Gabriel, Adrian, and me) an hour to remove it was so stiff and hard to follow, but it's now on the dock with a few more choice pieces of ratty old hose. We also began to re-assemble the engine so that we could get a good feel for the fit. Unfortunately, I had to cut our cabinetry a bit to accommodate the heat exchanger, but lucky for us, I have an oscillating saw that was a great help. Now, we can slide the engine as far aft as needed for the transmission flange to meet the new coupling. Later, I'll smear the cut wood surfaces with epoxy to waterproof the cut wood, and perhaps add some paint. The engine sits well back from the engine compartment front and we think that we'll be able to fit the remote oil filter, siphon break, and coolant reservoir. You know what a siphon is: with it you can remove fuel from a fuel tank into a tank sitting lower, as long as the hose is full. On a boat, you can pump water overboard but if the output port is under water, a siphon can form and seawater will fill the boat. A siphon break prevents that. They're simple, cheap, and totally effective. We also think that we'll have space to install the expensive and extremely efficient sound insulation that we bought with the engine. It's three-layer stuff: closed cell foam, aluminum sheet, and lead sheet, so it'll reduce engine noise dramatically, we hope.

Tomorrow, we'll make some final measurements and remove the engine from the stringers in preparation for final placement. I'll clean the damned bilge...again, and we'll epoxy any areas that need it. With the engine out, all of this will be much easier. We'll have things ready to replace engine for final fitting. When that's done, we'll start connecting fuel and electrical connections, and work on the control panel.

We're about 65-70% complete, I'd guess. Conni says that we have about 32 more days here, so we should have a few weeks to play when we're done.