STILL GOING

A PARSON'S LANDING
B EMERALD BAY
C ISTHMUS
D CATALINA HARBOR
E LITTLE HARBOR


After things cooling off as usual, our beloved island awaits our presents...

summer still booming actually just started to get really HOT...

best name for the boat

I feel that Mr. Edward D. King picked a perfect name for the boat back in 1948...
After our nasty fight we had an amazing weekend again at Emerald... there is really something about this spot...very relaxing and just us, so there was no pressure about entertainment. Incredible weather through out. Jumping off the rock by the SE part of the bay is getting better and better but I have to figure out how to shoot it... ran into this one guy who jumps in head first which is really what I used to do, back in the days... oh well

new chapter

One door closes an other opens. Big fight... lots of yelling and lots of anger... on both sides... it is all about $$$$$$$$ and not speaking the same language...which is the worst for me

hey what do you expect when you dealing with a DeSedle?

Welcome to the age of the Zimmerfucks!!!!



It is OVER!!! I'll be seeing you cutie.
I do not like when it gets like this... hey but the Bagarre is alive...

the contest continues...

Could this be a fake photo?...

These were from our guests camera....

KINGPIN

Martell and her husband Jose... finally we got to get her on the boat... like the title says without her... you get the point.

cutie

And the master of ceremonies

4th of

Morning crossing with the Hinchcliffers... excellent and lucky to say the least. Got anchorage because the sail vessel was just pulling out as we arrived. Great speed at the crossing, 16 knots range. A day before I replaced the racor filters and cleaned the bottom (spend almost 6 hours) and boy it made a great difference. Basin G is the filthiest lately... I had so much oily s..t on the bottom that it took me a long time to remove it. Anyway Emerald was busy but not so crazy like last year. Anchored in 48 feet of water right next to TETU a really nice vessel from up north. Later on the weekend we asked them for some Olive oil (we ran out) and got them giving us some for cooking. Great neighbors. The two day weekend was all about taking care of BABA. We all pitched in and loved it. No diving but the schedule was packed....

MOOD

Let the pictures speak for themselves...

emerald

Rocking and rolling for the most part one of our guest had to take dramamine but than she became better, Nothing serious but still not as calm as last time out. I liked it... lots of energy.

Here it is for the asking....

BAGARRE meaning....fighting, fight, scuffle, brawl, brawling, struggle, slugfest, tussle, war, hassle, rough-house, scrimmage, rumpus, fisticuffs, rowdyism, ruction, fraying...

Well it is on full force before the 4th of July festivities....

instrument panel

Well the weather is the worst I have seen for CA... so much for global warming.... or should I say global cooling? So tired of some kind of a calamity always in the news. Anyway I had put on 30 hours or so on the new V-drives and picked up an other knot and a half. Love that... Instrument panel upgrade and starting to work on the new swim deck... also finishing the entry system for Bagarre... lot of the stuff will be put under neath it... also lightening her. Lucas is off the project because discussion of Obama's actions are not allowed (I guess) or not liked by him. He has not called in 4 weeks and I think I just got it ... he is from Canada so socialism and communism for him is the answer to everything. Plus in his opinion Obama can not do wrong... He is not alone with this by the way. Very hard for me to digest escaping communist Hungary and sometimes it feels like that it has followed me over here. Enough of politics... Hope the weather changes soon... want some sunshine... com' on. You must be tired of Emerald but look at that water and this was on Easter.

the australians by large

Kirsty and her sister with the whole family arriving around 11:00 AM and coming aboard in 3 hours or so.... long flight and still wanting to get rocked to sleep. Trip over to the island went well... little Sasha slept all the way over but did not do so well once we anchored... she got so sick poor little thing that we had to rush her to the hospital in Avalon. Actually they took her in a boat belonging to the Coast Guards and we followed.



We had to spend a lot of time on the land because she never really got used to all the movement. She got better as the weekend went on but still we could tell how she'd change physically and her mood once on solid ground.

first time out

Emerald Bay had to be the first spot we go to... left in the morning because did not want to do a night crossing while being first out with the rebuilt v's. The crossing actually was very rough for the morning, usually it is a lot more calm. Anyway I took it easy and everything seemed fine except for the air vents on the boxes. They were leaking oil out. After looking at them I decided that the routing was such that no oil could drip back to the case and that is why oil was spewing out of them. On the way back, again instead of rough conditions (because it is always rougher in the late afternoon) we had almost nothing as far as movement. About 10NM out we had the dolphins welcoming us back in the circulation. Everything was fine on the way back.

first time out since September

John came over and helped me with trying of the new units. Everything checks out but the starboard side is making a noise since the bottom gear is brand new and the top gear (input shaft) is 60 years old. The noise is rather like a whistle get very noticable at 1200RPM after that it is not bad at all. Nothing on the port side... boy every time I think of that I get the chills. Darlene did not want to rebuild the starboard side she wanted to only deal with the unit which was giving us the trouble. I am glad that i convinced her that we need to do both side. As it turns out the Starboard side was way worse than the Port side, also the side I am talking about did not even have the flexibility required, by replacing the AJAX coupling. After studying the Blue Prints sent by Huckins I am understanding, what and how things should function. We tried our best and the rest is not up to me but rather her. She was so happy to be out there just cruising along in Santa Monica Bay. I am shooting a video of the whole thing just in case you wanted to see it.

assembly

By looking at the blue prints flex couplings were needed to protect the v-drives form miss alignment while on way, the Pacific gets pretty rough so things must move and if nothing allows for that, than everything transfers to the case and to the gears. Very long hours and limited amount of space makes this a very trying installation. Of course the shafts also had to be shortened so the flex will fit. Alignment is crucial and we did the best we could 10 thousands were allowed for the flex and we were able to get it within 6. The port side is an other question. Tomorrow I'll know if the engine will have to be raised and shimmed. So I'll have to build a contraption of some kind... God knows how complicated that is going to be... day by the day but we are closer and closer...

2009 and the progress

Well everything had to be made by hand, nothing is available for these units... Yet we were lucky enough to be able to replace one of the shafts. There were 2 teeth missing from the lower output shaft. We have been using the boat this way since we bought it. I do not think I broke the teeth plus we could not find the pieces inside the case. Also it is quite noticeable on the starboard side that someone has changed the couplings since we still had the original ajax flexible on the port side... anyway ... everything will have to be aligned and get as close to perfect as possible... Thanks to God John has a great machine shop and everything had to be made over there in East LA. I never had so many things go so wrong while rebuilding these babies... I often think that they were not worth it but that is just me thinking since the parts alone cost close to 5 grand. Blah... blah... blah... we are still not done.

x-mas

The flexible couplings are here and I had put together the port side V-drive with a 3/64 (were sold as a 1/16), 1/32, and 2 1/64 handmade gaskets to get the 0.007 clearance between teeth. I had to take the drive apart and kept on measuring to get it just right. In the meantime the flexible couplings have arrived so the shaft will have to be taken out and dealt with. It will need a shortening. Looked up Steyr motors for retrofitting boats with new technology... must say it is a great design and could be used as a hybrid. Boy that is very interesting and hey it comes from Austria... how is that for being on the edge of things?

a week before x-mas

So, I guess the units are ready to be put together and than they need to be aligned in a way that everything is in line and working just the way they were designed to. Have to take the shafts out and they will have to be shortened. The key way have to be lengthened and doing this on site might not be so easy. Taking the shafts out of the boat is not exactly what I would call an easy job. The new shaft hasn't arrived yet so if everything is on time it'll be here tomorrow. Have to make shims and also have to come up with a system where the engines can be lifted and positioned for alignment. I wish I was at that moment already. Not just yet but the day is coming.

huckins blueprint

The original blueprints are showing the Ajax flexible couplings and since they are no longer avail. to reproduce the same results...and not to even mention protecting the gears in the V-drive. I think the flexible coupling is what has to be done to reduce misalignment and flexing and anything which might want to transfer from the boat flexing while it is on her way. Pacific Ocean can get pretty rough and we are moving so there is impact and things get hammered. The shaft will have to be removed and shortened of course. Alignment will also be crucial.

Port side

Here we go with the prep work... everything has to be made by hand. Gaskets in different thicknesses and this very funny looking rubber gasket for the oil cooler. We already bought the material which will be used to cast the gasket... we hope. Did I mention that Huckins have a brand new shaft for the Starboard side, lower shaft with 29 teeth. I was ready to put it together like it was with two of the teeth broken (we have been ridding it like that for 2 and a half years, since we owned her and God knows how long the previous owners have been ridding it like this) and was going to start looking for drives and shafts. It is a pain that these v-drives are obsolete, everyone who has seen them said that they are a piece of art. Finding someone who makes these shafts from scratch would be an other story all together.

V-drive and the rest of the story

Well I did remove the drive on the starboard side and boy am I happy that I did it. The coupling was giving me a hard time but was able to take it apart. I certainly did not want to cut it off like I had to, on the other side. Starboard side was not giving me any trouble at all but I felt something was wrong while turning the shaft. Well as it turns out two of the teeth are broken but not by us since I did not find any broken tooth at all in the case. It is very disturbing to me that we have to deal with this... have no idea how? Was told that the only person who could make this shaft is on the east coast. I am going to call the factory on Monday and want to talk to them about this.