Working, Working, Working

Alot has been going on aboard Island Queen. The bottom of the boat is nearly done. The rudder has been modified and will be back in tomorrow. We replaced the cutless bearings and started installing the drive shaft today. It should also be finished tomorrow. It seems that everything I do opens another can of worms, but hopefully we are just about out of new cans.My brother Scott and my friend John came down. They were supposed to stay a week. John had to go back to Indiana after three days for a family issue. Scott ended up staying two weeks and helped with alot of fiberglass work and painting. It was a big help. He glassed in the bow thruster tube and did alot of other needed repairs.

It will be three weeks tomorrow that we have been out of the water. We have gotten so much done, but there is still alot to do. I am not sure we will get it done in our 4 week time goal. We desperately want to get done and get out of here. A boatyard is not a fun place to be, but this one is really bad. They do not have pump out service here so we have to use the boatyard bathroom. It is about the worst I have ever seen and I once lived in a third world country and traveled to others. It is gross beyond description. The owners do not take care of it. Sharon and I spent about two hours cleaning it when we first got here. Other tenants help clean it as well. There is no hot water for the shower. I finally got our water heater hooked back up yesterday and had my first hot shower in nearly three weeks. Soon though we will be done and this will only be a bad memory.

Metal cut and ready to be welded to the rudder. 

Scott fiberglassing the tube.

Bow thruster tube from inside the boat.

Scott gettin ready to mis up some more epoxy.

Me grinding off 37 years of paint.