Wednesday, October 26, 2011

And the beat...

...goes on.

A puzzled V-drive guru called today.  It appears that the drive coupling flange isn't actually one of theirs, sooo...at the moment it is a complete unknown as to how this particular V-drive got mated to this particular tranny, when, and by whom.  Why the drive was so badly trashed is partly explained though.  It seems the mystery tranny coupling provides a good bit of the support for the drive gears.  When the bolts in that coupling started to fail the drive gears started to move, grinding against the case as they rotated around.  (No clue as to why the bolts started to fail.) 

Since boats are not required to have maintenance log books it would not appear there is any way to know who did the modification, or why.  Eventually we will figure out some way to make it work, though no word yet on this unit being fixed.  We may still be required to pry loose a SBU or two for new.  All of which brought up an entirely new train of thought.

If the $$ flowing into Kintala were water she would plummet to the bottom faster than the Titanic.  So it amazes me how many seaworthy boats are out there, cruising on a modest budget.  And it is no wonder shore side dwellers think all sailors must be rich, or at least were rich when they got into sailboats.  Its kind of like an old boss of mine used to say, "I know there are millions of dollars in aviation, I put them there." 

I know the feeling...

2 comments:

S/V Veranda said...

Stay the course. In a year the past will be well in the past. It'll be worth it, I swear.

TJ said...

Thanks, we will tough it out. Besides, one good thing about an economy being flat on its ass is that we really don't have a lot of choice. Who want's a 30 year old sailboat with no v-drive, no tranny, and no hatches, located a thousand miles from the nearest ocean?