245 Days 15 hours and 45 minutes

We just finished our drive train project.

I had to put that on its own line so I could look at it, savor it, smile, and yet I can't stop myself from looking over my shoulder waiting for the next shoe to drop, because on this boat there's always been a next shoe. But for now, 245 days 15 hours and 45 minutes later, we are finished. The engine is purring on its new engine mounts so quietly that you can actually have a conversation over it in the salon. The tranny is shifting into gear so smoothly that for a moment I thought it hadn't gone into gear at all as I had only heard a small "click", not the "clunk" followed by the lurch that used to signal a change in gear. The V-drive is not clunking, pounding, grinding, or squeeling.

Oh, and I forgot, Kintala has her name proudly displayed on her stern sides. 

Not to say there weren't a few tense moments last night. As Tim posted yesterday, when we put the engine in gear the shaft was moving a bit in concentric circles. The general consensus is that the shaft is slightly bent and the dripless seal with its bellows is allowing movement that a 40-year aviation mechanic (aka Tim) deems unacceptable, but the resident mechanic here says will be fine until we can get the boat to Chicago and change the shaft, dripless seal and cutlass bearing. Since We.Know.Not in most things marine, we have to trust his judgement and hope that the tranny and V-drive will survive minimal usage between now and then. In the mean time, we plod on. Tim will change the engine oil next week and we'll begin to move forward and backward in the 2 slips here till we're sure we can go, and then it's on to Coles Creek.  Yayyyyyyy!