Bad news today. I took the shaft and couplings to Savannah today to have them fitted and cut by Champion Machine Shop. The shafts are too short! We will need new ones since we are eliminating the tapered shaft which required a longer coupling and an additional couple of inches. We also decided today to change the coupling to split couplings to make them easier to remove in the future and to provide us with an additional 1/2" or so, and according to Champion, we will have no problem with the strength of the coupling.

Console nearing completion. Another full day when power is back on and I should be finished with the work at the console. We decided to simplify the fuel filtering, valves, and hoses in the bildge and use a fuel transfer pump to transfer fuel from the forward tank to the aft tank as fuel is required. The forward tank will serve as a reserve tank and fuel transfer will be controlled by a mechanical timer switch located in the protected equipment cabinet above the console. I ran that wiring today and ordered a simple switch for this from a company in California which should be delivered on Monday or Tuesday.

We will also be changing the stuffing boxes to "dripless". These newer types of dripless shaft seals should require less space than the current stuffing boxes and space between the transmission and the stuffing box is minimal at 14 or 15 inches.

Today the starboard engine is sitting in place! The port engine has been sitting on the engine mounts and were tack welded in place yesterday. We are checking to insure the starboard engine will sit in the exact mirror image position as the port engine so that the mounts can be fabricated based on the port engine and simplify the process. Once both are fabricated and tacked in place, the engines will come back out, engine room cleaned up and painted while the mounts are permanently welded and painted, then engines re-installed.

You must try this recipe. Thank YOU Jeff for forwarding this from the "Offshore Adventures" website from Red Lobster. A different way to present the snapper for dinner. Very tasty. I can't wait to try the ceviche, especially offshore next time.

2 medium white onions, chopped4 tbs. butter 1 ½ tsp. curry powder1 tsp. fish bullion, Dashi recommended2 cups heavy whipping cream2 Serrano peppers, chopped 1/8 tsp. Japanese red chili peppers 2 lbs. Dog-Tooth snapper (also known as Pargo)2 tbs. soy sauce4 tbs. extra virgin olive oil2 scallions, julienned 1 tsp. black sesame seeds
Pasta:Fill a large pot with cold water. Add salt and olive oil. Bring to a boil. Then add noodles and simmer until al dente. Drain noodles and set aside.
Curry sauce for pasta:In a hot sauce pan, add onion and butter and saute for 10 - 15 minutes, until onions are carmelized. Add curry powder, Dashi, and whipping cream. Simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Then add chopped Serrano peppers and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Fold mixture into noodles. Garnish with Japanese red chili peppers.
For the fish:Slice fish into 2-inch thick portions and season with salt and pepper. In a hot saute pan, add 2 tbs. of olive oil. Add fish and saute for 3 - 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. To finish, glaze each side of fish with soy sauce, return to pan. Reduce heat and cover for 2 minutes. Garnish fish with scallions, and black sesame seeds.

This is what the meal looked like. Laura helped her dad with the cooking tonight.

Fishing on the Play'in Thru June 9.

Fish were biting! 10 or 15 dolphin including a small school near the boat in the chum. Little Tunny kept us busy, cuda, 1 sailfish messing with the baits, and some cubera snapper. Left dock at 4:15 AM or so and started fishing around7:30 or so. Left R-8 around 2:30 or 3:00 and back to the dock around 5:30. Can't wait to have snapper tonight!

View from part of crane as it prodrudes through cock-pit.

Fitting of Port Engine today! Engine was lowered in place to make sure it all fits as planned. So far things look very good. Coupling must be changed on shaft, but we knew that. We do apparently have the estimated clearance under the gear and the clearance at the front of the engine is less than a 1/2 inch without the belt safety cowling which we also planned. We think we will adjust the method of removal for the belt cowling to make it fit. There will be some nice room on the outboard side once they go into place. As you can see in the photos above (top photo is front of engine; although not yet aligned with engine mounts) the shaft is back all the way to the rudder ( on the bottom photo); probably 3 inches will be cut off from the shaft. Engine will come back out to complete welding of mounts, installation of stringer caps, painting of bilge, coupling removal, shaft removal, and other work.

Back to work on wiring this week. I've been reading manuals again on wiring options and the various network junction ports and connections for the Cummins installation. I then layed out all the wiring from the various boxes and began assembly in the living room. There's no way you could start from scratch in the field and do an install by opening one box after the next. I've discovered in the process that there appears to be a connecting communication wire between the starboard and port engines that is missing out of the packages; and another one which may have been shipped incorrectly. I'll get it straight next week.

We just experienced tropical storm Barry, and I hope to get down to the boat today to being working on installation of sections of the control wiring network, but we may see rain again before I have a chance.

Eventhough we aren't fishing on the My Time, this is a central location for all our great fishing and boating experiences with the crew of the Playin Thru. Yesterday, fishing off-shore at 350 to 400 feet and 70 miles, we found a load of Mahi-Mahi, and I mean a LOAD! (Like the good ole days!) We left the dock around 4:30 AM and started fishing 7:30 or 7:45. It was a bit rough on the way out with a sea directly in the bow. We were going to go to the Deli and fish our way out further, but when we arrived there around 7:30 there were 2 long liners in the area and nothing there looked promising. No weeds, no temperature breaks, no slicks, so we continued on further out (Especially since Kevin was sleeping) until we reached an area which showed minor slicks, a couple of birds, and the right depth of 350 ft. Two hours later the area began collecting weeds, and fish. We continued to work the area where we caught fish, and by early afternoon, a very nice weedline began stacking up in the precise area we had been working. We fought weeds all day in the lures, but it was well worth the trouble. After filling both fish bags with 20 or 25 fish, we moved on to pulling only big lures for big fish, and prompltly hooked into a very nice dolphin we jumped off. We released many small dolphin during the day.

Around 4:30 we pulled up to a secret spot nearby and caught several nice cubera snapper and a couple of amberjack.

Great Day with Great Friends!