to this…

followed by some heavy duty cleaning…

disassembly…

soaking, cleaning, and, for some areas, sandblasting, (other parts included)…

followed by new seals, bearings, and very careful reassembly, and a few coats of primer…

and finally a nice coat or three of classic Ford red…

No more rusty, oily, leaky tranny. The transmission is all set to go back into the engine room, along with new motor mounts, hoses, lines, belts, filters, and more. More leaks banished, and best of all, the engine room will SPARKLE!

For those of you who may be wondering, there’s a reason behind those cryptic and occasionally changing pictures I’ve been posting of my very dirty engine. Online photos aid in conversations with very nice and extremely helpful folks over at American Diesel Corp. For anyone with a Lehman, these are good people to know. And I’ll admit, at present the engine is not a pretty sight. But there are brighter days ahead! Parts are coming off, the bad stuff is being replaced and the good will be cleaned and repainted. When it all goes back together, everything is going to be shiny, in oh so many ways. Missing from the picture below but on the way, cans of white bilge-coat.

above, alarm sending for temp

Gauge sending unit for temp…

Shall We Dance?.

Everything is level and smooth, flush and even.  Next step, one more layer of biaxial, covering the entire bridge from end to end. Yes, it might fall along the range of overkill, but once I’m done this deck should be reasonably resistant to leaks, as well as missiles and/or the zombie apocolypse. Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

As for those hole running along the sides of the bridge, I’ve cut access so I could pour in epoxy, filling the gap between the inner and outer walls of the bridge where it meets the deck — which was probably already completely sealed in previous steps, but then again, if you’re going to go with the overkill approach, you might as well go all out.  It was an interesting process involving a funnel and section of hose, but sorry, no pics. Whe I’ve saved the cutouts, which will be glassed back in place and faired out when all is done.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the boat, the new rudder bearing is securely in place. Progress moves forward.

I know I haven’t been posting much these days. I’ve been a bit busy, between hurricane damage to the house, the marina where the boat is, and the marina where I’m working. But rest assured, work aboard the boat still continues, and I still continue to write.  Something has to give, and these days it seems it’s my online time….along with my sanity. But that’s another topic.

The weather was bright and sunny, though the thermometer read 23 degrees. A bit brisk, to say the least.

A closer look (below) and you can see some smaller bits of ice on the river. All in all, a great day for a motorcycle ride.

Not too many other bikes on the road… at least not until we got down to the river. (And yes, I’m following in the ‘support’ vehicle, with warm clothes and dry towels.)

On one end of town, other motorcycles were gathering…
(photo by Dana BatGirl Carroll)

…while down at the river the crowd enjoyed all sorts of entertainment.

I didn’t catch the name of the band, and I hope the drummer, sporting only a pair of swim trunks, didn’t catch a cold, but I suspect he was just acclimating himself for an upcoming dunk. The four-footed audience, though, didn’t seem to mind the cold.

Plenty of emergency vehicles on hand, though no emergencies arose.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… are they native to the Hudson?

And then it was Plunge time! Unfortunately I can’t seem to upload my own video (0r embed this one on Youtube) but someone else had a better angle and caught the excitement of the main event. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pIQtySF_C4

I like the guy at the end, with the souvenier block of river ice.

And for more pictures and stories, check out the Stony Point Seals on Facebook.

And here’s some more pics…

In last year’s Plunge, you can see a whole lot of crazy people having a whole lot of fun for a good cause.

Every year, the families that live along this quiet road welcome this invasion of happy insanity. But this year, the neighborhood of Grassy Point looks more like a ghost town, with vacant and boarded up homes. Sadly, the homes lining that road, along with so many others in the area, had been devasted by Sandy. So for 2013, the Stony Point Seals are holding the Plunge to benefit these very people, along with many other North Rockland Hurricane Sandy Victims. And this year, my husband will be among those hardy souls making that fridgid leap.

Below, some of these homes, shortly after Sandy. If you’re in the area on February 3rd, come on down and lend your support. And even if you can’t stop by, you can still donate online and help our local families recover.

It’s 10:30 at night, and we still have power, for the moment at least, which seems ironic considering I have a tree through the middle of my house. Yes, one of those lovely massive oaks came down, there’s a trunk in my kitchen, and rain is pouring in. There are cracks in the hallway ceiling, another new skylight in the small bedroom, paintings were knocked from the walls. I’m just grateful no one was hurt, and all people and animals are safely bunkered down in the basement, and come daylight we’ll see just how bad the damage is. The police advised us to leave, but there’s nowhere to go. Every road is blocked, powerlines are dropping, driving was impossible, and ultimately we turned back as tree crashed down. The basement seemed the safest place, and that’s where we’re staying until this passes. But the lights are flickering, so I suspect I should sign off. I hope all of you out there are well and morning comes to find all well. Or as well as can be hoped for.