Sunday and Tuesday

Upside down as fuck. I was hanging inside the motor compartment to see underneath where the alternator and power steering cooler are. my entire upper body with head almost touching the floor. One leg hooked outside under the gunwale was my only leverage to pull myself back up besides my hand holds on the exhaust manifold. I did tie a dock line to the aft cleat and drape it in reach also as another aid but did not need it. I would say for a good 2 or 3 minutes. I did it a few times, three in all.

I finally reached the other end of the power steering hose. It was removed previously to replace the alternator. The clamps didn't seem to be re-tightened. It was the one rough part of the trip for me. I lost all the fluid on the way into Sodus and had to take some from my car for the trip back to home port. The leak was the reason I didn't stop in the river to visit and cut short my previous attempts at fishing. I believe I have it fixed now. 

Sunday I went down to make sure when I finally go for a test ride I can have some down-riggers and rod holders to do some fishing. the three boards in the middle will serve as the sides for some tackle box holders to slide in trays of fishing lures and there will be a pad that will hang in front of the rod holders to lean against eventually. A seat on the port side that folds down may happen someday. For now I have rigger mounts and rod holders. 

I sized up the problem of the leaky power steering at this time. I did some test hangs to see how my body would handle being upside down for a time and what I could hold on to to get back out. I lit it like crazy too. lots o light until I finally saw the hose clamp screw. I tried to tighten it with a flat head but between having trouble with my form and technique and being afraid of touching the red wire on the back of the alternator all I succeeded in doing was pushing the clamp around and never tightening it. I was getting tired by that time and decided to give up for now. A tactical retreat


Stopped at the house quick and made my way out to the boat. Got set up and started armed with my new plan of attack. I was going to use a socket .  Tested a few on the upper hose clamp and found 8 mm to be correct. Pushing the bottom of the belly is the point of no return. This is when more than half of me is in a hole, head first and little room to wiggle. Actually there is a decent amount of space but being stuck upside down not being able to get out would not be fun. I tightened it up and ran it for about half an hour spinning the wheel back and forth much of the time.

The verdict, without a test at high rpms its still inconclusive but seeing no air bubbles in the fluid was encouraging and I am confident the next test drive will last a bit longer. she really purrs nice when that pump isn't squawking.

I have a new boat right aside of me now and I am not comfortable backing in against the wall with the other boat there so I decided to wait until my designated dock is assigned (tomorrow) so I can move.