Thursday, 30 June 2016 - I went to the boat hoping that my new rudder might arrive early enough for them to install or start installing it today. At about 10:30am, it hadn't arrived, but workers started putting the first coat of paint on part of the hull. I had gone below decks and discovered that I had no AC power to the starboard side of the boat. I tried to reset the Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI), but it wouldn't reset, so I tried to light a tungsten lamp it the aft berth. That didn't work either, so I assumed the problem was with the circuit breaker at the main power panel. All the screws on the panel could be turned EXCEPT the one marked "Outlets STBD", the one I needed to replace. I couldn't even get it to back out with an impact wrench, so I got out the "Easy-Out" bits. That didn't work either. The head of the screw came off. Actually, that worked fine. I was able to replace the breaker then. With it replaced, I switched it on and...nothing! Ok, then I'll try the GFCI. That didn't make sense to me, because it shouldn't keep the power in the aft cabin from coming on...but it did! By replacing the GFCI, everything was back to normal. I'll take that.
                  My rudder arrived at 3:30 and the yard closes at 4pm, so all they did was bring it over on a pallet, run over my 30 amp power cord with the fork lift and set it down behind the boat.
                  What was left of the rest of my afternoon was spent inventorying on of my tool boxes, then I returned to the mariner's lounge at Moss Marina to write this.

Friday, 1 July 2016 - I went over to the boat early hoping the workers would get started installing the rudder, but they never touched it all day. I guess they'll get started on it Tuesday, after the holiday weekend. I assumed that Steve would return to his boat after work so I returned to the marina early to get cleaned up a bit. When I arrived, Steve was already there, in fact, he'd arrived just after I left to go to my boat because his boss had given the company both Friday and Monday off for the holiday.
                  I had asked several people here if there were any Mexican restaurants on the island and the only suggestion was a taco stand over on the main strip. Hardly my idea of a Mexican restaurant. We head out for dinner, had some chowder at the Matanzas Inn, and decided to get a margarita at a place that I had seen several times called Mr. Tequila. I assumed it was a bar. It turned out to be a very nice restaurant with very nice, unique decor. All the booths, every chair, and all the bar stools were beautiful, deeply carved and hand painted with different designs. The food, other than the fact that the molé tasted a little burnt, was very good. I had one of their enchilada plates with 5 enchiladas. I left stuffed and am sure we'll return.

Saturday, 2 July - Since Steve was back to his boat for the holiday weekend, it opened up another opportunity to accompany him to the hardware stores to get a few items he needed to do some work on his boat. We, again visited Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, Walmart to return a fan that he'd purchased, but thought was less than sufficient to cool his aft cabin, and we picked 20 lb. of ice on the way back to the boat.

Sunday, 3 July - Up late this morning after carousing too late last night. Around noon, I headed back over to my boat to get a few things done. I worked on a ladder beside the boat for several hours inspecting my bow roller pins and replaced one. I had a hard time getting one of the cotter pins out and had to cut one half inch bolt down about a half inch in length. Steve called to tell me to come join him and his boss and boss's wife that had come to visit him at the Sunset Cafe for dinner around 6pm. I was still on the boat, but headed over and joined them. We then walked down the beach to the Lani Kai for a drink. After Lani Kai, we headed next door, but I bailed out. I was very dehydrated. At dinner I had had one margarita and one large water. At the Lani Kai, all I had was two very large glasses of water. My back was killing me too. I think standing on the ladder and twisted 90° all afternoon was what did that. I headed back to the mariner's lounge, slumped into a chair for about an hour, then went to the boat, pooped. I slept very well that night.

Monday, 4th of July - Independence Day - Steve's boss and his wife stayed at the La Quinta Saturday night and were back at the boat about 8:30am to have breakfast, then we all went over to watch the Fourth of July Parade. We stopped for ice cream and were minutes too late to see the beginning and there wasn't much more. A very poor showing. I had read they were having a hard time getting participants this year, mainly because the parade route is all torn up under construction. On a slender island that's a problem. There is no other possible route. There is only one road that runs lengthwise on the island. After the parade, we walked back up the beach to Times Square, then back to the marina and "the boss and wife" headed home. Steve and I cooled off it the captain's lounge, then had huge steaks and baked beans cooked on the marina's huge grill. I wanted to head over to Bonita Bills for the Monday night jam session and this time Steve begged off because he had lots to do before returning home for the work week.
                  Bonita Bills wasn't nearly as crowded as I had expected it would be on the holiday and, although the music was still good, no new talent showed up. They normally stop playing at around 9pm and last night was no exception. Luckily, that was just a few minutes before the island's fireworks display went off. I jumped in the dinghy and headed across the river. It turned out that the river was a beautiful vantage point, so I went no further. I just idled in a small circle to stay it the same area and took a few pictures.

Tuesday, 5 July - To the boat at 8am, just in time to help the workers figure out how to access the engine room so they could remove the propeller shaft and cutless bearing. I'm glad I arrived when I did and they don't know it, but they are too. They were trying to access the engine room via the entry under the companionway steps down to the saloon. That would have gotten them there, but with no light, and worse, no ventilation. I opened up the floor of the cockpit which let them drop right into the engine room from above. It still gets mighty warm down there. I did some computer work while the removed the cutless bearing, then went to get some lunch. When I returned, they had the new rudder in place and jacked up, but were stalled because the rudder has a flaw in it. He says he told them that the cutout for the bottom of the rudder shaft needed to be recessed or flat, but that's not what we got. It's dome shaped at that area. I told him to contact the manufacturers to ask them how to resolve the problem. We certainly don't want to be cutting, grinding or drilling into unknown parts on a brand new rudder not knowing what's behind the outer surface or how thick it is. I don't know if they heard back from them or not. Tomorrow will tell, I'm sure.
                  It was plenty hot on the boat, so I returned to the marina around 5pm to shower, wash clothes and type this up.

Wednesday, 6 July - Well, well, well. Another very frustrating day. I assumed that they would jump right on my rudder installation this morning, so I went over early again. By noon, they hadn't started on it, so I went to lunch and intended to give them a piece of my mind and a few words of sailor jargon if they hadn't started when I got back. I guess they read my mind because there was a worker grinding on my gudgeon, which holds the lower end of the rudder to the boat, when I returned. It seemed odd that they'd need to be "fitting" a brand new rudder with an electric grinder. He said that the rudder people told him to grind away the gudgeon because, even though he had told them to make a flat surface at that point, we got the rudder with a concave surface there. The fiberglass would be too thin and have to be resealed, so take off some of the bronze instead. After several dry fittings, it still didn't fit right, so I suggested that we raise the whole rudder from inside the aft cabin where it is held in place at the top. We went inside and inspected it there, but discovered that even if we loosened it, raised it, and retightened it, there was really nothing inside to keep it from sliding back down. So what holds it up...or down, for that matter. I called Foss Foam, that made the rudder for clarification. Al there said that the concave surface they built into the new rudder is a bearing surface that holds the rudder down and that another bearing washer fits inside the gudgeon that keeps the rudder from moving up. Two bearing surfaces that trap the rudder in-between. Now that made sense, but I now have a gudgeon that has been ground down to where the bearing surfaces can't make contact. That's where we ended the day. The gudgeon will now have to be built back up, machined smooth, and one or two UHMW, Teflon, or Delron bushings made. I think it's going to be about another year before I get my boat back in the water.