Offshoreonly.com - Made Serious Progress Yesterday

Got a lot done yesterday. Finally got the "Silent Thunder" box completely off. At some point, it must have been removed and when it was reinstalled, a few extra bolts were installed that I couldn't see. Pieces of plywood had been laminated over the bolt "nuts" and the heads of the bolts were hidden in the engine compartment by the placement of my new drive oil reseveroirs. By driving wooden fir strips as wedges I was able to get it out far enough to very carefully get a saz-all back in there with a metal cutting blade and cut them loose. And that was that. Now resting on my lanai.

What a difference in the look of the boat. Offthefront posted pix in the Tech section on his with the box off and I don't have all that black to contend with. With the exception of filling a few holes and some light sanding, I should be pretty well good to go. I'd post some here but Deb is in PA for a week visiting family and took the camera with her. It definitely looks a little shorter (obviously), but I just LOVE the clean look at the transom. With the new thru hulls installed it should look okay. Today, I am removing the rest of the little crap and tomorrow a guy who works on a lot of the high per. boats in this area is swapping the exhaust over. Should have the thru hulls by end of next week.

I also have one battery that needs to be replaced, won't hold a charge. I also tracked the battery charger and it is not putting out any juice to speak of. When on via Shore Power, it humms and the red light is on, but a voltage tester said it was only putting about 2 volts. Time for a new charger but that will have to wait awhile. I mean it was four years before I even tried it so I don't consider that a priority. I am really trying to get this done for the first annual "Cuda Cruze".