We seemed to have caught a cold and really didn't feel like working on the boat on Saturday morning but we did anyway. Strangely, once we got on the boat and started working, the nose stopped running and we felt pretty good.
The first thing on the list was to mount the last exhaust riser. Like so many things on the boat, the last one was easy, since we'd learned exactly what tools we needed, where to apply a little dish washing liquid and how to most easily fit the parts together, while doing the other three risers.
With that done, we began mounting the new carb on the starboard engine. Our Chrysler engines have spread bore intake manifolds and the new Edelbrock carbs are square bore design so we first mounted an adapter.
Then we dropped the new carb on and started to deal with the issues we knew we'd have.
The line from the fuel pump is 1/4-inch and the fitting on the carb is 3/8-inch. We'll have to find a new 1/4-inch fitting this week. Luckily, the PCV hose and the fuel pump overflow hose matched perfectly.
Then we looked at the cable linkage. The new Eldebrock carb is very different from the old Q-Jet and we're going to have to make up a connection that will enable the old throttle control cables to work properly. We have an idea of how to do this and we'll find out if it works soon.
We also have to wire the electric choke to the ignition circuit and we would have done that but we didn't have any electrical connectors with us.
When we left on Saturday, the starboard engine was looking good.
If you look closely at that photo, you'll notice that the alternator belt isn't there. We've always worried about the fact that the alternator pulley comes very close to the exhaust hose. We're going to try to find a belt that is an inch shorter than the old one and see if we can install it and tension it properly so that the alternator fan isn't that close to the hose.
Sunday was an equally nice day and we blew off working on the boat in favor of a short road trip to Stonington so Frances could pick up some jewelry she was having repaired. On the way, we stopped at our boat's summer home, the Marina at American Wharf in Norwich. The marina is under new ownership and things have started to happen. The first thing we saw in the parking lot was a large quantity of new pavers. We poked around and it seems that they are destined for installation on the far side of the marina's main building.
Then we noticed that an old storage building next to the driveway had been taken down. We wonder if they intend to build there or make room for additional parking, which they could certainly use.
Frances had to check out the ladies room to see if any improvements had been made there. Well, the lockers had been moved. There's still a lot of work to do in this area.
Our friends Bob and Diane's boat was resting comfortably in wet storage.
It always looks strange to see A-dock without any boats, but soon - about two months - the first boats will be arriving for the summer season.
In the background you can see Norwich's brand new transportation center. The top floor has no roof and we understand it was designed that way. Seeing the sky through those windows is a nice touch, too. If we'd been designing it, we would have bonded another $100K and added a roof. We obviously don't know much about designing transportation centers.
What we do know is we can't wait to have our boat back here in Norwich, our own marine "transportation center."
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