estimate turned into $23337.00 but the core work seems to have been completed correctly. I didn't feel any vibration or leak. At least not from the shaft log. Prior to hauling her out I disconnected the air conditioner water pump, the water strainer for the generator and the water lift muffler because they were all in the way of the work. It's a bunch of hoses and brackets and I could see all kinds of trouble getting them back in the right places by someone who didn't know the ins and outs of the systems. Apparently 15 years ago when I had the original electrical short that took out all of my underwater fittings Balboa Boat Yard in Newport beach did a hatchet job on the stern tube. Instead of replacing the tube with a new bronze tube that was threaded to fit the cutlass bearing housing they just took a section of bronze pipe and welded to two together. Besides that, they didn't even weld them straight. It had a left hand kink in it. Add to that, they didn't have the right cutlass bearing so they machined a sleeve, pressed it in and then pressed a smaller sized outer diameter cutlass bearing into the sleeve. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. It really had the guys at the yard scratching their heads. h
Here's where some trouble could really have begun. The yard manager where I hauled out, Shelter Island Boat Yard in San Diego felt that one of the sub contractors in the yard complex would do a better job with the drive train alignment then his people so he sub'ed the work out to Morton Marine. Now we had two sets of people working on the project. One doing the haul and launch, fiber glass work and shaft tube removal. The other guys handling the machine work the set up for the fiberglass guys and the re-installation of the drive train which included the flange, shaft, packing gland, cutlass housing and bonding wires. It all went back together and Brendon was launched and spent the night at the yard dock and was washed the next morning. I arrived and got the bill which was 2 and a 1/3 times higher then I was quoted so we all got together and discussed how that happened. It was decided by Bill, the owner of the Shelter Island Boatyard that they had failed to communicate the change with me. They had sub contracted the work without my permission, (which I would haven given them anyway) and that that kind of a miss was, in his words, "unacceptable". Between Bill and Kin, the owner of Morton Marine, they adjusted the bill down to something where we all walked away friends. I'll use them both again. Now here where the to "many hands in the job" can set you up for some serious problems. After settling up with the yard I went down to the boat and only installed the water lift because I was meeting my wife at our club for lunch. I fired up the engine and looked for leaks. I put the transmission in gear and watched for alignment and leaks and all was well. I let it cook that way for a few minutes to make sure I was satisfied with the work and made preparations to cast off. I headed out of American Yacht Harbor but just outside the entrance I shut her down and inspected the work again. The packing gland was warm to the touch and no sign of any moisture at the shaft. I adjusted the packing 1/4 turn and tightened the lock nut. I headed down the harbor for another 15 minutes and shut down again to feel the gland. This time it was cool with just a trace of moisture. That's how I like it. I headed on down the harbor and throttled up to my cruising speed for another 15 minutes and shut her down just off the police dock for the last check prior to getting to the club dock. When I opened the hatch I saw water half way up to the bottom of the engine pan with the engine pan full and spilling over into the bilge. The bilge pump, which is mounted high out of the bilge blowing water all over the place. I located the end of the exit hose and re attached it to the pump and let it de-water the boat. One of the workers in the yard had removed the overboard line from one of the bilge pumps and stuffed it up on the hull, out of the way and out of sight in order to do his work. He, or whoever was tasked with the reassembly didn't see the line and failed to reattach it. While I was checking the packing gland heading for the club the stern of the boat was not being depressed because I was at a relatively low speed. Once I was happy with the packing gland I powered up and that depressed the stern down and caused a vacuum on the unattached bilge pump line which started to flood back into the boat. I suppose that if I had just arrived at the club, stepped off the boat and walked away I might be typing something else this morning. Something that included the "S" word. I feel like the overall job was done right and at a reasonable price. I paid substantially more then quoted but they did quite a bit more work and we were all fine with that part of it but not so much with taking on the water at the end. It just shows you that when you come out of a yard you need to be vigilant and check everything several times prior to leaving your boat.