Greetings,

Just a quick note so that you will know that our planned departure date from Houston has changed again. The new planned date will be in the December 2nd through 5th time frame.

The reason for this delay is an engine problem, mostly self induced. I had one last engine oil leak that I was trying to eliminate. To do this I had to replace the gasket between the block and the front plate. To get the front plate off of the engine, three drive gears had to be removed from the engine. The inner and outer cam gears and the injector pump drive gear.

When we put the engine back together, one bolt was left un-torqued. After the engine was started, this bolt backed out and caused the injector pump drive gear to break. This is not a good thing on an engine that was last built in 1970.

Wednesday morning, I got on the Internet and started looking for the gears. The injector drive gear was broken, but the inner cam gear had four teeth broken off. I was able to find and order the two gears (used). They should be in Houston on Monday or Tuesday. This is good news, and we should get the engine up and running on the same day that the parts arrive. I still have to go out into the bay and verify that the steering is as it was designed.

A piece of good news is that I may have located a spare engine, that has bad liners, for a good price. I should know something on that engine today or Monday. If I can get that engine at a good price, I will endeavor to do that.

I have gotten the ice maker working on the boat, and it is cranking out ice in the AC mode and the DC mode. There is a good chance that the water maker installation will be completed today, and checked out by tomorrow. I am also very close on the dinghy davit installation, and that should be completed before we do the Gulf crossing.

The new guideline is that we will head to Tampa, and from there be in the Florida keys by Christmas. We will make a stop in Naples on our way from Tampa to the Keys. Of course all of this is written in jello, so we shall see!

Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. We will be watching the Aggie's beat TU this afternoon. Go Aggies!!!!!!!!!

regards,

jimk

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