We are good to go!!!!!

It's like I've been holding my breath for a month or so. Finally, at about 12:00, Sunday, February 21st, 2010, Ric and I put the finishing touches on the engine repair work and started her up. What a relief.

The primary task was replacing the gear cover gasket, a big deal. But we took the opportunity to clean the sea water strainer, to replace some of the fuel pump to injector plumbing, service the air cleaner, replace a worn cooling water hose and adjust the belts. Since the injector pump to cylinder pipes had been removed some serious air bleeding was required, but once that was done she started right up. Next we are going to change the oil, do some cosmetic work on the engine housing and replace the wiring harness with a new one that connects everything to the new engine control panel. I hope we can get Cirrus off the dock sometime later this week.

Thursday night saw the first gathering of the Cirrus, PC2010 racing crew. Chris was visiting Oahu with his with his wife and her sister and husband, so they hosted the party at the vacation home they had rented. At the last minute Ulli decided not to fly in from Germany and Marie-Pierre had another commitment, but the rest of us were there.

Some of the items coming up in the "preparation pipeline" are new stickers for the EPIRBs, getting the liferaft and MOM recertified, some new emergency flares and some new fishing lures. We're also going to pull the stove out so we can clean behind it and maybe fix the sticky gimbals so it swings more smoothly. I want to rig the emergency rudder and (while we are at it) probably replace the platform on the back of the boat. It looks like the board back there is starting to rot and the ladder mounts are starting to pull out. Always something.

The ToDo List is now a public Google Doc so you can check in any time you want to see how things are going.