Wasted day.....sort of.....

Did not get a thing done today, except spend 16 hours at work. I work graveyard, and frequently I am required to attend day shift functions such as safety meetings, all hands meetings and various classes. Today I was required to attend First Responder CPR instruction. I get off at 6AM, the class lasted 4 hours starting at 10:30. So I hung out at work from 6 until 10:30, went to class and got home at about 3:30. Went to bed. Got up at 7PM. Had dinner. Watched Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report. Went to work. Except for the 8 hours overtime it was a do nothing day. Don't mind a few money days, but they sure slow down progress on the boat.

I had planned on reinstalling the windless today. I tried to do it yesterday, but found that the stainless mounting plate was not level. Apparently when they were welding it together it warped a bit from the heat. It was lucky the case did not crack when it was originally installed as there was about a 1/16th of an inch wobble across it's width. I wasted a couple of hours trying to run down shim stock to shim the wobble out, but could not find anything less then a full box priced at $75. Even the auto parts store has stopped carrying them. Finally located some stainless sheet in a small machine shop that I have used in the past. The guy wanted a couple bucks for a nice large sheet of .048 thickness stainless. It's not precisely the thickness I wanted but I had run out of viable options, so: close enough.

Didn't have anything less then a $5, so asked if he would take five for it. Didn't seem to be a problem. Anyway, I traced a pattern from the mounts of the windless on the stainless, cut and drilled the shims, and was all set to have an assholes and elbows day throwing things together. Thought I would get the project done, and maybe even get the chain up off the dock and into the chain locker.

I know my neighbor will be glad not to have to walk across it to get to his boat. Should be able to get back on track tomorrow.