Hindsight

"Come on out to the boat", he says.
"See the Med" he says.
"We'll have some laughs", he says, "It'll be fun".

Most of you may have heard the real definition of cruising is fixing your boat in exotic locations.
Today's lesson is offered up as a warning to others in case you people ever hear the previous sentences. Use your best judgement.

Just so people aren't thinking it's all nice weather, deck chairs, Rummies, and books, I submit the following picture of the awesome view I've had for the last couple of days.

It was time to dive back into removing the old exhaust system. It was actually original to the previous-previous motor when it was a 3-53 or something like that. Richard installed the 4-53 about 22 years ago and the system looked good and fit perfectly so he just bolted it right back up. Most of it was water jacketed monel (better than stainless) and was truly a work of art. It was also really heavy!!! It took up most of this crawlspace behind the pilot house, under the deck, between the rail and the cockpit. It was a monster that started way up by the motor and snaked it's way under the floor and up to the top of the crawlspace and back down to the hull then turned into a couple of rubber mufflers and went all the way back almost to the lazarette where it turned around and went halfway back again and exited the boat through a huge 4 inch pipe and gate valve assembly. There is no way we want to tackle the casting and thru-hull at this time so it is the only part that stays. It still looks good, we'll just hook up to it as it is.

Since the exact origin date of the old system was unknown and also because it recently developed a good sized hole (after all these years) it was time to change the whole thing out. Sure- it probably could have been patched, but where was the next hole going to show up? It had to go.

Unfortunately, because of this hole, this whole crawlspace was now black with soot. It's messy stuff. I've been scrubbing, scraping, prepping and painting it all like new again. I've also learned how to bend my body into new shapes to turn around and wiggle my way down this far. Once all the new pipes show up it's going to be really cramped in here! Best to get at this now. I am in an area of the boat not too many have been or will ever be in quite a while.

Hindsight- 100% accurate, 100% useless.