Happy new year everyone! Sorry for the delay since April 2020. Did I miss anything?
But seriously sorry for the long gaps between posts. If you’ve followed this thread at all you know the deal. Two kids under 3, (Baaaaayyyyyybbbeeeee Shark dooo-dooo-do-do-do-do!) ongoing 110-year-old house renovation, living in Colorado but working 997 miles from home in San Francisco, 11-year-old 90 lb yellow lab inexplicably started pooping on the kitchen floor, yada yada. Here’s the Clif Notes recap of 2013- April 2020.
1. Purchased 1979 Catalina 30 with non-running A-4
2. Got engine running and discovered it was beyond repair and needed overhaul (low oil pressure)
3. Disassembled and brought engine back to Denver in suitcase piece by piece to rebuild at home
4. Post-machining and during reassembly, discovered crack in block that machine shop had missed during initial magnaflux inspection.
5. Had cracked block repaired using “Lock-N-Stitch” a.k.a. “Pinning” method at machine shop’s expense.
6. Misplaced Main Bearing Caps somewhere in the shuffle
7. Reassembled newly machined block with new pistons, rings, main bearings, rod bearings, crank, but Main Bearing Caps from a different block
8. Low oil pressure remained
9. Sent Rear Main Cap/Oil Pump to Moyer for gear replacement/overhaul to improve oil pressure
10. Low oil pressure remained
11. Disassembled engine and discovered brand new crank, rod bearings, and main bearings were destroyed during initial engine run (about 20 minutes)
12. Diagnosed low oil pressure resulted from using mismatched main bearing caps during reassembly.
13. Took a shot of whiskey, totaled overhaul cost receipts, took a shot of whiskey, covered the engine in plastic and closed the garage door, took a shot of whiskey, didn’t look at the engine for a couple months. Then April…..
I’m sure one day my kids will ask
“where were you when…..” and my answer will be what it usually is: Daddy was away flying airplanes and questioning his life choices
April 2020 was vivid for me. My flight schedule quickly unraveled into a surreal tour of America’s empty airports. In the early fog-of-COVID-war, we Flight Crews waited onboard hollow airplanes for our 3 passengers to enplane instead of the normal 190+. I kept having visions of the crewmembers aboard the Titanic rearranging the deck chairs, demanding the orchestra strike up a tune, trying to convince each other that “it’s really not that bad” while everyone else is getting in lifeboats. Rumors started swirling that all airlines could be grounded by the end of the week. Then the call came.
“Get the airplane back to base, go home, we’ll call you when (if) we need you again.” When we got to SF, I hurriedly tidied up the boat, checked the dock lines, locked the companionway hatch, and jumped a flight home before getting back could mean
driving 997 miles. (I know this is an engine-specific forum but nobody seems to object so far to my blog-like writing style of this thread so here’s some pictures of my version of our collective March-April COVID beginnings)
Why am I the only one here? (I didn't know until I had landed that the "Shelter-In-Place" order for California had gone out while I was airborne on the flight in.)
The fateful Grand Princess cruise ship anchored in the SF Bay awaiting disembarkation in Oakland.
Empty Denver International Airport