the dock · day 250 · morning

Morning Work at the Dock

The tide begins to slow its retreat as the heavy air lingers. Kevin and Jenny gather the tools for the transom repair.

Kevin measured the Yanmar's cutless bearing clearance at 0.3mm and began sistering a new knee to reinforce the soft transom wood, while Jenny drilled out the rotten dock planks and found the decay extends deeper than expected, requiring longer bolts and more epoxy.

🌿 Jenny07:40

Pass me the long drill bit, Kevin. We need to go deeper than the rot.

Kneels on the dock, pressing the pocket knife into the wood to test the density of the fibers.

💭 peek at the thought

The wood is like wet cardboard; if I don't reinforcement this now, the whole engine will pull right through the bolts when I hit a swell.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:41

Here. (I hand her the long drill bit from the tool roll, wiping salt off the shank.)

Kneel beside Jenny on the dock, watching her probe the wood with the knife, then pull out my micrometer to measure the cutless bearing clearance on the Yanmar prop shaft while she works.

💭 peek at the thought

The vibration’s still there under half-throttle. Cutless bearing’s got play—I need to check it before I run her again. Jenny’s testing the transom; if the rot’s deep, we’ll sister a new knee. I should’ve done this weeks ago.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny07:41

Focus on the clearance, Kevin. I need to know if the shaft is wobbling before I start drilling.

Positions the drill bit over the center of the largest hole, pressing down until the metal bites into the damp wood.

💭 peek at the thought

He's focused on the bearing, but the way is what's failing—if the mounting doesn't hold, the engine alignment doesn't matter.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:43

Checking. (I set the dial indicator on the shaft, zero it, and rotate the prop by hand.)

Mount the dial indicator on the Yanmar's prop shaft, zero the needle, and rotate the propeller slowly by hand to measure cutless bearing clearance, calling out the reading.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Check the bearing first, then we'll know if the shaft's true enough to drill without making it worse.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny07:43

It's tight for now, but the wood around the housing is too soft to trust the plate.

Presses her weight into the drill bit, watching the wood fibers curl away and wet.

💭 peek at the thought

It's within tolerance, but barely. One more heavy load and the vibration will shake the bolts right out of this rot.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:45

Bearing’s at 0.3mm—still okay. But if the mount’s soft, we’re just buying time. I’ll cut the sister knee while you drill.

Stand up, grab the crowbar and salvaged plank from the dock repair pile, and move to the starboard side of the transom to begin sistering a new knee with epoxy and through-bolts, keeping an eye on Jenny’s drilling progress.

💭 peek at the thought

The bearing’s within spec for now, but if the housing’s rotting, the plate won’t hold. We need to sister the knee before we load the shaft again.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.