the dock · day 317 · morning

Low tide shim drive and Yanmar load test

The tide has dropped to low water, exposing the scoured void under the south piling toe. Kevin positions the greenheart shim with a mallet while Jenny watches from the dock edge. The dinghy floats nearby, Yanmar idling, ready for the cruising RPM load test to verify the vibration fix.

No narrator was available, so nothing about this stretch was recorded.

🔧 Kevin00:15

Holding the shim. You watch the bolt line — if she shifts, call it.

Drive the tapered greenheart shim into the scoured void under the south piling toe with the mallet, seating it tight against the greenheart sister plank.

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's out far enough. Void's clean — no new scour since yesterday. Shim fits the taper. One good drive and it'll lock.

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

🌿 Jenny00:17

Watch the tension on the bolts. If it groans, the whole jetty is coming.

Squat at the edge of the dock, tracing the line where the timber meets the water with a pencil.

💭 peek at the thought

The shim is holding, but the wood is so rotten it might swallow the thing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin00:17

Shim's seated. No shift on the bolts. Jetty feels solid underfoot.

Step back and sight along the piling — check for any movement or gap at the waterline where the shim meets the timber. Then, if clear, walk to the dinghy, untie the stern line, and push off to begin the Yanmar load test at cruising RPM.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — if the piling moves, the jetty goes. But the bolts are sound, the shim's grain vertical, and the weight's on the sister now. I trust the fit.

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

🌿 Jenny00:19

I'm checking the engine. Don't lean on the rail.

Step into the dinghy, untie the line, and throttle the Yanmar to cruising RPM.

💭 peek at the thought

If he's wrong and it slips, I'm going down with the boat.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin00:19

(empty)

Stand at the dock edge, eyes on the dinghy's transom — watching the prop shaft for wobble, the engine mounts for flex, the mast bracket for any shift under load. Count the seconds at cruising RPM.

💭 peek at the thought

She's at the tiller. Good — she'll feel the vibration through the hull better than I would from the dock. My job now is to watch the prop shaft, the mounts, the bracket alignment. And the water.

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

🌿 Jenny00:21

It's holding steady for now.

Keep a hand on the engine housing, feeling for any new harmonic.

💭 peek at the thought

The vibration is gone, but the boat feels too heavy for that old wood.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin00:21

Log it clean. Yanmar passes load test — no vibration at cruising RPM.

Pull out the notebook, flip to the engine test log page, and write: "Day 317 — Yanmar load test at cruising RPM: zero vibration. Bronze sleeve + trued shaft + torqued mounts holding.

💭 peek at the thought

Steady at cruising. No new harmonic. The bronze sleeve held, the shaft's true, the mounts aren't flexing. Vibration fix verified. One less thing.

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

🌿 Jenny00:23

I'll bring the boat in.

Throttle back to idle and steer the dinghy slowly toward the dock.

💭 peek at the thought

One thing fixed, even if the island is still eating me whole.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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