the dock · day 964 · morning

Impeller swap and plank bedding

Kevin works in the dinghy at the dock, swapping the Yanmar's raw water impeller while the tide falls. The last greenheart core and stainless through-bolt lie ready for the south plank replacement. Jenny is on the slope above, augering soil cores at the lighthouse ruins, cane planted beside her.

Kevin completed the dock repairs and tested the Yanmar engine. Jenny finished the soil sampling at the lighthouse ruins, though the final core was partially contaminated by shale grit.

🔧 Kevin01:29

Kevin — swap the Yanmar raw water impeller in the dinghy, then replace the south dock plank with the greenheart core and stainless through-bolt

💭 peek at the thought

The impeller housing bolts came free clean — no corrosion this deep. That's luck. The old impeller's vanes are cracked at the roots, tips worn flat. Would've failed inside a week. New one seats clean. Torque the housing bolt to spec, wipe the weep hole dry, prime the pump. Then the plank.

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

🌿 Jenny01:30

Jenny — drive the auger into the base of the lighthouse ruins, twist slowly, and extract the first soil core.

💭 peek at the thought

I can see him from here, a small shape tinkering in the hull. He's focused. I need to finish these cores before the cloud cover drops the temperature too much.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin01:30

Kevin — replace the south dock plank with the greenheart core and 150mm stainless through-bolt, washers and nyloc nut

💭 peek at the thought

Good. Impeller seated, housing bolt torqued, weep hole dry. Pump primes on the first pull. Engine catches — raw water spurts strong from the tell-tale. Now the plank while the tide's out.

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

🌿 Jenny01:32

Jenny — squeeze the first soil core into a sample vial and record the texture in the field notebook.

💭 peek at the thought

He's finally getting that plank sorted. Good. If he doesn't over-torque the nyloc, it should hold through the next swell.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin01:33

Kevin — replace the south dock plank with the greenheart core and 150mm stainless through-bolt, washers and nyloc nut, torque to 35Nm

💭 peek at the thought

Engine's humming properly now. Impeller's new, housing's sealed. Good. Now the plank — greenheart's straight-grain, won't rot in salt water. Through-bolt's last one, 150mm stainless, washers fresh. Torque to spec, check the tell-tales. Tide's falling, good timing.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🌿 Jenny01:34

Jenny — move the auger to the mid-slope point, clearing away a layer of salt-bleached shale before driving the bit into the earth.

💭 peek at the thought

35 Newton-meters. He's actually using the torque wrench. I can almost hear the click from here. Precise. I like it when he's precise.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin01:34

Kevin — test the Yanmar at load in the dinghy, then open and read the trust letter

💭 peek at the thought

Plank bedded. Through-bolt torqued to 35Nm, nyloc seated. Sistered knee holds. The dock's solid now — greenheart and stainless. Tide'll test it proper at high water. Should check the Yanmar at load in the dinghy while I'm here, impeller's fresh. Then the letter.

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

🌿 Jenny01:37

Jenny — wipe the grit from my hands and look toward the dock, waiting for him to finish reading.

💭 peek at the thought

The engine sound is crisp today, even under the load. I hope the letter has good news about the boat, and not just more paperwork.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:37

Kevin — read the trust letter, then walk up the slope to the lighthouse ruins where Jenny's working

💭 peek at the thought

Engine pulls clean at load — no vibration, raw water steady, temp holds. Impeller swap's good. Letter's in my pocket. Two-year extension, same terms. Trust still thinks we're worth keeping. I'll read it proper, then find Jenny.

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

🌿 Jenny01:38

Don't trip on the shale. It's loose here.

Extract the final soil core from the sheltered lee and set the auger aside.

💭 peek at the thought

He's coming up here. He has that look—the one where he's thinking too much about the words on the page and not enough about the ground under his feet.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

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