Mid-Week

National Weather serviceI am so over winter now. One guy in the shop keeps saying “I thought it was going to be cold today!”  But I was cold from the time I arrived to a less than optimal heating condition here in the office. We had one of the little oil filled radiators on low. I now have lil’ devil on under my desk but I don’t stray too far from here.  Most of the guys are still working outside and the complaints are actually quite mild. The guys compounding yesterday only complained that the buffing pads froze up on them after washing the spent compound out. Minor glitch in the Matrix!  John has still not surfaced. He probably doesn’t want to be here in the cold. If he were here I would probably take a day off before the inevitable spring rush comes. I’m thinking one day a month off would do a lot for my state of mind. The 1,000 hour service continues on the CAT engines. Part of the service is to remove the aftercoolers and clean them. These weigh in at over 100 lbs each and they have to be lifted off and moved over the top of the engine in the confines of the often tight engine room. Basically it is a 2 man job! Ungasketing The name boards should be ready for the sign guy tomorrow. They are getting the 6th coat of varnish today. You can’t tell from the photo but it is a very flat surface now and should be near flawless when complete. Izzy is becoming quite the varnish guy! Plus, he is in the warmest room on the property. Monkey with skills We are replacing head hoses in the Eastbay 43 and we don’t like to drip potential effluence through the boat from the old hoses. We used to use tapered plugs to insert into the old hoses but thanks to McMaster Carr I was able to find some rubber plugs. After getting the hoses out of the boat we simply drop them in a bucket of bleach, rinse and store for next time.  They don’t soak up the stuff in the hoses so are very sanitary for reuse. But they're plugs Not every one has duct tape at hand, so other tapes may work for repairs such as this: Poor mans duct tape Mid Week Pick Me Up I know there are many Brit-Com fans out there who will appreciate this! httpv://youtu.be/y5dzvE7YMpA