HOW TO HONE YOUR CYLINDERS
by Robin


Our Merc Outboard (Opti-Max) left us 20 miles offshore last month. In short (see previous posts), we determined that we needed to replace the crankshaft on our engine; BUT, before putting all the parts back together, we need to hone our 6 cylinders.

Hopefully, you can see the diamond-shaped etchings inside the cylinder sleeve. These "scratches" were put there intentionally and their purposes is to hold oil so that the pistons stay well-lubricated as they pump up & down to make horsepower.



We want to clean up the inside and put fresh "scratch" marks inside the cylinder sleever. (Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic. I'm just married to one and take lots of pictures.) Anyhow, we take this tool (sorry - no name) and insert it into the sleeve.


It can move until you tighten it down. It will measure the exact diameter of the cylinder.



Then, Jack laid the first tool down and measured it with another devise. This told him exactly how big (down to thousanths) the cylinder is. This measurement will help him get the correct fitting for some rings that go around the piston but also to remeasure afterwards to make sure he isn't shaving away too much metal.


This is a honing tool on the end of Jack's drill. Those 3 pieces have very hard etching surfaces and they can be spring loaded into the cylinder and then turn on the drill.


Here is Jack using the honing tool.



Here are two completely honed cylinders. The one on the left still needs to be honed.



Be sure to keep your tool centered and don't take off too much on one side.

Jack was kind enough to allow me to video him honing the cylinders. Enjoy.

Untitled from Robins Reports on Vimeo.

TWINS
by Robin

On the left is the new, used engine that we bought on Thursday. On the right is our original engine. Time to pull parts and build up one good engine.

ENGINE OFF & STRIPPED
by Robin

Many times, my blog is found via googling so I'm going to throw out some basic facts first. This is our 225 hp Mercury Opti-Max Outboard engine that we have takien the cowling and harness off of.

Rear view. (We take pictures of all our disassembling so we can use them for referencing upon reassembling.) For the non-mechanic, those 6 round holes are the 6 piston openings.


Left view. Taking pic of the oil casing, etc.


Label, label, label. Make painter's tape your best friend. Here Jack is examining the front side. The big silver thing is the air intake compartment.


Here is a view from the top. These are flywheels, belts and compressors. Even engines accessorize, ladies.


The next night, we found a friend with an engine hoist and pulled the engine off the boat. The guys are looking at what is are the reeds comparment, which were under that air intake case. (If I have my bearings right.)


What they were trying to do when I got home from church last Wed was to remove that section and expose the crankshaft and pistons (& housing). Like always, we had one stinkin' bolt that was stripped and so Jack drilled down the center of it, increasing bit size until it was finally able to be worked out of the hole.



Here, the engine is on it's side (if you're a boat). This is the more appropriate sitting for an engine when it is in a car. Can you visualize it??


My guys have popped off the upper case and are looking down into the crankshaft area. Pistons are still attached at this point in the picture, but not any more. As it turned out, the 6th piston had its needle bearing at the crank side shaved down and they were most likely pooped out the exhaust. We couldn't find them anywhere. The piston-side needle bearing were still intact.



This same night, Jack's car had a burning smell and it was parked until the weekend. The air on my tire was leaking. I was hitting my breaking point of things breaking down on us. God kept giving me the same Scripture over and over and comfort us that we were in the midst of a trial. When God disciplines you like that, the best place to be is in His Word and on your knees in prayer.

Sunday morning, I received Heb 12: 1-11 again. Sunday afternoon, I worked with Jack on fixing his car and got all greasy. (His AC compressor is shot and so we put on a belt that by-passed the compressor, for the meantime. A 2nd belt was in the process of shredding, so God was good in getting Jack home before it all let loose.)

As part of my Project 365, I thought it poignant to take a picture of the grease under my fingernails as I put my finger on Heb 12:11. "Now no chastising for the present seems joyous but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."


No, I don't love working on engines any more than Jack does. Yes, I know a lot more about engines than I should; but, I'm raising boys with excellent mechanical abilities. Being disciplined by God and with God by my side, standing through this trial with my hubby..... priceless.

And, God has provided the sacrificial 'lamb' during this trial. Yesterday, we bought another used powerhead off of somebody else to use as spare parts for rebuilding one good powerhead. Yeah! God is good, don't ever doubt that. He's good ALL THE TIME. This one has a good crank shaft that we can replace our bad one with.

Happy Fishing!
Robin

DECEMBER FISHING
by Robin

Where do I even begin after being off of here for so long???

We had a very, very rough month. Everything from grieving two lost ones, to ER visits to preparing for a vacation which changed on a daily basis, seemed to consume our entire month. It seems to me like on the 18th, we were invited out on Mike & Helen's boat. We were just coming off a full moon, current was nil for the longest time and storms were predicted, but Mike had radar to help us avoid the worst of them.

So, we headed offshore with a cooler full of bait. Passed by many other sea regulars like this shrimp boat.


We found our ledge quite easily and as Helen and I began tossing squid over the side, we were bringing up fish after fish.

As it turned out, Helen brought in the most and I caught the biggest trigger. A whopping 7 lbs!



(Ladies, don't be jealous of my seafarer's vogue look.)


We split the catch up and went home for the day. Cleaned a lot of fish the next day though.




Then, we went on vacation for a while and came back home in time to fish again on the 29th. Many folks were out trying to get their limit of grouper before the season closed Jan - April.

Not us, we headed back to the ledge. Only small black sea bass were biting. Oh, I should also state that we were on our own boat this time, but Mike & Helen were out there on their boat as well. I did not bring my camera with me this trip. What a shame since on the way to our 2nd spot, we saw beautiful manta rays gone airborne. We tried to track a couple down and did happen to see some cobia on their backs but they sounded down to the bottom as soon as we caught up to them.

So, off to the 2nd spot and that's when we heard ker-plunk. Our engine was dead. So, we did the appropriate calls for friends to come join us in our misery, then a call to be towed and then a long anchor wait while waiting for the rescue tow boat. That was 1.5 hrs alone; however, we were good with food, fair weather and entertainment. A big thanks to Mike & Helen who never left our sight while we were "dead" in the water.

We pulled in croaker after croaker. It was fun and something to do. They were fat and we figured they ate about as good as whiting from the beach.





We celebrated the New Year by doing our best to stay awake 'til midnight. That Sunday, we celebrated our 18th anniversary. Enjoyed a nice date eating seafood at Rusty's, then danced a little to some live music.

BUT, the next week would end up creating lots of work for Jack each evening as he did his best to diagnose what was wrong with our engine.



We are amazingly blessed that Jack is a brilliant mechanic on top of his other job. Yesterday, the powerhead of the engine was on a table in the garage and the crank-shaft & pistons were exposed. Amazing and scary all at the same time.



I suppose the saga will continue as we pull it all apart and start replacing what broke. I know many people's faith is tested through health and finance issues. For me, it is when I see hundreds of pieces of engine parts in my garage and keep believing that God has given Jack the ability to fix and put it all back together.

I'm sure there will be more pictures and stories in the future. Unfortunately, there will be less fishing through the winter months; but that is ok. There is very little in the way of fishing that is still open season and biting. Now is as good as any time to overhaul our engine.

Blessings & Happy Fishing,
Robin

REDFISH SKUNKING #2
11/27/10
by Robin

I don't remember a year when I was skunked 3x in a row. I've not been very particular about checking weather, tides, fishing reports, etc to pick my days right for fishing so it serves me right.

It was few days after Thanksgiving and I didn't have much shopping this year, so we were hanging out at the house on Saturday while Daddy pulled holidays shifts. I have a girlfriend, "T", who is notorious for outfishing me with the inshore species, so when I saw she was heading out with bait & pole, I begged for her to let me tag along.

Thankfully, she let me before I got to tears. LOL

I'm not sure how to describe her little (somewhat secret) area. I don't want to give away her exact location, but let's just say, it was good backwater country. Down here, that means Gator Country.



Not one time did I not feel safe, but I did keep my eyes peeled back for gator bubbles or marks or body armor. Seriously, I felt more cautious about all the bubbas than I did gators.



The wind was kicking hard and temps drop 7 degrees from morning to noon. She caught 1 catfish, the other 3 poles in the water caught nothing. When the catfish are biting pack it in and traded that weather for hot cocoa.



Maybe next time, we'll pick a day when the redfish are tailin' in front of us AND BITING. (How frustrating!)

Like "T", my friend and prayer partner said to her own son, "No fish is more important than friends." And that's what fishermen... um... fisherwomen.... have to focus on when we have skunking days like this.

I probably won't post up for a while again because the winds are high all week and school is back in session. Before I know it, we'll be off to visit the relatives!!

God bless & Happy Fishing!

HAPPY CLAMS!!!
11/21/10
by Robin

Happy cows may come from California, but happy clams are from Cedar Key and cooked at my house!!!



When Jack and I get homesick for the ocean, we treat ourselves to a couple pounds of shrimp and couple dozen middle-neck clams.

Look at this one sizzling in it's own juices (Renee, don't barf.)




Chef Jack mesquite smokin' up a storm.



Our cherished Kingsford (Shameless product endorsement!) mini-grill for such an occasion.



Happy Clam #1 - well, he wishes he had a pound of everything for himself

He prefers to smother everything in Crystal's Hot Sauce & fake butter.



Happy Clam #2 - learning how to appreciate seafood this past year



Happy Seafood Eating!!

Support Commercial fishermen and eat seafood for Christmas holiday snacks!!! If you're local, stop by Atlantic Seafood for the freshest fish & shellfish.

SURF SKUNKING
11/22/10
by Robin

I'm a bit behind on blogs, so I'll date them.

Between bad weather, bad timing, bad regulations and saving money for vacation, we decided to head out for some surf fishing. Jack had been stuck in the house all weekend with a fever, too.



As you can see, we arrived just after a storm left. Seas were high. Lots of water churning and no fish biting.




So, instead of having lemons, I made some lemonade of the outing. Here are my handsome boys.



They're really the best catch in the ocean anyhow.



Happy Fishing!

PORTFEST 2010
by Robin

Last weekend, we sold our suv and were going to go looking at a couple used ones on a car lot. We ended up taking a detour when seeing a roadside sign.

I'm glad I brought my camera with me. They had a peeling shrimp contest to raise money & awareness for breast cancer.



A dozen or more folks entered the peel (& NOT eat shrimp because of choking liabilities) shrimp contest.



This man was the winner. He sure was quick. I think he's done this before.

Afterward, we were heading to the car when we ran into our friends who fished at the Middle Grounds. We chatted a while longer and then headed home.

The next day, we found a good beater SUV to haul the boat to the port. Yeah!!

Happy Fishing & be sure to get a Mammogram Lady Anglers!!

KINGFISH DIP
by Robin



It's such a beautiful day outside that I decided to get in the pool to clean it AND I fired up the smoker, filling it with mesquite yummy smells. I have a couple packs of Kingfish meat in the freezer that are thawed and smoking as I type this.

Yum!!

Here is a link to the last time we smoked Kingfish in July.
How we make dip from scratch


Here are my favorite recipes:
Kingfish dip recipes

Happy smokin'!!!!

MORE DELICIOUS FISH DINNERS!!
by Robin

I've lost track of what was on my camera. I'm thinking these are Red Grouper filets. Whatever they were, they were delicious!!




And we harvested a bunch of jalapenos from my garden, filled them with cream cheese and wrapped them with bacon. Oh my heavens!!!!! Threw those on the grill....... (I'll have you know I suffered a fibromyalgia -joint attack because I was so tempted to eat one of these dairy-filled treats.)



I made a big garden salad and put it all together.



Sometimes I feel so incredibly guilty for eating so good and being so blessed by generous friends that give us fish & lobster. Jack also has another friend that has been supplying me with free avacados. Mmmm......

Blessings!!

BEST LUNCHES!!!
by Robin

I cannot remember what date we ate these, but our good friends made a trip out to the Middle Grounds last week (or so) and picked up a few hundred pounds of fish for their coolers. The Middle grounds is in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 80 miles from shore. It is a true test of endurance to run out there, fish, barely sleep, fish and then make the run back in.

I decided to look for a video on UTube to see if I could find something that brings this story to life. I do NOT know these folks, but you can get a 7 min experience of what it is like to be fishing the Middle Grounds like our friends did. It is the land of the giant fish.

Anyhow, we were extremely blessed to receive frozen packages of Red Grouper and Mangrove Snapper. Below is the Mangrove Snapper which were in the 5 -6 lb range. HUGE.



Jack wasted no time in cooking the Mangrove up for us (probably a Monday).


Jack opted out of the gas grill and went straight to charcoal for the sake of the unique flavoring it gives the fish. Oh, it was so worth the wait on the coals.



Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is.




Anyhow, you can find tons of Middle Ground fishing videos on the UTube. I see yellowfin, blackfin, Kingfish, Snapper, Grouper, Amberjack... everything!

Happy Fishing! And good eats!!

FINALLY FISHING AGAIN!!!
by Robin

On Oct 10th, God calmed the seas, created nice weather and gave us a chance to get out and fish!!!

I don't have the pictures ready, but the short of it was that we did not get up at the crack of dawn. I think we may have gotten out to Pelican Flats about 9:30am, pulling right up to the ledge that we like to fish for a variety of reef fish. The anchor goes down, stinky dead shrimp go on the hook and everything goes down to the bottom.

Nibble, nibble.... pull.... reel, reel, reel and up comes a very nice Trigger fish that goes right into the cooler on the first drop.

Send everything back down with another stinky shrimp. Nibble, nibble,.... pull..... tug.... reel, reel, reel and up comes a nice Red Porgy, but it goes back to the ocean because it didn't meet the requirements, by law, for the cooler. Beautiful little guy.

(Sorry no pictures because I was catching everything.) By this time, my eldest has his rig ready and he sends down a stinky dead shrimp. Nibble, yank, pull, yank, wiggle, wiggle, yank... up com a huge red snapper, which is now illegal to keep. Vent & send it back down. We're all high-5-ing each other because we're in 78 ft of water. This means that the snapper population must be thriving with the 10 month closure.

Next couple drops produce a chocolate chip porgy and black sea bass. All very nice edible fish.

We decided to pull anchor and go to another spot, as to not overfish this one ledge.

We head east a little bit until we come across our known Grouper 'hump. We've pulled 25, 35, 40 lb Warsaw Grouper & a 62 lb Cobia off this area in the past. We've got high hopes.

Nibble, nibble, pull, reel, reel, reel screaming as line is peeled off. Oh, I'm so excited that I've got something nice on. Reel, reel, reel and....... it's a 4 ft shark. Infact, we all took turns pulling in 4 ft sharks.

Sadly, the rest of the day produced no other edible fish. We did see an incredible pod? school? gathering? flock? of jellyfish. AMAZING. Literally, there were hundreds, if not thousands in the area we were fishing for grouper. That may be why we never caught anything but sharks off the bottom.

We headed back home by 4pm and cleaned fish. We enjoyed a nice dinner of fried Porgy & Triggerfish, suggested by our youngest. He loves my version of Long Jonz Slivers. LOL.

Happy Fishing!! Pictures to come eventually on that day.

BANANA RIVER CRUISE - 9/26/10
by Robin

It's been way too long since I've updated here, but we've actually had several cool things going on with our lives, relating to the ocean. So, all week, I will attempt to keep everyone updated on our seafood meals & fishing. Please check back daily to see what's new.

The weekend of the 19th, I had a massive cornea infection, cracking the entire bottom part of my iris. At the same time, I had a gall bladder attack through the night. So, I immediately went into fasting in order to do a cleansing on that organ a couple days later. (passing stones)

It was a miserable few days where I hallucinated somewhere between wanting death and having my eyeball removed so I could look like a pirate. I had to stay in the darkness, as I was light sensitive. I had multiple visits to doctors & specialists and all is well now. (It really helps to have a correct diagnosis on my eye issues.)

So, the next weekend, Jack and I were needing some sun and relaxation. After church, we readied the boat for the river and put her through her paces. The boys were happy about getting to stay home, too.

I cannot tell you how good it felt to bask in the sun's rays and be thankful to God for better health. God delivered a splendor of blue & puffy white clouds - all for me.



The camera simply does not do the rippling effect any justice. It was majestic.



It was a quick hour or so, but the winds picked up. The engine had been exercised. We headed back to the local ramp that is known for many engine-less, wind-powered rentals. Many locals like this area because it is shallow, virtually boat-free and seems to attract much wind.


I caught this photo with my zoom lens of a wind surfer as we were in the slow zone. I put an impressionist touch photoshopped onto it.




It's hard to believe that was a month already.

Blessings!