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The process continues;
We've had two days of temps in the high 40's and low 50's. Perfect for getting back to the prep work. I wanted to ensure I had a perfectly flat surface when I reinstalled the pedestal so I had applied a skim coat of Evercoat and sanded it flush. I never want to do this again so I wanted to ensure the Evercoat was completely waterproofed. I applied four coats of Interlux barrier coat. I am now ready to continue the reinstallation process once the weather warms up enough to allow 4200 to set up properly. Spring starts in thirty days so the weather should be working in my favor.
Replacement pedestal installed! New steering cables are in. The new cables were a bit stiff but fit perfectly. The chain and sprocket were liberally lubed with Super Lube, the only lube reccommended by Edson in this application. It took a few adjustments to ensure my rudder was centered and the lock to lock was even. This is not a job you can do alone because you can't be under the cockpit adjusting the steering cables and standing at the wheel at the same time.
My refurbished Ritchie Globemaster compass was reinstalled with no problems. I'll have to adjust it. The new LED illumination precludes ever having to worry about a bulb burning out. The new dome and polished compass card are a dramatic improvement over the originals.
Since I was going through all this trouble I decided to have Edson leather wrap my destroyer wheel. Not cheap but it looks better than any installation job I would have done.
The last things to do were to reinstall my autopilot adapter and my Monitor wind vane wheel adapter.
Now that I'm back in the water I'll be able to give all the components a real life stress test.
Here are a couple quick photos I took just before ORION was launched.
