Who’d a thought we’d be out of the water for so long?  Turned out the yard got busy and Charisma sat for over two weeks without any work getting done.  So now, I go down to boat every day for an hour to supervise and make sure the yard knows I’m watching.  They are finally getting things done.  They are doing nice work too.A bonus I just found out is that we’re going to be able to hard wire the “portable” Garmin gps  such that it will “talk” with the new instrument displays at the helm.  We put in two Brooks and Gatehouse Graphical Displays at the helm in the hopes that eventually we’d be able to get gps data when we get a chartplotter (hopefully next year?).  But in the mean time found out the Garmin will send the data just fine.  So we’re adding a permanent gps antenna and wiring the garmin to a data unit that will send the info to the displays and to the new panel.  Then we’ll be able to configure one display for speed and depth and the other display to show gps course and distance.  In the center of the nav pod we also put an analog wind speed/direction gauge.  We also put a “repeater” display over the nav table to we’ll have the same data down below.  The “new” prop and prop shaft also went in today.  Turns out the prop was probably too big, but the pitch was OK, so the shop ground it down to a smaller diameter.  They took about 2 inches off, so now it’s a 16 inch diameter prop.  Looks much better.  I hope it performs as well as it looks.  Also they said the shaft was “toast” (their words), so we’ve a brand new one.  One final bit of good news is while digging in the storage compartments to run new wire, the electrician solved another boat mystery.  He uncovered a strange looking pvc tube with numerous rope loops on it.  Aha!  The spreader bar for the sunshade!  We have a sunshade with lots of attachments but no visible means with which to stretch it.  I’ve been trying to figure out how in the world it worked.  Mystery solved.  Here’s a picture of the new prop versus the old prop.  Not sure if you can see the difference in these photos, but now the blades have a better shape.