Rocked the zoom interview, invited to meet the entire exec team early next week.

Things are looking VERY positive.

Please explain there are a bunch of randoms waiting on you to get a job so you can finish fixing your boat. They'll understand.

I will make sure to make that the first thing I mention next week. Thanks for the good belly laugh. Much appreciated.

And to all you Randoms, I love you all, and hope to having it running for you soon!

Man I was just trolling this board putting off writing a proposal and 51 mins later I have read the entire thread. Lived in Port O'Connor for 2 years and spent some time on an offshore trawling boat. Fantastic thread, very entertaining to follow, the ups and the downs.

Glad to read things are trending up with your health and the job hunt. Also wanted to commend you on your storytelling through this thread. Easy to follow regardless of mechanical experience, and it has been an awesome group effort along the way. Add me to the growing list of randoms waiting for your updates!

Non restoration update, but a good update nonetheless.

I have been offered, and accepted a job. And not just any job, but one I have actually wanted for a while. I am not naming the place until background checks, and licensing is all approved, but I anticipate starting just after New Year's.

This means that, before too long, I should be back to working on the boat. The story behind this job is also a bit of a fun one - once I announce fully, I'll tell it as well.

That's all for now - everyone please have a Happy Holiday and I'll post relatively soon!

Congratulations. I know what it's like to be out of work for a while. I also know what it's like to land a dream job. Sounds like it's going to be a very Merry Christmas.

Thanks. I'm pretty excited. Background check came back excellent - just have to wait on licensing (slow due to the holidays), and I will hopefully be good to go.

Agfencer98 said:

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Non restoration update, but a good update nonetheless.

I have been offered, and accepted a job. And not just any job, but one I have actually wanted for a while. I am not naming the place until background checks, and licensing is all approved, but I anticipate starting just after New Year's.

This means that, before too long, I should be back to working on the boat. The story behind this job is also a bit of a fun one - once I announce fully, I'll tell it as well.

That's all for now - everyone please have a Happy Holiday and I'll post relatively soon!

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This is wonderful news even without the boat getting more work. Congrats!!!

Awesome! I really need to get down there, but funds are VERY tight at the moment.

That will all change soon, though! I start the new job Monday, and will post where it is once I get home from the 1st day of work.

Ok, so I just sat down with the Louisiana State Police, and am now awaiting my provisional key gaming license.

For those of you following this thread, you may have already guessed where I am ending up, but for the rest who have not, I am pretty pumped to announce that I will be working at L'auberge du Lac Casino in Lake Charles. It's a promotion into a corporate casino, and the number 1 property in all of Penn gaming.

Thus position shows that things work out the way they should (and I don't mean because I didn't have to move). When I was let go from Coushatta, I applied all over the place. I had seven on site interviews, including places like Montreal, Seattle, Lincoln, Omaha, Tulsa, etc... I received offers from 6 of those, but none of them felt right to me. The only one that did was Tulsa - and it was the only offer I didn't get, because they were looking for someone to work 2-3 years to train a tribal member, and they found someone wanting to retire in 2-3 years. If I had gotten that offer, I would have never ended up at L'auberge.

3 days later I got a call from the VP of talent for Penn. We talked, she set up an interview with Penn's CMO to talk about a VP of Marketing position in St. Louis. About halfway through, she stops the interview and says 'You live in Lake Charles, would you consider working at L'auberge? We are about to need a marketing VP.' I of course said yes.

I ended up talking to the team at L'auberge, and loved them. Apparently I did something right, as I was offered the job. I was so sure at one point that we would be moving that I had even started packing up my stuff in preparation for a move; wherever it was.

This is a position that I have thought I could be very successful in for a long time, and there is a ton of growth opportunity with this company. I am so excited.

With all the other stuff going on, which I am not going to discuss yet, it was really a blessing. Good news is that I'll be able to continue to work on the boat. Bad news is it won't be for a while. I am very tight on cash and need a few paychecks to come in. But then, full speed ahead!

Thank for everyone's continued support, truly appreciate my Texags and outdoor board family.

Fantastic news on job and promotion up the ladder!

AgFencer - Been following this thread since the beginning. Hope the new gig is going well.

Hoping to get an update from you soon.

Ok, I'm alive, really I am!

Finally starting to breathe a little at the new job, really, really liking it, and I have a good team - we are starting to pick up business already!

A few updates:

So, my illness six months ago turned out to not be an infection, but rather a reaction that I had to Ozempic. I had been on the starter dose for 6 months, they bumped me up a level, and apparently my body DID NOT like it. So, here I am 6 months later, still having some gastrointestinal issues, albeit not nearly as severely and getting better. At least that mystery is solved. Now, just to heal.

I have 2 new starters sitting by the front door of my house - just waiting to be installed. I also have 2 remanufactured starters (the old ones) that I rebuilt, that will be spares for the future.

AS it looks right now, I think I will be going to the boat the weekend of the 11th for a few days. Will be making sure the boat is ok, and installing the new starters, and trying to start her up again. It's not definite yet, but that is the plan. Fingers crossed.

I know it has been a while since I posted, I've been immersed in work - we have some really cool things that we are working on, but I might finally be able to get some more work done.

Also, at some point in the last 6 months, amidst everything crazy going on, I was gifted an amazing gift; one of our family friends was an avid fisherman, but was getting older, and now, sadly, battling lymphoma (but doing ok for now), and he gave me a whole lot of offshore fishing equipment, This included 2 Penn 80 rod and reel combos, a bunch of other rods and reels, and a full duffel bag of lures, hooks, etc.

I decided a would post a picture of what I currently have in gear at this point, before I even have the boat running (much of it was used on my 22' center console in the past. The duffel had so, so much stuff that I haven't fully sorted it yet.







Stay tuned!

Ok, I am down at the boat, finally got a couple of days to work on things. And remember what all I have to do. This trip is all about getting the new starters installed, and just generally going through the boat after a five month absence.

Yesterday, I was able to get both starters installed, bolted in place and wired. The starboard side will work with the turn of the key, but the port side will only currently start with direct power to the starter unit, so there is something off in the wiring between key and starter. I will chase that down as soon as I can, potentially this trip, IF I can actually make the starboard engine go vroom.

Why won't the starboard engine actually start? Because it sat too long and the fuel lines were dry. This boat has two filters on each engine, one before and one after the fuel pump. The pump is a mechanical pump that has to have fuel in it to work, and Detroits hate any air in the line, just like all diesels. I got the whole system primed up to the second fuel filter, but didn't have a strap wrench with me, but will get one as soon as Harbor Freight opens.

Almost exactly the same time as I finished that, I got a call from my sister - my mom fell last night, pretty badly. So for several hours, I was on the phone with her, my brother and my dad, the latter 2 of which are doctors, to find out around 2am that she broke her hip, and has surgery today in a couple of hours. So, depending on how that goes, my time may be cut short, as she is nearly 80 and on blood thinners, so while not a really scary surgery, those things do play a factor, and I might need to go up there and help out.

If surgery goes fine, I'll keep working on the boat until about mid day on Monday before heading back.

I was very happy to find that when I got here, everything that I previously fixed was still working. If I can get the starboard engine running, I will try to do everything the same for the port engine. I am sure there is an easier way to prime the fuel lines than what I know, but for me, it is a slow process. I'm hoping to try to do it before I leave, but we'll see.

All in all, so far, this trip is working out pretty well, and if I do get an engine start, I will post a video of the engine running.

On my way into Rockport for lunch yesterday, I did get a decent picture from my truck of a ton of kites, so adding that too.

Hope your Mother is doing as well as possible under the circumstances and that you can soon get back into a routine that allows you to more enjoy your boat project. All the best and take care.

Thank you. Her surgery was yesterday, and it went really, really well. When I saw the xray with the pins, it was incredibly hard to see where the break was; the surgeon was fantastic. Once out of surgery, she was almost completely out of pain.

Today, she started physical therapy, and twice walked from the bed to the door (with help and very slowly), but reported no pain at all.

As far as the boat goes, at first I couldn't get the starters to spin when I turned the keys, and spent about a day running down the fact that one had a wire disconnected at the ignition key, and the other had the tiniest bare spot, creating a short. It was right after I found that, that I got the call about my mom. I decided to start working again the next morning, after not getting a ton of sleep.

I decided that I would try to start the starboard engine first, and when I cranked it, the starter definitely starts. The engine would not start. I checked the fuel lines on both sides and found they were dry from the primary filter to the engine. The setup is primary fuel filter, fuel line, mechanical fuel pump, fuel line, secondary fuel filter, and then fuel line into the engine/injectors. I tried to turn the engine over again and then nothing. The location that I was trying to start the boat from was outside in the cockpit, so I rigged up a way to start the boat, while in the engine room, and realized that while the started was turning, it was not engaging. Keep in mind that this is a brand new starter.

I needed a break, so drove over to Corpus Christi, drove by CCA&M, went to West Marine, and got a late lunch/early dinner. Got back to the boat about 6, and checked all battery connections, the battery power (14.2 volts), and couldn't find anything wrong.

About 10pm I gave up, cleaned up, and got ready to leave for this morning, since I barely slept worrying about my Mom. Got up this morning, left, and finally got back to Lake Charles. I really think I am about to crack the code, I just ran out of time.

Good news is that everything I repaired in the last several trip worked, which is a first.

Anyway, that's all for now - hopefully get back down to the boat within a month.

Quote:

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and realized that while the started was turning, it was not engaging. Keep in mind that this is a brand new starter.

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if you getting good voltage at the starter, i'd be tempted to go back with a digital load tester, disconnect the leads and test batteries individually. Been my experience that batteries can show good voltage but not have the amps to spin the starter fast enough to engage the flywheel.

So, no new boat update... I was supposed to go down this past Sunday and Monday, but this happened:

Josh and Jase visit Lake Charles

So unfortunately I got sidetracked. It was fun, but I do wish I could have gotten to the boat.