Not a whole lot has happened on the boat recently. I have a guy lined up to do some work on it but trying to find a time when he is available has been tricky.
One thing I don't think I have touched on is the importance of documentation. Photos, notes, videos, etc.
When I first began disassembling the motor, thinking it was just the heads that needed replacement, I didn't do a good job of documenting. We took off the heads there were some bolts and an hold gasket. Those few things became a larger assortment of bolts. What went where? What is this? What is that? Trust me... document.
Luckily some items I put in a zip lock bag and labelled it. This has been helpful even on parts I intended to replace. Its not easy to find 30+ year old bolt kits so you find yourself hunting around for certain sized bolts at your local hardware store and its helpful to have a reference.
Even keeping old parts is helpful. I wrote down the part number of a few items but found myself looking at the parts and comparing them to online pictures to be sure I actually got the correct item. Some part numbers have different versions/revisions. Fuel pump is a good example.
Lastly, never underestimate what you should take a picture of. When I notice some rot on the helm seat I took it out to fix it and the rot was bad enough the seat fell apart. Since I didn't have good reference photos I couldn't figure out how to get the back seats to work like the original one did. Ultimately, I decided to buy a new helm seat rather than struggle with recreating the broken one.
