This weekend I finished installing the starter. Along the way I decided to replace the bonding wire on the starter to the v-drive with tinned wire because the existing wire was corroded. As I was doing this, I also decided to replace the bonding wire from the v-drive to the raw water strainer because it had broken a few months back. Removing the nut on the raw water strainer lead to the strainer breaking.  The strainer (bronze) was bolted to an aluminum bracket with stainless steel screws and it had started to bend at the hanger points. I was planning to replace this fall when I haul out, but turns out I needed to do it today. I put a board on that aluminum bracket and put in a new raw water strainer. All in all it was pretty simple, the new fittings lined up a bit differently, but the new strainer looks great and will provide years of reliable service! I have one more bonding wire to put in, just need a 8 AWG to number 10 screw ring terminal to check that one off the list.

I also finished installing the starter this weekend after I painted it and let it dry. It pretty much popped right in, I fastened in all the bolts to the block, put the new bonding wires on and then hooked up the battery cables and starter switch. She started up on the first try and water ran well through the exhaust. Everything is look good!

Finally, I finished our plumbing upgrade as well by putting in a new shower mixer valve and handheld wall mount sprayer. The original faucet was a 4” on center individual knobs for hot and cold and had a fitting for the shower nozzle right on the faucet. When I pulled this off the wall I was left with two holes in the whole. I put a Shurflo mixer volume control in the bottom hole and a wall mount for the shower nozzle in the top hole. This completes a project I started last summer!