Well, you doubters will be happy to know that my boat is not the very last thing on my mind - I actually messed with it some today.
The console on a poling skiff is just a little bigger than a kitchen matchbox and the previous owner of my boat had installed a small tackle station in the side of the console. That was cool to throw things in, but it meant any work in my console had to be done with tweezers, like building a ship in a bottle. So today the tackle station went adios and I cut the hole big enough to accommodate a locking boat hatch that closely matched it size. Now I have two access hatches to the console and I can actually use a full size battery.
Then things got a little more interesting. My steering was a little tight when full left (rod all the way in, Teleflex). Okay, I'll just lube that bad boy up. So I removed the steering cable from the engine tilt tube; but it was tough and I literally had to drive it out (wood dowel). It was scratched, but not bad, so I took emery cloth and cleaned it up very nicely. Then I split my wood dowel on the end and put some emery cloth there and used a cordless drill as a hone. I polished the tilt tube up to a mirror finish. Awesome!
Then when I started to assemble it I could only get it to go in about 2" when it wanted to stick. WTF? everything was polished to mirror finish, the tube looked like a rifle bore it was so clean. I examined the end of the steering rod with a straight edge to make sure there wasn't some imperceptible bend.. nothing. So I started studying the tube closer. Don't ask me how it's possible, but I know it's bent. I google searched it and
I'm not the only one, but I just don't see how it could bend. I put a dab of grease on one end the tube and looked down the tube, moving my head to the side, and I could get to the point where the grease was out of sight. It appears to be bent about 2" from the starboard side, right where it was getting tight. Crazy.
Do these have to be pressed in? This is what happens when you start jacking with something - it's like eating javelina - the more you chew the bigger it gets. ha ha ha.