With K visiting over the weekend, it was a good time to re-fit the registration arm for the autopilot; she fits down the locker much more easily than I do. So, on Saturday, I roughed the splined pin with a small file to clean off the Loctite-clone and provide a good bonding surface, coated it liberally in epoxy, and passed it to K who was able to push it up into the hole in the registration arm.
Speaking of that arm, it’s a long way back from the locker opening to the engine space; further than I remembered at least. It’s actually aft of the wheel steering pillar, which makes it a good stretch to reach if you’re not going into the engine bay itself. Had I looked at my photo archives, I would have realised this much sooner.
On Monday, having given the epoxy plenty of time to cure, K went back down the hole to fit the registration arm. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get it over the pin and push the whole thing aftwards so that I could clip it over the other pin on the steering bar that’s clamped to the rudder stock. So, I ended up down in the locker instead, and I managed to find a way to reach all the way back to the registration arm without having to contort myself into the engine bay itself (I don’t know if I could get out if I did). Had to use a screwdriver to push the registration arm towards the stern, and K was able to grab the other end and clip it to the steering bar.
Also checked the Volvo seal on the engine shaft, and found it needed a little more burping. That’s done now, but those videos on the net that say “squeeze it” must be assuming that you can get right over it, and have the grip of a gorilla. I had to use the end of a hammer to get enough pressure on the seal to burp it.