The Captain has been home for a couple days now. Jeff was a bit cranky Saturday after driving nearly 24 hours with only a 4 hour break for sleep south of Eugene. So, I took him out for a good dinner and plenty of wine. After dinner, we met up with the Webers at their shop to help reunite the shell to the frame on their 59' Flying Cloud. We got all but the last corner down Saturday night, but couldn't manage to get the last bit done (the wine did not help this process). Ryan made the wise call to retire for the night and grab a couple beers at Prost, West Seattle. I hear Ryan, Katie and Fred managed to finish getting the shell back on Sunday and can't wait to see the update on their blog.
In the meantime, my dad and I went to work on the Captain. I was hoping to spend Sunday poking around, cleaning up and starting what is sure to be a long to-do list, but the gaping hole in the Astrodome forced us to immediately go to work. We live in Seattle afterall and rain is never more than a couple days away. Fortunately, Ryan had a brand new Astrodome that he had ordered for his Flying Cloud, so we had the parts available. Unfortunately, the rear lifter was completely jammed, so we were only able to get the front lifter bolted to the Astrodome and the rear is currently held down with a cam strap. I've been blasting the rear lifter with penetrating oil in what, so far, has been a futile attempt to loosen it up. I may try to salvage a spare lifter from one of the rear vents (if they are the same size) and replace that vent with a new Fantastic Fan, or if that won't work, start looking for one on eBay or Craigslist.
As promised, here are a few pics of the Captain at home.
