Torquin' 'bout a revolution

Yes, my bilges are filthy. This will soon be remedied.

Keel failures being top of mind of late, I brought my torque wrench, a half-inch extender and the appropriate 1.5 inch socket to tighten Valiente's keel bolts. There are several 1.5 inch nuts and two 3/4 inch "little" ones at the leading and trailing edges of the keel.

I couldn't tighten the bigguns, hauling with intent and with the torque wrench at 250 ft/lbs., near its upper limit. The smaller nuts took about an eight of a turn. This gives me confidence and reflects what's happened every couple of years or so I've done the job. Unfortunately, it's not easy to get at the keel bolts of many modern production boats, and that's not confidence inspiring.