Paddling Monte Rio Down and Working On the Mower Repair

Friday, Saturday June 9, 10, 2017 Guerneville CA.

All I could do was go to bed

Yesterday all I could do when I got home from kayaking Monte Rio was go to bed, so I did, early.

Paddling below Monte Rio

Yesterday, I put my boat in the water at Monte Rio and paddled down river to the Villa Grande Hole about a mile down stream. There was a breeze and it was nice out.

Here I’m just starting to head down river from the Monte Rio boat ramp.river

 

Conditions have changed by the little island

Conditions by the little island just below the boat ramp have changed a bit from last winters heavy rains, so I wasn’t sure which way to go around the island. I usually go down the right side but I wasn’t sure I could get through it so I went down the left side and went by these little ducks with their momma.ducks

 

I went by this great blue heron catching a bit of a breeze.heron

 

Made it around the island

I wasn’t sure I was going to get down the left channel, but I worked my way through the narrow part and through some tree branches and went by these male mallard ducks and I was back in the main channel below the island.maleducks

 

This is what back in the main channel looks like as I drifted down the river.riverd

 

Little duckies

I pulled into these weeds to stop for a bit and these little guys came by to check me out.duckbabes

 

They continued on feeding along as they went, not bothered by me at all.babeducks

 

Green heron fishing

I continued on down the river when I saw some motion off to the right in the weeds, so I looked a bit closer and found this green heron hunting along the water’s edge.heronfoot

 

There was also a female mallard duck with her little ones hiding in the weeds watching me as I passed by.duck

 

I ran into another green heron not far from the other one.herong

 

Taking it easy at Villa Grande Hole

I made it down to the Villa Grande Hole and sat around for about an hour taking it easy and just watching things on the river then headed back up the river along it’s edges.

Here I stopped for a bit in the weeds just below Monte Rio.riverup

 

Another  green heron flew in just in front of me for a bit before taking off again.greenh

 

And this great blue heron also landed in front of me while I watched.herongb

 

Getting back up around the island

I stopped in back of this log to steady the channel up ahead as I knew I couldn’t get around the right side of the island I came down on without getting my feet wet. I wasn’t’ sure about the left side channel as there was a fairly good current up that side, but I thought I’d give the left side a try. If I had to get out of the boat it wouldn’t be any worse then getting out to get up the right side I came down on, so off I went.riverm

 

Zigging and zagging

As expected the current was fairly strong, but I zigged a zagged around the fast spots and rested whenever I could find a slow spot and I made it up the left side and paddled on up just below the Monte Rio bridge to check out the channel below the bridge as that has also changed a bit since last winter.monterio

 

From there I drifted back down to the boat ramp here and took my boat out and went on home for the day.ramp

 

Done in for the day

Once I got home I needed a nap, but I couldn’t seem to get comfortable so finally just climbed into bed and that was it for the day.

 

Saturday June 10th

Working on the mower project

This morning I woke up rested so once I got it going I started working on the weed mower project again.

Fabricating a bracket

I needed to make a bracket to adapt the mower motor to the mower frame and it would be a good idea if the bracket was adjustable so the belt tension could be adjusted.

This is the bracket I made. The mower engine mount is welded to the new adjusting bracket on the bottom. I applied a bit of black paint.bracket

 

Here’s the new engine mount bracket mounted to check things out before putting the engine on it.bmower

 

Here’s the bracket with the engine mounted on it showing the adjuster.adjuster

 

Mounting the belt clutch

Once I had the engine mounted the last thing I needed to do was remount the belt clutch mechanism which needed to be raised up to match the belt pulley.gager

 

Had to make the this bracket twice

That didn’t turn out to be very easy. I made a bracket to make it work, but it didn’t’ so I threw the first bracket out and made another one that turned out to be simpler then the first one that didn’t work out.

Short test drive

After some trail and error, I finally got it all to work out and gave it a short test.weedmow

 

Could use some new back tires eh

It all seemed to work ok during the short test I gave it. Some new back wheels will be added as soon as I go to Gardener’s Aid to see Bill again as the ones on it are fairly worn out. It’s like driving with a flat tire, except I have to push it.

About the time I got that finished it was almost dark, so I quit for the day and that was my day.

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