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| A beautiful morning to sit out on deck. Anybody seen my husband? |
Thankfully, we're past running to West Marine every couple days. In fact, now we only buy the occasional tool or part from the hardware store. However, there are still plenty of things to keep the retired mechanic busy.
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| Sewing machine "inspection" |
After the constant use over the last month, the sewing machine was starting to make weird noises. Time for the 100-point inspection ("Yes, there's a manual.") Also, it is now referred to as a "power tool." To my friend that noticed the knife in the pic, it's not mine. That thing scares the crap out of me. I'd lop a finger off for sure!
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| Bicycle tune-ups |
Bicycle maintenance: The Captain's shifter broke (wore out!) so it needed to be replaced. The part wouldn't arrive for 5 days (seems to be a theme), so he switched his bike seat with my bike seat and locked it into third gear (my sweet spot). At some point, I became confused about the problem (because at the time, I wasn't listening. "(His) bicycle. Mechanical thingy. Blah, blah, blah. Ordered a part." Didn't see how that affected me. SO meanwhile, he would switch bike seats back and forth, based on the current day's need--he's riding to the hardware store/I'm riding to the grocery store. I'd hop on to ride to the office & it would be in 7th gear (at least I got a workout) with the seat so high I couldn't sit down! At one point my/his(?) chain fell off altogether and had to be safety-wired back in place! "Which bike is this? No originally." I sense a bait and switch...
On a boat, it's only a matter of time before you have to spend a few days in a hole. Those days had come. (I had money on it being the head/holding tank). One lingering "squawk" from our survey was: the wooden shelf underneath the aux water tank was rotted. We didn't consider this urgent at the time. However, as we discussed our future water needs for the islands, this project come back onto the radar. When I suggested cleaning, refilling and exercising this tank, the Captain decided it was time to pull it out and replace the shelf.
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| BEFORE: Aux water tank in aft part of starboard anchor locker |
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| BEFORE: Forward part of starboard anchor locker (secondary anchor & rode) |
Day 1: The aux water tank in the forward starboard hull anchor locker was removed (you can read that sentence again. Got it? Here we go). There is a hose that passes out through a bulkhead and into the interior. It had to be cut to get the tank out. "No problem. I'll replace the hose." He spent the rest of the day scraping the rotted wood off that had been glued to the fiberglass shelf. (And here lies the problem. No drain holes. Nowhere for the inevitable water that can enter a deck locker to go. The aux water tank wasn't a standard installation on a PDQ, so perhaps this was installed without much engineering forethought. I was assigned the task of dragging the aux tank down to the dock and washing the exterior (interior was surprisingly clean). I helped!
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| Scraping the rotten wood off of the fiberglass shelf |
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| The mess on the forward deck, part 2. What happens if I close the hatch? "You'll go for a swim." |
Day 2: The Captain rode his bicycle to the hardware store to get new wood. Between rain showers it was cut, treated with CPES (Thank you, Bequia Chief) and installed on the shelf. It was allowed to dry (drink beer) and then fiberglassed with West epoxy & glass cloth.
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| New wood |
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| Drain holes and paint |
Day 3: Bicycle ride to West Marine for bilge paint and more hose. Drain holes were drilled and the shelf was painted. (I need to pay more attention to The Captain when he says things like, "I'll just replace the hose." In fact, I would usually say something like, "What does that involve?" This time I didn't.) I headed towards our berth and found this:
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| Running the new hose from the hull into the cabin |
When I asked what he was doing, The Captain said, "Replacing the hose
(silly)". And that runs all the way up to the salon? "Yep." I know
where this is going--see
"Checking In" (propane sensor replacement)
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| Old hose. New hose. |
The vent and water hose were replaced from the forward hull through to our berth and spliced (taking it all the way up to the settee in the salon deemed PITA. This section of hose seemed in good shape and insulated well.
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| AFTER: Aft locker, Aux water tank |
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| AFTER: Forward locker, new paint |
Technically, this project was done. However, "While I'm at it," involved the rest of the interior of the locker being cleaned and painted (Paint on feet. Foot prints on deck. La, la, la, la, la. Silly boy. I'm not in charge of swabbing the deck!) Just as the rain rolls in--"Need a little help here:"
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| Mess on the forward deck, part 3. It's starting to rain... |
"Detailing the anchor locker is a bit over the top." It looks great honey! Here's a beer.
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| Lazy cat |
Amelia did not help at all! "I hate it when you wake me up to take pictures, Mom."
In the interest of full disclosure, this project ran into day 4 (but I'm not changing the clever title). I walked (back) to West Marine because the Captain decided to put in some Dri-Dek. When I got back, the spinnaker (in the sock) had been hoisted to the top of the mast to air out.
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| Spinnaker sees some sunshine |
Project complete:
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| AFTER: Starboard (secondary) anchor locker |
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