Wednesday December 5: Happy Birthday!

Today is Steve's birthday! There will be a celebration dinner tonight but right now it's docktail time so he's up on the flybridge putting the plastic enclosure up.

It's quite windy and cool (can you say jeans?) but then it's going to be like this for the next week so might as well have someplace to hide from the wind :-)

This past week has again been one of mostly working on the teak and a couple of other projects.

Sharon with heat gun and scraper.

       Once the teak has been sanded, it's time for the Cetol to be put on. Three coats so far on the port railings - maybe more to come. Sharon says she puts 6 coats on so maybe that's what we'll (translate: Steve) will do. The teak on Stevedore always looked good!

Sharon has been back and working like a lady possessed. I just don't understand how it can be that much fun as she terms it. I mean I get that the results of your work are so visible but still .....

Maybe some day I will long for that sense of accomplishment but in the meantime? Welcome aboard, Sharon :-)






Another major project started was the repair of a soft spot in the walk around deck. Something else that was done 10 years ago!

Steve working on covering the
decks in 2008.

The original teak decks on the boat were so sanded down and leaking beyond repair that we decided to simply cover the decks with plywood and fiberglass.

It had worked well but at some point water was able to make it's way into the plywood with the result being a few soft areas in the deck. One spot in particular needed to be repaired.

First step then was to grind and cut the fiberglass and rotted plywood. Next seal the cut edges with JB Waterweld to seal the cut edges of the plywood.

Since this is a work in progress, we'll update when the next step in the process (fiberglassing) begins. Maybe next week!

Meanwhile the bases of the stools in the cabin were showing the effects of the saltwater environment - very rusty.

Solution? Clean with steel wool and spray paint.

Like new :-)

And if that wasn't enough, I finally finished all of the new screens for the windows and Steve put on the snaps.

He did a nice job fitting the covers so there weren't any sags or wrinkles in the finished product!



They look so much better :-)

And Sharon continues working her way around the boat - now at the sanding phase. The first phase was to use a heat gun and scraper to remove the old finish.

But it's not all work and no play! Steve was able to go out fishing two days this week!

It always depends on the winds as to whether or not he goes. If it's less than 5 mph - off he goes. For the next week and a half there will be no fishing as the winds will be over 10 mph.

Go when you can is what I say - work on the boat will wait :-)
     

Pretty good two days of fishing although he couldn't fish in his favorite spot because of the shark again.

Talk about a freeloader! It waits until the fish is hooked - then the shark can easily catch and eat it :-)







So tomorrow the Clinic will call and let me know when to be there for my thumb surgery. Hopefully I'm scheduled early in the day on Friday - we can go up on Thursday, go to a show and spend an enjoyable night at a hotel near the Clinic.