SHIP'S LOG:
The job should have been simple: Check the fit of the extension of the LPG locker by putting the new cylinders inside, note any high spots, remove the cylinders and grind down the high spots, check the fit again and if correct, glass in the extension. A five minute job. OK, maybe a half-hour job, or perhaps, if I really screwed things up putting in the Formula 27, an hour, but that would be it. TOPS! Right?
Would you believe 4 hours? The reason? Evidently, despite being very,very careful in aligning the bottom with the top of the locker, locking it in place with supports, it ended up being just slightly out of square and it was grind, grind, grind. Check the fit. Grind, grind, grind some more. Check the Fit and grind some more. What made it more fun was that the bottom of the lockers was exactly square, it also wasn't exactly level either. It was twisted so that when I put the cylinders into the locker, the aft cylinder leaned just a bit outboard and the forward cylinder leaned just a bit inward. So more fit, grind, grind, grind.
Finally, after 4 plus hours, the cylinders fit nice and snugly inside the locker and the hatch closes. Perhaps the one good thing about the snug fit is that the tie down system will be required only to keep the cylinders from going vertical. There is no way that they will move horizontally. One always has to find good in bad.
The next part of the process will be the glassing process. It should be a pretty straight forward (HA!) project. A couple layers of fiberglass tape glassed on the exterior and a couple of layers on the interior. Of course, of course there is already a challenge. How do I glass in the part of the locker that faces the inside of the hull. Problems: 1.) There might be four (4) inches of space between the locker and the hull; 2.) One cannot see behind the locker so how does one know where to place the fiberglass; 3.) The locker in which the LPC Locker sits also contains the fill hose for the water tank and the fill hose for the fuel tank. They flank the LPG locker so how does one maneuver a resin soaked piece of fiberglass around them to the back of the LPG Locker? And those are only the problems...er...challenges of which I am currently aware. I fully expect that as soon as I start on this glassing process others will make themselves known. what really concerns me is the glassing the interior of the locker seems so straight forward and easy. What is in store for me there?
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
Despite all that yet needs to be done, I am really beginning to feel that I will be underway before the end of the month.Most of the little things are done and the major things are either done or scheduled to be.While there are feelings of eager anticipation at the prospect, there is a part of me that refuses to believe it. It is that part of me that says it can't be done, at least by me, or that, at the very least, there is still too much to be done before I would be ready. In truth, everything won't be done but everything that needs to be done is fast approaching completion. Setting off from here and heading first toward the Chesapeake and then down the ICW means that there will be plenty of places along the way were I can stop if something major needs fixing. Like the trip up from Annapolis, it will be a long shake-down cruise, as much for me as for the boat. There is an interesting struggle going on inside between the part of me that knows I can do this and the part of me that keeps bringing up all sorts of reasons why I can't. It is tough to say which side has the louder vice and the upper hand at the present moment, but actually, I am ignoring both and just plugging ahead with getting the boat ready. When the keel kisses that water, then it will begin to get really interesting.
