Saturday, June 19, 2010

What A Summer Day! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

It was a damn bad day not to have sails! But it was still a great day to be on the boat. I fixed the boarding ladder so that I can access it from both the boat and THE WATER! There are always those times, few hopefully, when one goes ass-over-teakettle into the water and it is nice to have a water to get back on, especially if you are alone!

I unloaded the stuff I brought down to the boat yesterday and tried to find a place for each item. I was somewhat successful. Of course, now I don't know where half of the stuff is so thank goodness mostly of it was clothes and sundries and the like. There is little chance of having a desperate need of toothpaste in an emergency!

I re-did the fuse arrangement for the windlass. I didn't like the way I did it the first time. It was Mickey Mouse looking and while it might have worked, it lacked "panache!" So I re-did it and it looks much better. Writing this I realize that I forgot to test it. But there is no reason it should not work wonderfully well.

Last year, I tried to develop a system for storing tools and used tubes of PVC to hold screw drivers, wenches, etc. and stored them on a rack system on the wall of the engine room. It was a wonderful idea that was terribly impractical. It just simply didn't work as I envisioned it would. So I made it go away until I can come up with something more practical. I also to took the time to attach for sliding barrel bolts on the wall where the rack system was. It was held in place by a whole bunch of screws and it was a chore to removed them all to access the top of the engine. Now I slide four bolts and the whole wall panel lifts out. I found that the yard had neglected to put the breather back when they changed the engine oil. Already it has proven a wise move!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:


I got my first sunburn of the season!!!!! I am sure that I will regret it tonight. I realize that I don't have any sunscreen. It is amazing how dumb I can be. I will have to check out things more carefully, open more draws and lockers and get a sense of what I have and what I need but don't have! It is a chance to settle in and set a routine and get comfortable. I did sleep like a the dead last night, once I got used to the sounds the boat makes.