Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Rain! Rain! Rain! & A Senior Moment!

SHIP'S LOG:

Yes for about four days the weather was truly wonderful, almost summer-like. It got warm, even hot, and with enough sun for me to get the start of an honest-to-goodness sun burn! But all good things come to an end, even and especially, good weather.

I really didn't get much done on Sunday in that there wasn't all that much to actually do. I painted the depth sounder transducers (two of them) several times with special transducer paint. The paint "protects" the transducers like the bottom paint protects the bottom of the boat from marine growth  . . . . . . and probably about as well. You can't use regular marine bottom paint on the transducers because the copper in the paint, a minuscule amount as it might be, interferes with the signals sent and received by the depth sounders. And if you are consciously using your depth sounder because you want to be sure of the depth of the water beneath your keel, - ie. to keep from going aground! - you surely want accurate readings on that score. Hence, the special paint! SO I'd paint, wait for it to dry, then paint again and wait for it to dry, then paint again  yadadah, yadadah, yadadah . . . . . .

In be tween the painting and during the drying, I checked all the hatches, draws and doors that were sticky. I sanded them until they closed and opened with no sticking. It was so bloody hot down below - on dry land ABISHAG can't turn into the wind and have it fill and cool the inside -  so I had to crack the hatches to let the heat out and what breeze there was in. Still, it was surprising how it sapped the strength right out of me.

I vacuumed the inside, arrange some things, did a lot of little busy work and then decided that it was too nice to spend the day doing busy work and I took off. And that's when the "senior moment" occurred . . . or may have . . . for I am not sure, but now I think that may have neglect to have closed the hatches and ports on ABISHAG.

Normally it wouldn't be a big deal especially considering the weather we have had for the last four days but that weather did not continue.  If I did leave the hatches and ports open, more than those little "whirligigs" from the Maple trees go into the boat. Rain got in, and if was anything in Portland like it has been along the Coast, a lot got in. It is not that it can do in the way of damage, it is a boat after all. Rather, it is the clean up and the mold and mildew that will follow if I don't do it. I hate mold and mildew and I hate cleaning it up almost as much.The rain woke me out of a sound sleep last night which is when that it struck me that one, some or all of the hatches and port on ABISHAG were open. I must be getting a lot calmer in my old age for, since I wasn't sure if or how many was the case, I decided that I wasn't getting into my car and driving up to close them. I simply went back to sleep!

I used the rainy Monday to drop some excess books and an extra tool kit at TYC. Tools, like spares, tend to breed among themselves and produce more tools, certainly more than one deeds. i can say how long ago I bought this particular tool kit, but it has become redundant and so unnecessary and so expendable and so I gave it to the club. I also used the day to head to the sail loft and check on the sails. I am going to have to go up again on Wednesday and work on them myself. They have gotten behind. Their help ( an imposed relative in need of direction) hasn't really been all that much of a help and then have gotten behind. So I'll be there Wednesday and get the Dodger done and any work necessary on the Main and Genny. If nothing else, it will eliminate or at least reduce the sail-loft bill, which is a good thing.

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