It Be Getting Closer

SHIP'S LOG:

     Two days of working on ABISHAG were split by a day of working on the Galley down at TYC.  Saturday was a real hammer. I never realized how much work it is to put in a floor. we have been going at it for three weekends straight now and this past Saturday, the concrete board was set in. I never knew there was such an item. It is concrete over a webbing or mesh of fiberglass the size of plywood. It had to be cut to fit (thank goodness we had someone who could actually do it right) then laid over a skim-coat of "mud." It was them  nailed in place along the edges and then screwed firmly in place.  I don't think that I have swung a hammer that much in my life. By the end of the day ,y arm was ready to fall off but the entire floor in all of its levels is done and awaits only the laying of the tiles on Tuesday.  I'll be helping the floorman, Wayne, laying the tiles which probably means I hand him the tiles and try to stay out of his way.

      Friday was a day of cleaning and dealing with the stuffing box. I got a late start as I had to pick up a friend at the Fishers Island Ferry terminal at 1:30 and so I didn't arrive at the boat until 3pm. The first task was the stuffing box. this ancient item allows the drive shaft from the engine to exit the boat and turn the prop without allowing water to gush in and sink the boat. There is a bronze item call a gland that fits over the shaft and into which one inserts several rings of  "flax packing" filled with wax or grease. This is then slid down the shaft to the stuffing box and tightened down sufficiently to keep water from entering and lose enough to allow the shaft to turn without heating up. It is a simple procedure to replace the "packing" in most case but the design of the engine compartment in ABISHAgG is such that one has to lay-out over the engine to unscrew the gland and its locking nut and extract the packing. One extracts the packing with a packing tool which is basically a corkscrew on a cable. I used to have one when I had the 27 O'Day but it went with that boat when I made it a charitable donation for tax purposes. That'll give you and idea how long ago that was! I got the gland and locking nut off the stuffing box and cleans and lubed them but I was unable to extract the packing. The arrangement of the stuffing box was such that i couldn't even see the packing let alone extract it. Friend Fred has a "packing tool" and will bring it by on his next visit. Perhaps I'll just add grease and leave things as they are. After all, there was no problem that I could tell with the stuffing box and I was merely doing due diligence maintenance. But as they say in Maine, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

     The rest of Friday was given over to cleaning the interior of the boat. Not only did the floors and walls need cleaning, so dis the lips and edges of all the hatches. Dirt and petro products and surprising odds and ends collect in and under the edges of all the hatches in the deck. Since you never see them, who thinks to clean them. Doing the first real major cleaning drove home just how much space there is in a 39' X 11'5" boat.  And it was all done on hands and knees. what I wouldn't have given for a bucket and mop!

       Sunday was the start of paint week. weather permitting, ABISHAG's bottom will be bright red by Friday and ready to enter the water.  I had already removed all of the loose paint from the bottom and Sunday was given over to painting those spots. I used a "hard" bottom paint for these spots. It adheres better to the bottom and won't wear away like the ablative bottom paint that will go on. The hard bottom paint is blue in color and thicker in consistence so it builds up quicker and "fills in" better. The ablative paint is designed to "wear off" but the "hard bottom paint" will stay much more readily in place.  I st no matter what I do. I still can't figure out why there are some places on ABISHAG's bottom where paint just doesn't stay. I suppose that with a Marine Unit, I could get some bottom paint removal chemicals and strip the entire bottom and them put down a barrier coat and all new paint, but then, I don't have a Marine Unit to play with. Hell, I had to raid my stash of quarters I use for doing laundry when I am living on the boat to come up with enough money to buy gas to get back to New London. Doing the bottom paint forced me to fix a gouge in the keel that was caused when I snagged a fishing wryer. The  steel cable cut into the fiberglass enough to be noticeable but no enough to penetrate it deeply. I had sufficient underwater epoxy to fill it and then paint it.

     The yard was filled with boat owners getting their crafts ready and I was unable to wash down the outsides of ABISHAG. The wind was honking and those doing varnishing and/or painting would not have appreciated the shower. It will have to wait for this week when I basically have the yard to myself. No word on the wind generator or when it may return. I am both eager for its return and dreading it. Eager, so that the batteries will stay topped up and dreading it as who knows what it will cost. What ever it is, it will be a major "ouch!"