Wednesday, May 8, 2013

More Busy Work

SHIP'S LOG:

     Back when I made the trip down the ICW, as a precaution against getting caught short of fuel, I set up an arrangement of the back deck to hold a couple of jerry cans of emergency fuel. I can't recall if there ever was such an emergency, but it was a nice safety net to have. Now, however, I really have no need for the arrangement and so I removed the bolt-eyes that had been screwed into the back deck, through which I ran lines that secured the "emergency fuel" cans. It was a simple procedure that nonetheless took a couple of hours. I had to back out the bolts, dig out and sand off the the caulking, removed any of the balsa core that had been compromised, mix up the fairing compound and fill the holes (10), let it dry, sand it smooth and then paint.  As I said, nothing complex just time consuming.

     I also found that using boot striping tape doesn't work to repair the vinyl Bimini. I will have to come up with another "brilliant" fix. Right now I am leaning toward some heavy-duty sail repair tape. This should be better than vinyl repair tape for two reasons, #1 - it is much more flexible and is actually intended to flex; #2 - it will have better adhesive; and #3 - perhaps most important, I already have some and won't have to spend any money on something new which may or may not work.

     No word on the repairs to the wind generator nor on the repairs to the Lyme Railroad Drawbridge. II ain't going nowhere without some movement on those two fronts.