"BIG SIGH!"

SHIP'S LOG:

     I am looking out the window and IT IS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW BAD IS THAT!??!?!? Granted t is not a raging blizzard, but it is snow. I AM SOOO Depressed!

     Did another trip to ABISHAG yesterday to continue the stripping out. Out went everything in the aft cabin and with all that free room, I couldn't help but do a little "destructive" maintenance. I took down the headliner and exposed the underside of the deck. There have been some leaks back there and I am not sure whether they are from the hatches ( there are two of them back there) or from some other source. From a first cursory glance, there isn't any obvious leak-source that I can see though it is clear that there has been some leaking going on. The mold and mildew on both the headliner and the underside of the deck make that clear. It will take a serious washing down to get it all out. The raw fiberglass of the deck and topside is thick but rather rough and uneven. I have a couple of months to decide whether to paint it or level it, fair it and then paint it.

     I though I was a lousy "marine electrician," but which ever former owner who installed the goose-neck lights in the aft cabin was far worse than I. The wires had no support of any kind, just laying on the panels. Half of the connections were simply wires tied together, wrapped in yards of electrical tape. It is a wonder that the boat didn't catch fire when the lights were energized.

     I will have to add some fairing strips in the aft cabin. The panels were "formerly" held in place by being screwed along their edges into the ferrying strips. This will not provide enough support when I use Velcro to replace the screws, that and the fact that the panels will be smaller as well. One other disappointing discovery is that there is no direct access to the fasteners for that stanchion bases. The hard fiberglass liner that exists will require holes be cut into it to developed that access. There is the old boating proverb that basically says that doing one project reveals four more that also need doing. In this case, not only will I have to cut into the fiberglass liner to create an access hole, I will also have to eventually come up with a way of camouflaging it less the interior look as though insane, fiberglass-eating moles, have been at work. Once the interior is stripped out, this is some work that I can begin. I won't be able to pop the nuts and re-bed the stanchions until spring, but creating access will make that job a lot easier. I was thinking that perhaps a thin wooden panel, with a Delf tile depicting a sailing scene,  could eventually be used to cover the access hole. Now I only have to find the tiles and the cut the wood and figure out how to affix the tile to the wood and the wood to the liner.  That's FOUR!

     I am hoping that sometime this week, I can prevail upon Russ to help me haul up the last of the stuff in the boat. My new/old car actually has less room that my old P.O.S. Not that it matters that much as I would not have been able to haul the cushions and remaining sail in it anyhow. Once that is done, all of the headliner panels can come down and if it is above freezing, I will hit the interior overhead with mold/mildew killer.  And then the last thing will be to wrap ABISHAG up. I HATE WINTER .. . . . . . . . AND IT IS STILL SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!