Work! Work! Work! Work!

SHIP'S LOG:

     It can be such fun to destroy stuff! And this week, there was plenty of that. But all this "destruction" was actually the necessary first step to doing the needed work and projects. The three hatches original to the construction of ABISHAG got popped out and I was disappointed. Without an inward flange, they were simply flush fitted and even more distressing was the fact that they were secured simply with machine screws and the mastic. The machine screws kept them from shifting horizontally and the mastic kept them from moving vertically. And while they did technically "stay in place" over the years, they did move at least a little and so began to leak. They had been set on a reinforced lip of wood covered with fiberglass, but the movement compromised the mastic and water got in and the wood below the fiberglass and it began to rot. Obviously this problem was discovered prior to my acquiring ABISAHG  because  sections of the rotted wood had been remove and the void filled with epoxy. Strangely, all the wet wood was not removed at the time of the previous repair and so the wood that remain eventually began to rot and I pulled out the remaining sections for the main hatch lip. I will filled and fair it with epoxy  . . . after I buy the epoxy and after I check out the lips on the other two hatches.  There is no reason to expect that they have escaped the rot as both also leak.

     The interior overhead in the saloon and galley has been removed. The four (4) panels will become eight (8) when they are reinstalled. While they were installed with screws originally, they will be reinstalled with Velcro so that the panels can more easily be removed. That will be a good things as there are somewhere close to 100 screws holding the panels in place and that is not even counting those that held the aft cabin panels in place. They are down too. And it is a good thing too. It is amazing, as I took the panels down,  how much condensation coated the underside of the deck. It was soaking wet, with huge drops of water everywhere.  Of course, a boat which spends so much of its time on the water in the hot summer, collects a lot of humidity which eventually has to condense sometime. Having the boat overhead panels so easy to remove will make it possible to take them down in the fall when the boat goes up for storage, making the condensation easier to prevent, or at least as much as possible. I also had to hit  a lot of spots with bleach to kill off the black mold, another downside from all the condensation. I'll have to acquire 100 feet or so of 2" x 1/2 " of wood to set in the ceiling to which the panels will be "Velcro-ed" in place. It is not a particularly difficult job, it will be labor intensive though.

     I am taking the day off today. The weather is "iffy," plus i "hurt" in places I didn't know I had. Perhaps I am getting old.