Work, Work, WOrk And More WORK

SHIP'S LOG:

      I was able to get a day off from the loft and Friend Fred was free you were both at the boat. Fred got the fun task of painting the bottom, or at least getting a good start at it. He got the waterline taped and was able to get half of the painting done. He will be going up again on Wednesday and should be able to finish that articular job.

      I on the other had to re-attach the ceiling panel over the galley so that I could do a major job, replacing the window (opening port) in the galley. The biggest problem was too few arms. I had to hold the panel in place in order to screw it in place. After a lot of thought, I taped it in place with wide masking tape and then screwed it back in place. Surprisingly, the idea worked!

     After that was done, I had to unbolt the old port and trim. The un-bolting wasn't that bad, though getting the bolts out required a major persuader (2 pound hammer)  and a punch. The old port had to be pulled out of the hole. It revealed that a lot of water had gotten in. There was a lot of discoloration, some soft, damp plywood and corrosion of the aluminum of the port itself. It was time for it to go and so it went . . . . . . into the trash

       Next, the hole in the side of ABISHAG had to be enlarged as the new port was slightly larger than the old one. It took a bit of grinding the fiberglass/plywood/fiberglass sandwich of the bulkhead but it actually went rather quickly which was a surprise. Once the new port fit well, I covered it with silicone, a lot of silicone I slipped it into place. Then I anchored it in place with self-tapping screws and it was done.

     I finished up the caulking of the teak deck seams  and I was done for the day. The day ended about 6:30pm and for the first time I was too beat to clean up afterward. As a result, my favorite multi-bit screwdriver and the charger for the Multi-tool are missing. They are somewhere in the saloon but just where it is tough to say. A cursory search did not turn them up and hopefully I will be free Friday and while find them then. The bottom should be done by then and then, actually, we can plan to take ABISHAG to New London sometime next week. AH, the joys of boat ownership.