So I show up at the yard today with some more Furuno boxes, whistling a happy tune and thinking maybe I can screw something down on the boat instead of ripping something out for a change.
Did I mention the window leaks? The ones that drip right on my wife’s head when it rains? Clearly a repair priority…I pulled the windows off last week. The window gaskets I need to put the windows back in are back ordered while Lewmar is off hunting whatever wild and mystical beast they need to catch on the Northern Moors in England to produce a new gasket. How else can it take 4-6 weeks to make a new roll of gasket when you run out? But I digress…but it is important to remember that a couple of windows are no longer actually installed on the boat.
This morning it’s a beautiful day and I have installation in my heart. I know in the back of my mind of course that the Soda Blasters were supposed to come last week, but the yard told me of course I could keep working up on the boat under the winter cover since they are blasting the BOTTOM, not the deck.
So driving up to the boat I fail to see it…or at least I fail to see what I expect to see, which is a boat with a largish winter cover on it. Maybe Evenstar is next to the big uncovered boat which wasn’t next to her yesterday…
SURPRISE! The soda blasting guys are here today, and they’ve already cut the winter cover off and disposed of it! No matter that several of the windows are in the back of my car and it is supposed to rain later. Or that the cockpit is full of all sorts of random electronic gear, the binnacle is ripped apart and the “dashboard” under the dodger is laying wide open. So much for my plan to leave the cover on for another week or two to give myself some leeway to get the cockpit and windows squared away.
To their credit the Soda Blasting guys did an admirable job taping over the windows and moving all the sensitive gear and tools down below. So then they explain to me that no, I probably actually can’t work up on the boat while they work down below since my ladder and their covers are not too compatible. Oh, I can work up there so long as I have no intention of coming down all day…not a really good plan for someone that goes through about a gallon of coffee every day with a boat on the hard (read: no functional plumbing). Really, really not practical.
Oh, and by the way it will take us all day Thursday just to drape the boat, and probably all day Friday and into Saturday to actually blast all the bottom paint off. I guess I missed that memo too, I sort of figured they’d bang it all out in a day.
So I find myself with two days where I’d planned to work on the boat in a caffeine addled frenzy for every waking moment…and I can’t. Of course I’ve got a million other things to do, not the least of which is wrapping up the marketing materials for the major new feature release of my iPhone App, keep cleaning up the yard since the house is technically now back on the market and the yard still looks like we just drove off the double-wide after we finally got the truck off the blocks. And getting ready to leave town for the weekend on top of it all.
I’ll find something to fill my day tomorrow. It just won’t involve boats.
