Pick It Up, Suck It Up, Give It Up Or Pack It Up And The Impossible Bottom

Budge was a big advocate of having spare parts. I, too, liked the concept. Now it has come to the point of actually putting stuff on the boat. Up to this point, I hung on to everything. My mantra was "Keep it and you'll always have it". This has evolved into "Storage is the death of everything". I keep spares of things and discover the great truth. If you have it stored, when you need it, you cannot find it. Critters have made it their new home. "Hey, you weren't using it so I moved in and made it home" they say. The climatic conditions factor in and render your precious item that you can't find anyway into a pile of oxidation. Now I say "Let the store store it for me". It will be clean and new. It will be new and improved. It will be locatable  "aisle 10 halfway down on your left".  I have had stuff strewn under and around the boat for months. Every time I organized and put things away I had to dig it back out a few days later. I eventually gave up. Now I must dig deeply into my inner resources and resolve to do something with the clutter. I started finding people to take things. I grab something and it doesn't want to go. It clings to my hand with a death grip pleading to come along with me on the great adventure, whatever that is. I either give it away or find a place for it. The final choice is the dumpster. I must channel Ming the Merciless and make the hard decisions.

Oh yeah, another stellar video has been posted. My usual standards of production prevail! Pay attention illiterati! Those of you whut read, proceed.

This platform, cobbled together out of scrap plywood, repaired a couple times, trod upon by all concerned, was our folding ladder platform while we built the boat. It served me here  by keeping things off the concrete when it rained. It's time to give it up. To the dumpster! It served us well.

I spent a couple hours running line inside the hatch springs so that the wind wouldn't overpower the spring had push the hatch farther open. The top.

The bottom. I may add another line on the other side if necessary. Of course you can't see it! It's inside the spring.

The fuel lines were touching the boat and tank in spots.

I put some foam pipe insulation on the hoses to prevent chafe. With my luck, the fuel will eat it.

The last bench. We made at least 6 benches out of scraps to hold various projects. I had two here. I gave one to Nat to use on his boat. The yard guys had a project so they stole the last bench from me (Yay!). I hope they don't bring it back.

Adam finally made it over to change the motor impellers. I could have done it if only I knew how to do it. I watched so I can do it next time. They use a special non petroleum based grease called KY Jelly on the impellers. It must stand for "Kool Yacht". It will keep that bottom unit well lubricated! It was designed for that.

The motor service manual, looking like it should. Grease stains, thumb prints, pages starting to become loose from the binding. It has come in handy.

With the motors complete, it was time to finish things up. I have been waiting for months and months (and months) to do this. One afternoon I got the wash brush out, you know, the kind that attaches to a water hose. and washed the surface dirt off the hulls. The following afternoon. I dug out the last gallon (coupla liters in metric) can of red bottom paint and used it up. I got the majority of both hulls painted with the can. I stayed away from the green paint and it was good except for that schmutz of red that occurred when I  accidentally touched the green. in one spot. I let it dry overnight, The following day, I started taping. Yes. I taped over the schmutz. I'll paint over it with green. That afternoon, I painted the coat of black paint over the red. My arms were sore. I used up about a gallon and a quarter of black, leaving 3/4 gallon left. The following afternoon, I painted a second coat around the water line. There is a bit left to touch up the unreachable spots.

Hey, it could have been the Stones' "Paint It Black"

The label from the black bottom paint. Hey, look, it says how many liters in metric, Robbie stopped by to check out the work. I made sure he was far enough back so it looked good. I told him it was 67% copper ablative paint. He said that they can only get to 40 percent or so with ablative paint. I thought "Uh Oh". I dug out the label and showed it to him.

Now I am worried. Robbie knows a hellava lot about bottom paint. If he's right I may be in trouble down the road. I'm hoping that there is a new miracle wonder paint that is going to last forever. I know about miracle wonder products. They have paragraphs in brochures with impeccable research documented and explained. Do they work? Naw.

I made up new linkage for the motor accelerator. So that was my week. Until we meet again.....

The Music: The Head And The Heart "Down In The Valley"

I wanted to name any daughter I'd had "Dawn Linda". Lucky for her, we had boys.