Now that I am in the realm of boat people, I need to sound more nautical. Nauticalese. like all jargon related to a microculture, requires that you sound like you know what your'e doing. I now know the difference between a schooner and a ketch (there's always a catch). Budge is amazed at my lack of knowledge. I'm not, it's a need to know basis with me. Do I need it? Then no!
Everyone boater wants to tell you their story. You are fresh meat. Their spouses no longer can stand these stories, as they heard them multiple times. So there you are, trying to get some work done and trying to be polite while someone relates their feats of derring-do. Around my boat, it's more Dog doo. I keep working while saying stuff like "Is that so.....really? Amazing!" I guess it's the dues you pay to have a boat, and a lime green one at that.
And a big thankya for Sergey for correcting my metrics on the rubber boat, He says it should be 2900 milliliters, but that number sounds too big. He's probably right. Metric folk like big numbers that you have to do math to figure the halfway point.
I would name the dinghy "Puppy" but that's too cute. Maybe I will anyway. Rubber Puppy sounds good.
Everyone boater wants to tell you their story. You are fresh meat. Their spouses no longer can stand these stories, as they heard them multiple times. So there you are, trying to get some work done and trying to be polite while someone relates their feats of derring-do. Around my boat, it's more Dog doo. I keep working while saying stuff like "Is that so.....really? Amazing!" I guess it's the dues you pay to have a boat, and a lime green one at that.
And a big thankya for Sergey for correcting my metrics on the rubber boat, He says it should be 2900 milliliters, but that number sounds too big. He's probably right. Metric folk like big numbers that you have to do math to figure the halfway point.
I would name the dinghy "Puppy" but that's too cute. Maybe I will anyway. Rubber Puppy sounds good.
God bless you two followers!
Budge worked the wiring over the weekend. He was busy cultivating an illness that the kids dutifully brought from school to share at home. He was tired and sick, but pushed through with the wiring. He left Sunday afternoon to get back. Monday morning I received an email from him stating that he screwed up the battery box wiring. That's what you get when you're tired and sick. He is coming down on Monday.
I had loosely installed the posts for the cockpit top. I then bolted the support braces to the top of the posts. We walked into them several times!
On Monday, I rigged the cockpit top and Gary came over and flew it up into position. I have no pictures of the lift operation as it was just the two of us and the pucker factor registered 9.6 on the rectum scale. We managed to get it into position and I bolted it in place. Then I tightened all the bolts.
I finished lashing all the beams. This is all that's left of the 600 foot long spool of rope. Maybe enough for one more lashing.
The end fell off of a 500' spool of rope creating a huge mess! I had to get some order to it. Unfortunately, I couldn't just unroll it. The rope at the end end of the spool was all goobered up. Instead I had to take it off the end a length at a time. Now those of you what knows rope know that this puts twists in the line that have to be untwisted. I had to take it off the spool, untwist it and coil it. This destroyed the better part of a morning and my sanity.
I bought four bollards to fit on the end of the beams. This is to tie stuff to, like fenders and planks to walk. Yes, I know, they should be turned 90° to the beams. Yes I know that you don't know the bases are rectangular and are too long to fit that way. I am calling it a unique design feature, carefully planned and executed.
I had declared Thursday as as my official putz around day and started a project. Rocky (you remember Rocky, Don't you?), upholsterer extraordinaire, after he completed my stuff at the last possible moment, gave me the cushions along with three huuuuuge bags of leftover scraps of batting foam and cloth. I stomped the bags through the hatches anywhere I could and moved the hulls. I decided to confront the problem. I proceeded to dump those three bags of scraps out in the cockpit and get them into a manageable condition.
With stuff scattered and strewn about, Robbie, boat yard man, also extraordinaire, Said to me. "I've got a large boat coming in and we need to put it in your spot. Take 45 minutes". Holy Crap! I had not been too organised of late and had stuff everywhere. They dropped off a trailer and I started jamming stuff onto it. The yard guys helped with a fork lift and took the benches. Off the trailer went. I think I still had something in my hand when it disappeared. I had a bit more time as the schedule slammed into the lunch hour.
By the end of lunch, it was on the move. The hulls had been sitting in their cradles for several years and the cradles were in sad shape. Luckily the hulls were pinned and I had completed the lashings, so the boat was rock solid and took the move like a champ. After a bit of thought, we decided to trash the cradles and just set it on blocks with sandbags on them. This crew is very good and works well together. Now I am in a new location further from the water and want to get out.
The latter part of the week I spent reorganizing and finishing up the project I started with the Rocky scraps. I took all the foam and put it in those space bag things and vacuumed them as flat as I could. Now they are easy to stow.
We put a big ratchet on the motors and turned them until they can rotate freely. I have starting batteries. We will try to get them running now.
With stuff scattered and strewn about, Robbie, boat yard man, also extraordinaire, Said to me. "I've got a large boat coming in and we need to put it in your spot. Take 45 minutes". Holy Crap! I had not been too organised of late and had stuff everywhere. They dropped off a trailer and I started jamming stuff onto it. The yard guys helped with a fork lift and took the benches. Off the trailer went. I think I still had something in my hand when it disappeared. I had a bit more time as the schedule slammed into the lunch hour.
By the end of lunch, it was on the move. The hulls had been sitting in their cradles for several years and the cradles were in sad shape. Luckily the hulls were pinned and I had completed the lashings, so the boat was rock solid and took the move like a champ. After a bit of thought, we decided to trash the cradles and just set it on blocks with sandbags on them. This crew is very good and works well together. Now I am in a new location further from the water and want to get out.
The latter part of the week I spent reorganizing and finishing up the project I started with the Rocky scraps. I took all the foam and put it in those space bag things and vacuumed them as flat as I could. Now they are easy to stow.
We put a big ratchet on the motors and turned them until they can rotate freely. I have starting batteries. We will try to get them running now.
The Music♫: Dance Boatman Dance
That is a fretless banjo and a great bones player to boot! So, dance ye boat folk!
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