10-18 Update

It was like entering one of those storage lockers you see on Storage Wars. Stuff was everywhere; I struggled to find a place to sit. Fortunately, having had six months to think about things and prioritize, I had a plan. The first thing was to get those foot blocks remounted; a two person job. The amount of room between the hull and the inner bulwark is really, really tight, and in the Westsail, the footblocks are through bolted in a very difficult area to access. Drilling the holes into the new teak pad and down into that space has to be exact; if the hole is off 1/8”, it hits fiberglass; that’s no good as a washer and nut have to go on each of the three bolts. I hired John Francois, the local woodworker here as Peake’s to help me. His shop is fully equipped and the man knows his way around tools. As I expected, with his guidance, the holes were spot on, and then it was up to me to clear out both areas that I needed to squeeze into, reach up over my head with a socket extension (actually, two), and get those washers and nuts on. Mission accomplished, each block was bedded down and it was on to the next project. One of those things I had meant to do four years ago in Hawaii when I designed and installed the expanded PVC bimini was to put in an integral rain catcher. I decided on an eyebrow design, and the pieces, which I had cut and routed beforehand, needed to be held in place above while screw holes were drilled from the bottom, through the bimini, and into each piece. Again, a two person job; between John and I, it was short work. I had already taped off the top as the pieces are glued, then screwed from the bottom onto the bimini, a barbed through hull was placed into each corner, then the seams were sealed with bedding compound. It came out just as I had envisioned and looks great. The really good news is that after John left, I was able to start putting together the port quarter berth and move stuff from the salon back into that area. Now you see why those foot blocks had to be installed first off; everything else got stuffed onto that berth! Things were looking up. I had to manhandle the large mainsail out of the salon and up the companionway myself; another two person job that got done by one person, me! The staysail is much smaller, fenders and oars followed up to the deck, more "stuff" was moved onto that quarter berth and, voila, there was a lot more space in the salon. Even the V-berth has now been organized. The air-cooled refridge has been working well, and that cold beer was well deserved; not a bad pace for the first couple of days back.