Cold Weather

I should be warmer today, but it stayed cold and overcast all day yesterday. I was able to get most of the inboard edge of the starboard toerail caulked (that's really all I can do until I fix the areas along and near the transom). It's bright and sunny today, so I'll pull up the cover on transom and starboard side, fix the split and caulk as much as I can. I still have half the outboard edge left to do too.

I brought the small portholes and handrails on board yesterday, so I'll start remounting them today too. I'm not sure how far I'll get, but it would be great if I could get them all in. Right now, I'm letting the sun warm up the cover and the deck.

Canvas watch:

I've decided to go with the charcoal gray canvas. There's another boat in the yard with gray canvas and it looks pretty good. She's got a lighter gray, but I like the look of charcoal.

Caulk watch:

Grant came on board the day before yesterday and took a look at the deck and my first attempt at caulking. I'd caulked the inboard edge of the port toe rail, but wasn't very happy with it. It looks okay, but I did it freehand and got the bead a little too wide in a few places and got some up on the teak.

I can clean that later, but Grant said it looked just as good as what comes from the factory -- both the deck and the caulk -- which really made me feel pretty good about all the work I've done this summer. Then he suggested I mask the edge as I go, then pull it off and get nice edges. I'd considered doing that before, but was afraid it would take too long. Anyway, I took his advice and was very happy with the results, even though it does take over twice as long. But what's a few more days.

Of course, I'll mask around all the hardware before I remount it, otherwise it would really be a mess. It takes a little longer up front -- you have to dry fit it, mask it, then take it back off before you caulk -- but it saves a lot of time in the long run and looks great.

Zoe watch:

It looks like she'll be confined to the cabin for the next few days. It's just too cold to leave her outside all day. However, I may put her out in the sun this afternoon. She likes sunning herself.