Working Below

It's too cold to do any deck work today, other than some sanding, so I plan to finish up some work below, e.g., reinstalling the head, reconnecting hoses, adding anti-siphon loops, etc.. I could also do a little rewiring, but might need to wait on that since I'd need to move a bunch of stuff around. We'll see how far I get.

The other big project I can do below is get the hardware cleaned up and ready to remount. For the most part, that involves cleaning the old caulk off. Most of the threads are covered with old caulk and sticky. After I sand what's left, I still need to touch up the primer in the forward section and start priming the cockpit area. I've decide just to to the outer edge, i.e., only the sections where I need to remount hardware, for the time being. I don't have time to do the whole thing.

One consequence will be that there will be no new non-skid in the cockpit area when I leave. I might do something temporary, but if I do, it will have to be sanded back off and redone once I get down to warmer weather. I figure 2 weeks of good weather is all I need to finish. However, with only a couple good days a week in the forecast, that's going to be tough.

Crew watch:

After thinking about it and talking to my insurance carrier, I've decided not to take any crew. At least not until I've finished the refit and have non-skid on the entire deck. There's no way that will happen before I get out of here, so I'll adjust my plan for going to South accordingly and not take any crew. I'm seriously looking into going down the inter-coastal. That'll make it a much, much longer trip, but I may not have a choice. Of course, I can stop along the way and paint as I go, so I may be able to finish her up when I'm in the Chesapeake or further South.

Zoe watch:

I made a little wind break for her under the boat, and she's hanging out down there. She prefers it to being cooped up in the cabin, but since it's only going to get up to about 57 today, I might bring her in anyway later.