Zoe on Deck

While I was trying to dry fit the handrails, I tore off the plastic covering one of the porthole openings so I could reach inside and made so much noise it upset Zoe. She came up on deck to find me and see what was going on. She calmed down immediately, and I decided to let her hang out on deck if she wanted. I'd kept her off the deck of over a month while I was painting, but since all I have left to do is mount the hardware, it's not that big of a deal now. She likes to stick her head out the cover at the peak of the bow and sleep and the foredeck, so she stayed up there most of the afternoon.

Although I didn't finish the handrails, I was able to get them all dry fitted and in place. I masked the deck for one of them, but ran out of time with the others. When I pulled the inside ones down from where I'd stored them, I noticed they were really discolored, so I spent a couple hours cleaning them up. I also had to clean the old gunk off the feet and out of the holes of the the outside ones which took a little time as well.

Then, when I started dry fitting them, I noticed that not all bolts where the same length. Some that should have been the same where a little longer or a little shorter, so I had to monkey around with them and try different combinations until I got them all to fit properly. Although boats may look symmetrical, they aren't. That's especially true with an older boat like mine. There were only 105 built, with all the woodwork custom made for each particular boat. It's like putting together a puzzle.

Anyway, I may try to do some more masking tonight after we get back from our walk, but it's supposed to get pretty cold tonight, so who knows. We may just hole up inside and listen to the ballgame.

I taped up more plastic over the holes and will try again tomorrow. At this rate, I may be here another week or two.