Outdoor Showers

I had to give my shower key back to the folks at the yard this morning so they can redo the bathrooms. It'll be great to have nice, new, clean showers, but by the time they're ready, it'll be time to leave. So, it looks like I'll be taking my showers outside again. It got up to 80 today, so it's not a problem.

Unfortunately, I don't have water at the boat yet. They have it down at the dock, which is about a hundred feet away, but haven't fixed the pipes that run behind my boat yet. They told me it would be this week, but since they just started on the bathrooms, I sorta doubt it. Up until this week, I'd been carrying water from the office a quarter mile away. I don't mind too much, but it'll sure be nice to have it at the boat. I'd also like to go ahead and clean my tanks, but don't want to run a long hose from the dock -- mine's too short, and their's looks a bit too dirty for my taste.

Boat watch:

I ordered the chainplate material last week, so it should be here any day now. Pip, one of the owners, said I could use their drill press to drill them. Hopefully, they've got a band saw I can use to cut them as well. I still need to get some bits, but might have to order them. I checked with the local hardware store yesterday, and they don't have the sizes I need. However, I might be able to borrow some. I'll find out tonight.

I put in the order for the rigging yesterday, but since they have to order the wire, they won't ship till later this week. Hopefully, I'll get it next week. They'll cut them long and swage eyes on the upper ends of each one, so all I'll need to do is cut them to length and attach the mechanical eyes to the lower ends. I also ordered an extra one as a spare and a good set of cutters. In addition to cutting them myself and saving a lot of money, it's a good idea to have a set on board, just in case you get dismasted and have to cut away the rigging.

They moved the power boat that was next to me this afternoon -- he'll go in the water at high tide -- so that allowed me to move the steps to the stern. Now, I don't have to walk over the entire deck to get on and off. That'll make it much easier to finish the work and non-skid the deck. It's tough to keep it clean when you have to walk over it several times a day, especially when it rains -- the yard's a dusty gravel that gets sorta muddy when it gets wet.

The deck work should only take a few days, but I'll probably wait until after I finish the chainplates and rigging before I try to start working on it. The weather's getting better all the time, but it still seems to rain every few days. About of week of sunshine is all I need to prepare and paint. I'll need to put down one coat in small sections and sprinkle sand into the we paint. Then I'll come back a few hours later, brush it off, and lay down another coat. If all looks good, I'll put down another coat over everything. I'd considered using something to dull the finish, but it looks so good like it is, I might wait on that.

The forward decks are ready to go, but the cockpit might need a bit more work. I just need to make sure I don't get carried away and waste too much time. I can always fix it once I get to Houston. I just want to make it safe for the trip south.

Leak watch:

I re-caulked the toerails, but I still see a little leak when it rains really hard. The leak is right where the chainplate pulled through, but it doesn't seem to be getting into the wood gusset. Actually, it might be coming from the bow. The outboard seam right at the forward end of the starboard toerail -- where I cut out the rotten wood and mounted the bow roller -- looks like it might have separated. I'll smear some more caulk on it this evening once it cools off a bit. I don't want to mess around with it too much, especially since I plan to remove them once I get to Houston.