Keeping Covered

It's going to get cold tonight and rain tomorrow, so I decided not to take the cover off yet, at least not until after tomorrow. I cleaned up the teak I glued yesterday, but didn't make too much progress on the portholes. I only got one mounted before I started getting dark.

I started off by putting all the screws in and making sure they fit correctly. As I mentioned in an earlier post, they varied in length by up to almost 1/4 inch, but as luck would have it, one was missing, so I spent a lot of time looking for it. I ended up walking up to the office and buying another one. It was a little too long, so I had to cut it off, but after that, I thought I was ready to go.

I'd taped the deck around the frame, but hadn't bothered to tape the frame itself. The hole was a little big, so I had to use a lot of caulk, and when I finally put the flange on, caulk got all over everything. I cleaned it off, but it was really messy and took way too much time. I'll try to do a better job of taping the rest of them, but it's not easy because of the way it's put together. I think I can tape the flange okay, but it fits tightly over the oval lip that sticks through the hole, so it may scrap off the tape as I reassemble it, which is why I tried to get away with not taping it in the first place.

Time is getting short, so I made a list this evening of what still needs to be done, and I'm getting worried I won't make it. I'm going to concentrate on the stuff that absolutely has to be done before she can go in the water and step the mast. However, I may need a few more days to get the rest of the hardware mounted and get her ready to sail.