Boat Boot Camp

It’s been a work week like none other I have known before: manual labor from sunup to sundown. My body has grown soft and weak sitting in its office chair all day Monday through Friday, so this new routine has been hard on it but GOOD for it!

Monday
As the clock struck seven AM this past Monday morning, we pulled out of 7014 Porthole Place, Rogue riding low, crammed with our last remaining possessions. Thank you SO much, brother Dan, for housing us for the week and hanging out!

 

We pulled out the vinegar, spray bottles, sponges, paper towel, and lysol and went to town. A few hours into cleaning, we hear the soft splashing of raindrops on the deck; minutes later soft turns hard and it’s pouring out. Good opportunity to see where the leaky spots are, right? Of course right…

 

 

 

Tuesday
We securely cover all of the chainplates/hatches in case of another rain so there will be no more leaks inside. Then we get back to cleaning and more projects.

My project for the day was the settee cushion covers and foam cushions. Stephane’s was cleaning out the mold and rotted wood from the sections underneath the chainplates.

 

Wednesday

Feeling better about the boat today. We’ve discovered that the mold and rot was contained only to the areas underneath the chainplates and we’ve cleaned it all out. We’ve gotten in touch with a local boatyard who will be sending someone over to check out the chainplates and we’ll be re-bedding (fixing) them. They are also sending another guy out to put in a new cutlass bearing (this is a piece that helps to turn the propeller).

 

 

Thursday
Today we decide that we need to clean the areas under the chainplates again (just because they were so gross and moldy). And then we decide to rip out the entire settee backrest and part of the seat – start from scratch with fresh, strong, un-rotted wood and also to cover the entire area with a  fresh coat of paint. Stephane finds the perfect piece of teak at the local boatyard and goes to work shaping it – he is AMAZING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, I ordered our battery bank! Two deep-cycle 12 volt, 8D batteries, 250 amp hours each. One of these suckers weighs more than I do! In addition to these two batteries, we will have a second, smaller battery devoted just to starting the engine (our “starter battery”) and a third battery for the windlass (this is machine that pulls the anchor up) – we haven’t ordered these yet, but we will soon. The emphasis is on the battery bank for now as we have no 12 volt power to the boat – meaning no light, no water pressure, no cooking, no anything, really. The batteries will hopefully get delivered by the end of next week!

My mini projects include soaking all of the curtains  ——- mom skip this part ——— in bleach water  ——- okay, mom you can read again: ———-

and then washing curtains in soapy water and hanging them out to dry. We have four small fans throughout the boat. Stephane removed them for me and I washed them and de-rusted them and gave them a nice new coat of spray paint to freshen them up.

 

Friday

Today we painted the settee section (see pics above) and Stephane created the new wood inserts for the backrest and seat rest. Then it rained. And rained and rained and rained. We’d pulled out a  section of the sealant around the chainplates (in preparation for removing them) so water was just pouring in RIGHT ONTO MY NEW PAINT JOB. We’re running around trying to sop up the water and Stephane fell through the companionway (second time doing that- I’ve told him, “you’ve got to turn around and go in backwards!!”). He went to the local hardware store (The VILLAGE Hardware Store – love it) to get some plumber’s putty to fill the gap temporarily. Stephane is now known by The Village Hardware Store as “The Little Canadian” — heeee!!!! I laughed so hard when he told me that.

 

To celebrate surviving week one of Boat Boot Camp, we treated ourselves to pizza at Little Italy (soooo good – reminds me of Paisano’s).