Day 203, Year 2: All Work and No Play
Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Weather: Sunny Day with Two Minutes of Sprinkles
Location: Bundaberg Port Marina, Australia
You know what they say about all work and no play, but we realized today that we could have only ten more days before we leave here for Brisbane and we have at least that many days of work left to do. So there will be no touring of Bundaberg tomorrow, but maybe the next day if we get lots done tomorrow. I put another coat of varnish on the cockpit cap rail this morning under beautiful, bright blue skies. Then a couple of hours later, it clouded over momentarily, sprinkled a little rain on the
varnish, and then cleared up for the remainder of the day. This time the varnish was dry enough that the sprinkles didn’t do much damage. I’ve decided to do one more coat in the morning (so surely it will rain) and let that be it for the cap rail for now. I sanded and varnished the wood in our shower today and wondered why anyone in their right mind would put wood trim in a shower stall! Looking at the results tonight, I’m really glad we decided to do the shower renovation. As with any refinishing
job, the work is tedious, but the results are usually worth it. In this case, the work was definitely worth it. The bathroom looks sooooo much better already.
After completing the two varnish jobs, it was off to town to search for some essentials for the boat and to look for some cleaning products. As I noted in yesterday’s log, some things just aren’t available here. And after searching in town today, we found that even more things aren’t available. At least we are learning what is here so we know what we have to bring back from the US with us. The one product that we have become “addicted” to is Grunt. This is a New Zealand product that removes
rust from just about any thing from plastic to fiberglass to stainless steel by just brushing it on, waiting, and wiping it off with water. I’ve checked with the chandleries here and they know about the product but can’t get it. They tell me there is no Australian product like it, and that Grunt is only available in New Zealand. Well, Ross and Laura of New Dawn (out of Alaska) are going to New Zealand in a few days for a fishing trip. Ross is an avid fisherman and is meeting a fellow Alaskan
who comes to New Zealand to fish. Anyway, they will buy Grunt for me and bring it back. I loaned Marie on Ranger the last of mine today to remove rust from the base of a toilet. She was sure nothing would remove that rust, but Grunt did the job. I think I’ve mentioned that Paul and Marie are putting Ranger on the market for sale. Australia is the end of the cruising line for them. Ross and Laura are doing the same. They are a young couple in their thirties and they are going to return to Alaska
to hopefully start a family. We have been the recipients of many things that they are getting rid of as they get the boat ready to be viewed by prospective buyers. Mark bought some of Ross’ extensive stainless steel screw, nut, and bolt collection today and yesterday he bought some fishing gear from him. Ross and Laura’s Valiant is going to be a whole lot lighter once Mark is finished transferring goodies from New Dawn to Windbird.
Tomorrow morning I sand and varnish the cockpit cap rail for the last time and put a second coat of varnish on the shower stall trim. Mark is going to strip the bathroom floor and start the varnishing process on that. The last big job we have is sanding and finishing the handrails on the deck and varnishing the six dorade boxes. The dorade boxes provide a base for the cowl vents, letting air flow into the boat while keeping out the water. I’ll start the sanding on that in the morning, but finishing
the hand rails is probably a day or two in the future. It would feel really good to have most of the major jobs done by this weekend, but not sure that can happen. We’ll just keep chipping away, day by day.
