Day 201, Year 7: Cleaning Windbird’s Canvas
Date: Sunday, May 27, 2012
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: At Home with Heather, Jed, and Boys in E Falmouth, MA
Once again, I’m almost too tired to write a log. Just before Windbird was
hauled out of the water, we removed all of the canvas. When I saw “the
canvas” I am referring to the cockpit covering-the dodger and bimini that
make-up the roof of the cockpit and all of the side curtains. Much of this
cover is plastic but the material part is Sunbrella, a highly UV resistant
material much like a light-weight canvas. Before the days of Sunbrella,
these coverings were made of canvas and that is why people still refer to
the total cover as “the canvas.” Piece by piece, I sprayed these down on
Heather and Jed’s back deck and then scrubbed them with a solution of Dawn
dish detergent and Clorox. Woolite, not Dawn, is the recommended soap, but
I left mine on the boat and after visiting the small shops in this area, I
gave up on looking any further and just bought Dawn. After scrubbing each
piece, I hung them to dry. The dodger and the side curtains look good, but
I have to do the bimini again. I used a special stain-removing Clorox on it
and it didn’t work nearly as good as regular Clorox. I switched once I
discovered this, but will do the bimini on another day.
Mark doesn’t work tomorrow, so we are going to the boat to scrub the cabin
top and hull with AwlWash and apply AwlCare (like a wax) to the hull. I
also have to clean all of the stainless in and around the cockpit before
putting the canvas back on and Mark and I will work on shining the prop with
special brushes on the Dremel. When we get all of that done, I’m hoping to
get back here to Heather’s to finish planting the garden. It is tradition
here to plant your garden on Memorial Day and even though we have a lot
planted, we would like to finish up. Heather and Jed will be packing for
their trip to New Mexico to visit Justin, Jo, and Ziggy. They leave in the
wee hours of Wednesday morning and Tuesday is a work day. So packing had
best get done tomorrow.
