Day 333, Year 7: More Boat Work
Date: Saturday, October 6, 2012
Weather: Another Beautiful Day, but Very Windy
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
I took Mark to shore at 10:15 am so he could go to work at West Marine and I
then returned to Windbird and dove into another day of boat work. I sanded
and varnished the Dorade boxes AGAIN. This was the third coat of varnish,
but I need to do at least two more coats. So that job will continue. Then
I decided to tackle a much dreaded task-cleaning out all of the storage
areas under the v-berth. It is dreaded because there is so much STUFF
stored there. I started with a large drawer stuffed with electronic gear.
I’ve never ventured into this storage space before. I have always left this
up to Mark, but it was definitely time for me to get involved. Mark has
just been putting things in for years. I took everything out and started
cleaning, sorting, and packaging items in ZipLock baggies to protect them
from moisture and also for easier identification. The drawer has been the
home of our almost never used SAT phone and all of its accessories, a DVD
writer, a portable CD Rom Player, two different Long Range Wireless systems
that have never really worked for us, old cell phones, our pocket PC’s from
our work lives before we left to sail around the world, connectors of every
size and description, and on and on. It took a couple of hours of cleaning
and cataloging just to figure out which parts went together. When Mark got
home I presented him with the newly organized ‘mess’ and let him decide
which things went into the give-away bag and which things were keepers.
Thankfully the drawer on the other side of the v-berth is where sail bags
are stored and those we need to keep. So that side was easy. Then under
the drawers are spaces where on one-side the electric cords for plugging us
into shore power are located, along with a camp stove, vacuum attachments,
and a pressure cooker. Interesting mix of things, but that space was easy
as everything stays. On the other side under the drawer of electronic parts
there is a spare propeller and about twenty fan belts. Not sure we need
that many, but right now there is space so they will stay. When I moved
further forward to the next compartments, I decided to wait until tomorrow
to continue. This huge space is where the spinnaker and storm sail are
stored, as well as the Coast Guard required huge off-shore life jackets
(four of them), a drogue, a sea anchor, hurricane lines, and countless other
used lines that we need to sort through and probably get rid of. That is
tomorrow’s job. I stored the cushions from the v-berth in the cockpit for
the night and left everything open so it will be easy to continue in the
morning. This is a job long overdue and it will feel really good when it is
finally done.
It was a typical New England fall day in Woods Hole, with the wind blowing
about 15-20 knots and lots of bright sunshine. Tomorrow is supposed to be a
different story. It will cool down overnight and there is an 80 percent
chance of rain tomorrow. It will be a good day to continue that clean-out
job inside the boat.
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| 121006 Day 333 Cape Cod, USA–V-berth Clean Out |
