Day 116, Year 8: Beginning the Teak Deck Work
Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Weather: Sunny with Temps 50’s
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
Work on the teak deck has begun. It is hard work that only Mark can do because my arms are just not, and never were, strong enough to break the old screws out of their epoxy encasement. So I continue to the work on photos from Year One while Mark slaves away on the deck. We never wanted a teak deck, but when looking for our ‘perfect’ boat, we had to make some comprises and a teak deck was one of them. We are now paying for that compromise and although I know how hard the work is, it is actually ending up to be easier than I anticipated. I thought Mark had to take out all 650+ screws and wooden pegs in the deck, but he is only taking out the screws that are exposed—those that have no wooden peg left covering them. On the port side of the deck, instead of taking out 325 screws, today Mark only had to take out 115. He had the strength to do half the deck today and then he ran out of steam, but hopefully he will regenerate and get the starboard side screws out tomorrow. We will let things dry until Saturday morning (or longer if rain is not forecast) and then I will work with him to put the new screws and pegs in. Mark will put a drop of epoxy in the bottom of each hole and then put in the screws and pegs. He can only do about 15 at a time so that the epoxy doesn’t dry before he gets the pegs in. That work will go fast because it has to. We had hoped to wait until Sunday or Monday to put the screws back in, giving the deck plenty of time to dry out. But now there is forecast for a 20 per cent chance of rain on Saturday. We’ll watch that forecast and put the screws in before the rain comes, whenever that happens to be.
This afternoon we went to Patsy and Joe’s. They were not home when we arrived because they went to Wilmington to celebrate their granddaughter Jessica’s 21st birthday. Happy birthday, Jessica! I took along the huge pot of spaghetti sauce I made last night and turned it into lasagna to freeze and lasagna for dinner plus some sauce to freeze. Mark uploaded some of the Year One photos while I continued to name slides that Patsy and Joe have been scanning in. I’m still somewhere between 1967 and 1968 in that process but I am now in American Samoa in our Year One process. Lots of progress, but more to do.
We talked to Justin and Jo via Skype video this past weekend and we talked to Heather and boys this afternoon. Justin and Jo are settling in after their wonderful vacation on the island of Culebra in Puerto Rico with Jo’s parents and Heather, Jed, and boys just returned from a week in Washington, DC, visiting with Jed’s parents. We love every opportunity to see our children and grandchildren. Coco and Oliver are growing up so quickly and it is so special to get to see them in action. Coco is sitting up and being Miss Personality. Oliver is just beginning to stand alone and is being Mr. Personality. Sam is starting to get his adult teeth and is beginning to read and write. And Jonah and Ziggy are just being three. I think that is my favorite age, but soon they will be four and I’ll probably say four is my favorite. As soon as I get some photos of the grandkids from their parents, I’ll post those.
Tomorrow will be a repeat of today except in the afternoon instead of going to Patsy and Joe’s, we plan to go see Argo. Two movies in a one week is a bit much, but we really want to see this one before it goes away again.
 |
| 1130227 Day 116 South Carolina, USA–Refastening the Teak Deck, Step 1 |
