September 19, 2019

Carol came up for the weekend and we checked out some of the new bars and eateries downtown that have opened since I left.  We also went for a little hike around Emma Wood State Beach, which, interestingly, I had never been to before.  Sadly, I hadn't missed much.  And the inevitable boat work is back in full swing!

How can you not smile when you can choose from 43 beers
from self-serve taps at the new Tap'd bar/eatery in downtown
Ventura?!

As has often been pointed out, you can't buy beer; you can
only rent it.  So, it seemed appropriate for the urinals in 
the men's room to be made from beer kegs.  Clever!

You had to look carefully to find charm at Emma Wood
State Beach.  It was poorly maintained and monitored,
and as a consequence was overrun with homeless
encampments.

Although one could still find little islands of beauty among 
the graffiti, trash and feces,  we didn't linger.

Back at the boat, I finished cleaning and refinishing the
handrails and mast base with two coats of Primo 
Teak Sealer.  I like to keep them rough to prevent slipping.

Paint, however should be shiny!  I polished up the 
exposed side of the dinghy with 3M Finesse-It followed
by a ceramic paint sealer.  Big difference!

Now Circadian can be proud of her backside!

I also went over part of the cabin sides.  Not as dramatic
a change, but a significant improvement.  I'll do the
rest a section at a time.

The shaft seal on the pump handle for the Skipper
head  started seeping again, so that HAD
 to be fixed.

Removing the handle and gaining good
access to the shaft packing requires
dismounting the head.

Pulling it up off the base caused a chunk of the now wet
plywood base to be torn up, so now that too had to be
repaired.  (That's how a one-day job becomes a three-
day job.)

My solution was to cover the plywood with a 1/8th inch
sheet of polypropylene.  

Head remounted, the paint touched up
and no leaking!  Repacking the shaft seal
is tough because the packing nut has little
thread depth, so you can't compress the
packing much or use it to push in the
first couple of layers of packing. 
Not enough packing and you can't get
a seal; too much and you can't get
the nut to grab the threads.  It took
some futzing around, but I eventually
got it.

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