Wind and Fire

Powerful and dangerous Santa Ana winds spread wild fires across the state and created a few problems in the marina this week like broken dock cleats.  But I still managed to get a couple of boat projects done.  Here's the story:

Winds of nearly 30 mph, gusting over 45 made it

very uncomfortable to be outside and created 

"extreme red flag" warnings around the state. 

 It would also be almost impossible to evacuate 

boats safely if there were to be a fire in the marina.

Equipment for fire crews from Arrowhead pre-positioned

in the marina parking lot near the beach.

Fires and extreme red flag fire hazard areas around

the state on October 30.

A boat caught fire on the end of D dock in my marina at

2;30 in the morning.  Fortunately it was a windless night

and quite a ways from A dock where I am.  It was 

extinguished fairly quickly by the Harbor Patrol's

fire boat.  Rick Moser photo.

By the next day, what was left of the boat had been towed

to the boat yard.  These are what was left of the surf/paddle 

boards.  A cat on board didn't survive, but no people

were hurt.  The adjacent boat was also damaged.

With high winds making it impossible to

do outside work, it was a good time to

tackle an inside job.  The finish on the

beadboard at the head of the v-berth had

been slowly destroyed by the oils and

enzymes from my scalp, and it had gotten

to the point I needed to do something.

Gross!

Repainting it would be a lot of work and would suffer the

same fate as the original finish, so I decided to cover the

old panel with vinyl beadboard. (Removing the old panel

would have been a big job requiring removing all the 

shelves and trim.)  After cutting and fitting the new

panels, I glued them in place with silicone (to allow

easy removal should that be needed in the future).

To hold one uncooperative corner tight against

the bulkhead while the silicone set, I used my 

trusty wet mop.

Funky, but it worked great.

Next step was cutting, shaping and finishing three

trim pieces.

Much better!

During the calm days I continued the annual maintenance

Cetol coating on the exterior brighwork and finally did

a proper repair of the damaged caused by a big wake

going through Marina Cortez when I was in Mexico.

A chock had been pulled out and bent.  I had already

straightened the chock, now I needed to fill the 

damaged screw holes with epoxy/filler, drill new

holes, refinish and remount the hardware.

All securely back in place and successfully tested in

the big winds.