Some bad ju-ju in the last 10 days.
Example: My outrigger paddling time is usually Saturday morning at 8
am, but since it had rained most of the night Friday and was still raining at 7
am Saturday, my preparations for the day were for inside projects rather than
preparing to paddle. The rain stopped by
7:45, with even a bit of sun peaking through at 8. But it was too late to go anyway. Sigh.
To console myself, I decided to reap the satisfaction of the
previous week’s work on the galley counter varnish and new handrail by removing
the masking tape, temporarily mounting the handrail and enjoying my handiwork
while sipping my morning coffee. It
looked great until I pulled the tape off the divider where it had been painted
white by a previous owner. Great chunks
of paint and old varnish came off with the masking tape. Sigh.
Now I have another project. I
also discovered new leaks in several of the old portlights in the aft
cabin. Sigh. Hopefully they can be cured
simply, without becoming a major project.
The inevitability of shit like this when restoring a
35-year-old boat did make what might have been a difficult decision
easier: I am going to complete the
restoration of most of the external teak with paint rather than varnish. This boat has so much teak that keeping up
the varnish would take an enormous amount of time and work. The only way to reduce that expenditure of
effort (other than vast amounts of money that I don’t have) is to restrict
brightwork to inside the cabin and doghouse.
While paint won’t be as gorgeous, it won’t look bad in the right
brown/beige when coordinated with a new canvas color. Moreover, paint in good shape looks better
than varnish in bad shape. Still, it pains me to know all that beautiful and expensive teak will be hidden under ordinary paint. While it will
be some time before I tackle the existing teak, the immediate consequence of
the decision is that I finished the pads for the new turning blocks with paint
rather than varnish. After carefully matching
some paint chips to the paint on another boat that looked good with painted
trim, I bought a quart of Bristol Beige Brightside single part polyurethane
enamel. After carefully applying two
coats to the pads over two coats of the recommended primer, I found that the paint didn’t
look right. Turns out that even after
fully drying, the paint color just didn’t match the chip. Not even close. Sigh.
More repainting.
The turning blocks and pads had to be installed anyway in
anticipation of a liveaboard inspection and shakedown sail scheduled for
the coming Friday. I had made
arrangements for Carol, Curt and another friend to come help me out at 10 am that
Friday, so in addition to making sure the new turning blocks were ready for the
shakedown, I spent a good amount of time scrambling to make sure the boat would
be ready for its inspection: fire
extinguishers serviced and certified, new flares and legal decals, etc.
More bad ju-ju.
Although winds had been light all week despite the high over the
Colorado Plateau, a strong Santa Ana
I did manage to get the mahogany fence for the chain locker
and the TV installation in the forepeak completed before Carol arrived, and we
had a pleasant weekend. The tallships
came for their annual visit, and there was a Civil War reenactment encampment,
which added live cannon fire to the mix.
We had a great dinner at the Sidecar restaurant, drank some nice wine,
and saw the film “The Artist.” Other
than Friday’s gusty winds, the weather was warm and beautiful, and we enjoyed
some spectacular views from the hills above Ventura
