Working away

It’s been a fun filled week of boat jobs – the never ending list!! It has taken 6 days to complete the paint job in the cockpit (plus surrounding deck). The cockpit was divided in half so we could still enter and exit the boat. Each half needed 3 coats – primer and 2 colour coats. We had a deadline for this job because we were expecting a big rain storm on Sunday, April 21 (which we got at about 9pm that night). Each morning Mark would dry the wet parts of the deck (from the morning dew) and by lunch we’d be done the coat of the day. Finally today (April 22) all the tape came off and all the removed cockpit hardware and other items were replaced. It looks amazing!!! The paint job is complete….for now. After a season of use, we’ve decided that the deck paint we used is too slippery. In November, we will be adding a non-skip paint to parts of the deck (not the entire thing).

Other jobs have also been worked on this week. The V-berth has been washed with soap/water and also with vinegar and water. The vinegar helps control the mold that always grows during storage. The V-berth mattresses were all wrapped up and all the bedding for that room has been laundered and vacuum sealed into various sized bags. After each laundry session, additional fabric items have been vacuum sealed and placed in the V-berth. Unfortunately the enclosure sides are currently hanging out up there but they will eventually be stored in our cabin so I’m working around them the best I can.

Mark has been working on the fuel pressure problem. He took apart the fuel transfer pump and found a completely clogged filter. That must be the culprit!! Off to Napa to get a new filter but he had to order it. The filter arrived on Saturday (April 20) and Mark installed it that afternoon. It took until today for us to test the engine and unfortunately the new filter didn’t fix the problem. Back to the drawing board as they say!

It’s not all work – we’ve had a couple of happy hours with Julia and Brad aboard Alizarin. We also went out for a wonderful dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Green Cove Springs. We were joined by Julia/Brad, Sharon/Rick and Barb/John. It was a fun evening – good food and great company. At the end of the evening, just as we were all heading to our cars, Mark made a little presentation to our American friends Barb and John. Mark gave them “honorary” Canadian passports (which he’d made at home over Christmas using photos of celebrities for the 2) so they could be part of the Canadian club!! It was very funny and Barb and John were delighted to be honorary Canadian citizens!

So the work continues this week! We have a haul out date scheduled for May 2nd so the job pace will pick up a bit now that the painting is finished. The list is long but as usual, it will all get done!!