Sailing the Karina C

11-1
Day of the dead here in Mexico. I sanded, wire brushed, CLRed, Phosphaic acided the rudder. Gave her a little wash with acetone and epoxied the rudder before lunch. The epoxy is the slow curing (105-206 West) stuff, so we are stopped for the afternoon. In Nanaimo, we'd be stopped for days. I like Monday as it will give us some time to do some of the topsides jobs before we splash.
The pool is unheated and, with the cool nights here, not appropriate for this old guy. I am sitting by the pool looking at a pretty blonde girl doing laps. Heavens! Its Anita!
The air temperature is in the mid-high 80s. The sky is blue and the wind is just enough to cool us without blowing all over the place. The palms are gently swaying in the light breeze. It's the day of postcards for us northerners.
We are the only people in the pool area besides the 4 crew watching us. It looks like we left the shorty wetsuits behind in Canada. We will buy a set for us down here. I am such a wus.
We got back to the boat early enough to get supper on the go. Just before leaving the pool I forgot that the cockpit drain valve couldn't be turned last winter. In the yard I found a piece of PVC pipe just the right diameter to go over the valve handle. Both of them turned with a little prodding. So we are good for another season. Anita and I are going to lube the through hulls well tomorrow morning. Then all that needs doing is a wet sand and paint and we pat Karina on the bum and she is in the water Monday at 0930.
11-04
We are in our last 24 hours of yardwork. I have made an amazing discovery. Last year the boat took a gallon and a quart on the bottom. We needed the quart to do the rudder. Today we did the whole boat with 1 gallon. The secret is we did it first thing in the morning when it was cool. We didn't do the thruhulls as I want the little brush for touchups this afternoon. The bottom colour is almost the shade of blue of Karina's hull. Oh well. Two tone blue. Looks good for a blue Jay's boat. We finished the first coat by 0900 so we went for a walk and visited Sunnyside for a coffee. Anita is getting a start on supper as she will be my "gofer" (go for this-go for that) for the second gallon as I will solo on the second gallon this afternoon. Tomorrow we will splash and tie up opposite Sunnyside. Terry is an Icom 802 guru and will bless my 802 with his talents tomorrow in the afternoon. Sunnyside has one huge advantage over most boats: air conditioning! They keep it on 24-7. Beteen the A/C and the hot coffee, a good visit is always guaranteed.
Anita managed to get paint on everything she wore and her skin. Yes, the blonde was temporarily replaced with a Marge Simpson blue. For that reason, I have fired her as a painter this afternoon.
Terry was saying that, if you get a seniors card (over 60) your park pass is free. So I will look out for a place to get the seniors card Tuesday. Anita will have to stay on the boat while I go off and enjoy the park.......
.... I just woke up from a sudden "nap" Anita noticed I took right after writing that. My head hurts a lot and Anita is washing blood off the frypan. She mentioned that, shortly after my sudden nap I had decided to buy her a park pass too. Oh well, I guess she's worth it.