Off to the anchor locker
03 July 2016 | Power Boats Yard, Trinidad
BIll/partly sunny, partly cloudy
Once again, after the VHF net this morning, with no workmen on board, we had full run of the deck. We straightened out a few things and started in on the anchor locker. Everything needed to be pulled out of it so we could A:get rid of old, excess line and B:get into the area where the forestaysail stay bracket is bolted to the deck. We had to take it off when they were refinishing the deck and in their incredible wisdom, they epoxied right over the holes. Once again, I had to get underneath and drill upwards but first I had to be able to get to the place the old holes were under the deck. BOY, are we packets!!!!!!! Apparently, I never met a piece of line I didn't want to keep. I've got everything from ΒΌ inch to 1 inch line, all in different lengths and conditions. Some a bit battered and frayed and some from the look of it new. Some with "eyes" in the end of the line for dock lines and some just straight lines for other uses. We have "rocker stoppers(to be poled out from the side of the hull when the wind blows you in one direction and the waves come from another. It stops the rolling action), and dinghy wheels(with spare inner tubes. Two spare anchors(both a bit rusty) and then there is the big box at the bottom of the locker. It holes no fewer than 35 tubes of teak deck caulk. Not the cheap stuff but the expensive stuff that we laid in for when we were going to re caulk the deck. Unfortunately the deck had degenerated so badly that just redoing the seams in it would not have solved our problems which is why we are doing what we are doing--ripping off the teak deck.
It took a while but we got it all cleared out right down the bottom of the "pit". Out front deck was piled high with stuff like diesel tanks, gas tanks, line, line and more line, and even replacement netting to go on the lifelines if we need it. With everything out, I climbed into the forward locker in the anchor area(where the chain actually goes) and looked up and saw the four holes for the forestaysail stay bracket all covered over on deck by epoxy putty. I quick plunge with my drill in each hole and voila, we were all set for the caulk. But first, I had to cut off the tip of the tube of caulk. In the process of doing that, I dropped my boating knife into the anchor locker. It was the perfect shot---right through the small slot at the edge of the bottom floor board in the locker!! Couldn't do that shot again if I tried. Now I had to get the board up so I could get my knife back. The bad thing is that that was the board I was standing on. I had to brace myself against the side of the locker(really steep curved space covered in fiberglass and old white paint)and try and bend down and pry up the board. Every time I tried, my foot would slide down the opposite side of the locker stopping me from getting the board out. I was FRUSTRATED to the max and let it be know by the curse words I was yelling. Not my proudest moment but surely one of my most frustrating one. It took a while but I finally got the board up and my knife out and we continued on. I covered the plate(in black caulk) that goes on the ceiling of the locker and Tracy covered the forestaysail bracket(in white caulk). In went the four bolts and on went the washers and nuts under neath and a few turns of the wrench and it was done. Well sort of. We didn't tighten the bolts all the way as we wanted to make sure there was a nice bed of caulk under everything. We went back a couple of hours later once it had hardened and did the last turns on the wrench. All done. Now all we had to do was select what we wanted to keep and what we wanted to get rid of. Lots of line is leaving as is the big battery box we had stowed the caulk in. In went what we wanted to keep of felt we "should" keep. In the end, we got more back in than we had expected but getting rid of the big box was key to getting more into the space. We even had room for out spinnaker bag. With that done, we moved on to the deck prisms.
I popped out each prism and slowly ran a bead of caulk(white of course) around the edges and screw holes and laid it carefully and slowly into its spot on the deck. We bought new stainless steel screws earlier in the day just to make a fresh start with it. I'd made sure the holes in the bracket lines up with the holes in the deck so screwing it in this time was easy. One done and onto the second. I made sure to do it(both the anchor locker as well as the prisms) while it was raining or sprinkling. My morning forecast( I do the weather reports for the morning net) was for a nice sunny morning and either a 5% or 40% chance of rain depending on who's website you look at but not till afternoon. Mother Nature wins every time and we had rain by 1030. Luckily, the tarps we have over the deck kept most of it out but of course not all.
Between these chores, we managed to slide in a nice lunch of tuna salad on toast with melted cheddar on top. Add in some Cheetos and Pepsi and it was a great meal.
Later in the afternoon, when the caulk around the prisms was set, I spent some time slowly cutting away some of the extra caulk that bulged up around the edges as I tightened down the screws. With all this done, Tracy took one of the water hoses and tried to wash down the deck to get all the dirt and dust off our new deck. We found out that the new non skid likes it's dirt and doesn't really want to give it up even when Tracy was using a brush. Tomorrow, we'll try it with soapy water and see how that goes. Meanwhile, we have a nice pile of line and a big box sitting on the stern deck to given away on the next morning net under the heading of "Treasures of the Bilge". We finally bagged it about 1700 and headed off for showers and cool off for a while. It's been a long day and tomorrow should be the same except we will have the Mexican Train Dominoes get together over at Crews Inn. We will have to see how the day is going wether we will be going or not. Mother Nature will be deciding.
As the day was drawing to a close, we both headed off for the showers. It's one of the things we look forward to after a long day working on the boat.
Here's a picture of one of our Granny Bars installed with the new box and pin rail. Each of the wooden pegs can be removed now. Sure hope we don't loose one over board.