08/04/2010, Still stuck in Aurora
If you read my last post, you have read about our trials and tribulations on our trim. It's journey around the US. Well, it finally after 5+ weeks showed up Monday morning. The driver called for directions and arrived about 10:00. He took his fork lift off the back of the truck, lifted the trim and carefully set in at the end of the driveway. As he put the lift back on the truck, we unwrapped and cut the straps that bundled the nice pile of trim. As Tracy turned over the first board, I hear"OH NO!!!". As we turned over the boards, we found that they had shipped us the wrong boards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had ordered smooth faced boards so they would match what we already had on the house so we wouldn't have to replace all the boards as many were just fine. These boards had a wood grain face!!!! Right size boards(still short 3 boards)but wrong face. I called Lowe's and spoke to Jim at the order desk. He told me to just have the driver take the boards back and he would start making calls. So off came the forklift and back the boards went. I got a call from Jim a few minutes later telling me that the distributor wanted to know what the boards had labeled on the back, so he had to wait till they got back to Lowe's so he could get that info. With that project now on hold, we took off on errands around town.
We headed for Target and Office Max as they were having a sale on school supplies. We are getting lots of these supplies to give out to kids as we sail to many of the back road towns along Mexico's coast. Many of these towns have very little for the kids and every little bit helps. They had toy trucks and lots of small toys to give out as well as pencils, pens, tablets, erasers and more at great prices so we loaded up. We've seen schools that have dirt floors and some that lost their roofs during last years hurricane. We already carry 400 pairs of reading glasses to give away so we are getting closer to having lots of things aboard to help them out.
We headed for West Marine to pick up more epoxy to seal and fix the poor rudder on Sloop to Nuts. It's taking lots more than we had thought. This time I bought cans of the stuff that I'll have to mix and spread around the wood.
Tuesday came and went with not much information from Lowe's as they are working with the distributor to see where they can get the right boards. The did admit that they had indeed screwed it up and loaded the wrong stuff. With luck, we will hear today as to when we may get the boards.
Stay tuned as the saga continues.
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07/31/2010, still in Aurora, CO.
I headed up to Lowe's yesterday morning to check on the trim. It was due in-finally. Jim--my friendly Lowe's associate--told me it was in!!! He called receiving to see where it was located in the store. "What do you mean it's short?" was what I heard during the call. That's right, not all the siding shipped!!! They were short three of the 3.5"X 12 foot boards!!! Off we went to check the bundle out. They pulled it down from the racks and sure enough, there were 12 of the 5.5" boards and only 9 of the 3.5" boards. Calls were made and they would order more in for me if I needed them. Of course they would have to order another 12 boards as that is the only way that James Hardie ships. I'd get my three and Lowes would get the rest for free as James Hardie admitted that they had screwed it up. I checked my pad where I had complied all my measurements of what I needed. By my calculations, I only needed about 90 board feet of the 3.5" so missing three boards wouldn't be a problem. Actually sort of a blessing as now I would get some money back!! Jim apologized for the shortage--heck, it wasn't his fault. He'd already set us up for a Monday delivery as the weekend was closed for deliveries. If I needed the other three boards, I had to let them know as soon as possible. I did ask Jim to see if I could get a discount of some sort for the long delay and the shortage. He said he'd check and let me know on Monday. Hey--it never hurts to ask.
I then went in search of "drip edge" to go above the windows around the house to make sure the water stays out after I install the boards. Lowe's didn't have anything that would do the job so I had to go to Home Depot--the big orange store. It took some traveling as the first store didn't have enough, but I finally got what I needed. So after the trim is in place, I will run a bead of caulk along the top of the top trim edge and then nail the drip edge in place and then apply another coat of caulk. We've had problems with leaks with the old boards popping their caulk along the top of the trim with the initial boards. This will take care of that problem. Aaron, our neighbor will loan me his nailer so I don't have to buy one. It helps to have nice neighbors.
So, today I'm off to classes at the new Microsoft store. I need training on the new Windows computer we bought. I know nothing of WIndows 7 and since the classes are free(plus the temp is to get in the mid 90's today)I don;t mind spending my time in an air conditioned store. Plus, it's near the Apple store so I can tour there too.
I set up our computers to use "Skype" so Tracy and I can talk when I'm in New Jersey next month at my diesel class. It even has video.
Well, it's about time to leave for class. More to come.
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07/30/2010, Still in Aurora, CO.
Here is a second post after I posted earlier today.
We saw a computer on sale at Walmart for just $298!!! How could you miss?? We use an Acer computer for our Nobeltec navigation software to help tell us where we are when out on long treks. As with most things in a boat, we know it will eventually fail(normally sooner than later). Backups are a necessity as well as a general rule.
I expected Walmart to be out of them when we got there but they still had plenty. It's another Acer(like what we have) with much more memory and a faster processor. We will load up all the navigation software we have and then shrink wrap it and put it away for emergencies once back on Zephyr. It will use our existing GPS that works with our older Acer so we will always be prepared should a sudden spike(lightening) cause our electronics to get fried.
And so the pile of parts gets bigger.
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07/30/2010, Still in Aurora, CO.
Our trip to Lake Granby was great. Sloop to Nuts was waiting for us with a badly torn tarp. It was in bad shape when I was there back in late May and was worse now. Off it came quickly and got folded and stuffed in the local dumpster.
Once we unlocked the companionway door, she looked just great inside. A bit dusty, but still the same pretty boat we have loved for the last 23 years. We'd brought every key we could to unlock the lock on our outboard motor. We'd left a set of the keys with the marina two years ago so they could hopefully sell it. For the first year, they forgot that they were supposed to sell it so she just sat. Last year, we found out that they had lost the keys and had to cut the lock off the door to get in. When they lost the keys, they lost the only copy of the key for the outboard that we knew we had. Let me tell you, the lock we had on it was HUGE. I'd tired to get it off a year ago and bring it home for storage rather than leave it there. I'd brought a set of bolt cutters from Home Depots tool rental. It made a small dent on the lock but wouldn't cut through it. It made channels in the blades on the bolt cutters. Basically, it ruined the bolt cutters. We got lucky and we found the one last key we had for the lock and it came off easily. Sure an glad we found it as using a hack saw would have taken quite a while. Off came the motor and into the trunk it went.
Next came the rudder. The bottom paint on it was long since gone and lots of small cracks had developed in the mahogany. The varnish on the top half of the rudder needs a good sanding and renewing.
Out came the two batteries we use for power. One read 1.6 volts and the second read 2.5 volts. A bit low for a 12 volt battery. I made a diagram as to what wires went to what posts and out they came. We lowered them over the side with dock lines through the handles. Into the trunk they went.
That was all we were bringing home so after inspecting the rest of the boat, we locked her up and headed our for the 2.5 hour drive home.
When we got home, I plugged in the battery charger and hooked it up to one of the battery to see if we could revive it. The gauge on the battery didn't move yet you could hear the charger trying to force the charge back into it. By the next morning, the battery read 13.1 volts. The second battery did the same but the gauge ramped up after a few hours on the battery. It appears to be at a full charge as of this morning. We'll see if the charge lasts.
I'll be sanding down the rudder to start it's repairs this morning and so it goes.
Still no trim from Lowe's.
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07/28/2010, Still in Aurora, CO.
We're heading for Lake Granby today to check out Zephyr's cousin--Sloop to Nuts, our Laguna 26 that we have had since 1987. The poor thing has been neglected for the last few years so we will have some work ahead of us before we feel her ready to go back in the water again.
The rep for Valspar showed up on Monday to check out our paint. I had a ladder all set up so he could get to one of the windows we had left at just one coat. We've painted everything that shows from the ground with at least two coats. Up the ladder he went. He was surprised that the paint hadn't filled in around the brush strokes as it should. He asked what kind of brush I had used. One thing we didn't scrimp on was the brushes. They can make a big difference when painting a house. He asked to take a look at the paint that we had left. I'd discussed with him the separation of the paint in the cans with in 30 minutes of getting back to the house from Lowe's. He popped open the one can we had used and was surprised that there was a coat of black on the top of the paint instead of it still being mixed. His comment was that he would have expected it to do what it had done in a few months, but not in a week, let alone within 30 minutes of having the paint mixed. He opened one of the "new"cans. One that we had never opened. It had an even larger skim of black and grey on the top of the paint. Now there was no question that the paint we had was bad. He copied down all the batch numbers and asked what they could do for us. I really had no clue as to what to ask for as the primary reason for him coming was to see what his product was doing. He offered to refund all the money we had paid for the trim paint and provide us with two free gallon cans of the top of their line paint. It is also "guaranteed" to cover in one coat. We'll need it to cover the trim we have on order if it ever shows up. Sounded good to us. So off he went to Lowe's to get it in the works. We later loaded the paint and returned it to Lowe's and picked up the new paint. It now sits in the garage waiting patiently.
We continued collecting parts to take back to Zephyr, so the living room keeps getting more and more things piled up in it. We're not sure how we will get it all back to Zephyr. I may have to make two trips back and forth. TIme will tell.
So we are off to Lake Granby. More jobs to do. The fun never stops.
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07/26/2010, Still in Colorado
Well, we put the final brush strokes on the gutter and that was the last section of the house that needed paint. Now we face the problem of having to put on a second coat on the trim since the first coat didn't cover the base coat.
If you read the last post, you know the problems we have been having with our paint. Here's the latest. The factory rep from Valspar never called us last week. Gee what a surprise!! The trim is somewhere in the United States but no one is quite sure where it is at the moment.
After waiting all week for the rep to call, I called Valspar on last Friday and talked to a Customer Service person. He couldn't have been nicer. I gave him all the particulars of what we have been coming up against. He took down all the info and assured me that Valspar would be in touch. Later in the day, I got an email from the rep that was supposed to be calling me. Gee what a surprise!! He wanted to know what was going on(the specifics) and where I got the paint. I "told" him about our conversation the previous week and his response was that he had called the number and had gotten the message that our number had been disconnected. Yeah, right and I have a bridge in San Francisco to get rid of. He is out of town again but is due back in Denver today so we will see when he calls us to come out to see the house.
As for the trim, it was shipped from the factory to the wrong distributor and then to the wrong supplier and then to the wrong store. Instead of just shipping me a new order--heck no, that is to easy-- they have to get it back from the store and then the supplier and then the distributor and then it has to go back to the factory and then it will be shipped to us. The estimated delivery is for July 30th or August 2. They're still not sure. Since we ordered it on June 21, it's had a big trip around the country. At least we didn't wait for it before we painted the house.
Meanwhile, we have taken out more Willow trunks in the front yard and keep trimming out dead wood from the trees once it gets to hot to paint(have to stop at 90). The trash man will love us again this week when he comes by. The fun never stops.
We were luckily enough to find the packaged shredded beef we have used while cruising at Costco. It's in a 3 pound package and keeps for ever so it is perfect for using while sailing. No cans to have to get rid of and as you use it, the existing package gets smaller. It's been discontinued by Costco so we had to have them find them as not every store carries it. We now have five more packages to take back to Zephyr in the fall.
So now we wait for the trim and continue with other jobs getting more parts placed on order. It's never a dull moment.
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