Mopelia, day five, fixed Kevin's boat
22 October 2020
Russ Whitford | Weather is perfect today
Mopelia, day five, September 23.
Lisa, Magali, and Kaia went to shore for more shells today. Kjell and I dinghied about a mile to Kevin's homestead to fix his skiff. It had two holes in the bottom and he had no coli (glue) to fix it. I had epoxy and Kjell had some fiberglass.
Kevin was most pleased to see us. He had resurrected his piece of soggy fiberglass from the barrel and it was drying in the sun but we decided not to use it. Kjell and I set to work, cleaning out the holes and sanding the surrounding areas. We filled the holes with bunched up glass, soaked with epoxy, then filled them in smooth with thickened epoxy. We retired to the shade and drank from the coconuts Kevin cut for us.
Norma rode by on her bicycle and stopped to chat. I asked the names of the people we had met south, yesterday. She wrote them down on the flap of a cardboard box for me. We are beginning to know everyone here, who they are related to and other tidbits. Norma said she was cleaning the road. Imagine the major of a city, riding her bike to clear coconuts off the road.
The drunk lady we met the day before was named Hina. She lives near the community house, we haven't visited there yet. I asked if she had a husband and Norma said, "no." I asked, "pourquoi pas Kevin?" Why not Kevin? They laughed and Kevin vehemently said no!
Kjell and I tested the previous patch work to see if it was hard. It was hardening and scalding hot. We laid three layers of glass cloth over with more epoxy resin. It looked pretty good and will certainly work until Kevin bashes another rock. Unfortunately his beach is rocky. But he has a boat lift that will keep his boat from harm.
That evening we all gathered on Le Pukeko for cocktails and Farkel, dice game. Pascal and Inez from Keli had sailed up from the south and joined us. We were shocked when Magli offered Pascal a beer. She said, "We have only one beer left but you may have it." What a fiend for taking their last beer. They still have two months before they will visit a store! The next day, I gave Chris a six-pack.