Thursday, February 10th - Part 1

I forgot to bring the camera with me to the Internet Cafe when last here 2 days ago.  I didn't make that mistake this morning so I will break up my post today in 2 parts.

 I left off with the intent to paint the chain locker...which I did and I am still paying for.  Painting in such a small proximity really hurt my hands/wrists.  They improve daily but I am still feeling the affects.

Being in such a small proximity, I also wore the 'gas mask' (filter).  It was a very good idea.  I also had the box fan set up directly below me to help provide good ventilation.

This project took about 2 hours for each job.  Two hours to clean, 2 hours to prime and 2 hours for top coat.   That's 2 hours cramped into this tight position each time.

I cleaned it the day prior to this day.  I then primed it with Zinzer oil based primer in the morning and it was dry by lunch.  So immediately after lunch I finished painting with the top coat.  I wanted this project to be done ASAP.  It does look nice and guaranteed it will not look this nice again for a long time.  The chain locker is not a place that gets painted often.

And we began loading it back with chains and lines.

The time had come to sail her down to Port Labelle and empty the holding tank and we had lots to do in preparation for that.  We put the solar panels up on the roof  and hooked them up to the electric motors that Carter intalled temporarily on the starboard side in order to conduct a performance test.  It turned out to be a very windy day making it impossible for the motor to perform.  The effort was in vain this day except for determining the panels make a fine roof.  Thus, Carter has changed his mind and will use the panels for roofing rather than plywood with fiberglass cover, lowering the overall weight of the roof.  The panels fit together perfectly only requiring a line of caulking.  We are talking about covering insulation panels with fabric and placing under the panels to improve the look and also keep the cockpit cool.

Off to the potty we go.  As I stated earlier, it was a very windy day and Carter lost his favorite straw hat and the Jim Buoy.  We tried to perform a man overboard drill and recover them but were unsuccessful.  It's not as easy as it looks and we were running out of time to get to Port Labelle before closing so we had to abandon our efforts.  We decided to return the next with the Boston Whaler and find the Jim Buoy which was heading for the riverside and into the bushes.  Just as we thought, we were successful finding the Jim Buoy the next day  but the hat was gone forever.  They're cheap enough to replace, the Jim Buoy however is not so we were fortunate to find it.

We attracted some attention...people stopping to view this spectacle and commenting on this being quite a project.  Not sure if this was good or bad comment.

The Halcyon docked at Port Labelle.

The Boston Whaler...our dingy