Thursday, February 10th - Part 2

We get visitors quite frequently and this guy was not shy at all.  He was intently focused on catching lunch from the lily pads that are all around the shore.  We see also turtles all around us quite frequently.   We had a spider visit us yesterday morning.  I found him in the sink when I went to prepare morning coffee.  Talk about a wake up call.  I don't like spiders or snakes.

The seasons must be beginning to change because the sun is rising in a different spot now than it did when we first arrived.  It is now shining directly in my eyes through the window directly beside my pillow.  Time for corrective action.  Fortunatly, the builder of this vessel created a solution to this problem.  The windows are very simple and innovative.

The window is a simple pane of acrylic safety glass held in the closed position by a block of wood cut specifically for that window.

The wood block slides into place in either the open or closed position.  This works very well preventing water from entering in when closed.  When you need privacy, you simply slide a privacy panel in front of the window pane.

Then when you need to block light use this panel.

Which solves my morning sun problem perfectly.

Another innovative feature on this boat is the can storage system found under the bottom bunk.  We recently found canned goods here and are not sure if they are from the original owner or from the second.  Regardless, the cans will be recycled.

Notice the 'cubby hole' directly behind these cans...the cans are turned on their side and pushed into the hole and then slid to the back.  There is a tool specifically made to hook the cans to pull them back out.  These cans of early peas and corned beef hash are most likely past their experation date!

Yesterday, we broke the hatch support strut creating a need to deviate from our determined course of action.  Instead, we set about repairing the main hatch.  Since we had it all taken apart we decided to go ahead and sand and paint.  Carter sanded the hatch and doors while I worked on the hatch opening, sanding and painting.

The hatch doors are seriously weathered and it was always planned to sand and recoat with stain poly.

Here's one door down and one still to go.

Side 2

The hatch sanded and painted.  Looks good.

Carter removed the main traveler in preparation for painting the superstructure.   He also removed the splash guard which I don't have a picture of.  He will epoxy the holes today.