Cleaning, caulking and cavorting

Sadly Rebecca and Caleb left this morning, after having lived on the ship for six years, but the ship really didn’t want them to leave.

Today I cleaned a refrigerator with the help of Grant. Behind it, in it and all around it, the bigger part of that project ended up having to put it back. Because the ship moves so much while under way there are a few odd things you wouldn’t normally have in your kitchen to keep appliances and other things in place. For the refrigerator there is a wood bar at the bottom that was easy enough to put back in but the part that we struggled with was a wood latch at the top to help keep it closed. When it was taken out Peter managed to break part of the latch so Grant and I tried to fix it, it seemed pretty good, we tried wedging it back in place but in the processes broke what we had just fixed.

In the end we just put it away because we won’t be under way anytime soon. We also fixed a hinge on a cupboard that had just broken that morning.

After lunch I helped Katie caulk a seam on the side of the ship. We had to pry off a piece of wood that was covering the seam, caulk it and then put the strip of wood back but above the seam so it could breath.

Grant and Ashley painted more of the hull. Tsveta and Brooke painted the black on the fore fife rail. Zach, Kat and Joe worked on putting bungs in the deck. The whole reason for putting in bungs is to make the deck more level and hold it down in more places. You drill a hole, put in a screw, add wood glue and put in a small piece of wood, a bung, making sure the grain is the same direction. Later after it’s all dry and solid you come by and chisel off the extra wood sticking out.

Ashley also some how managed to spill black paint on the deck, I ran to help her clean it up.

Unloaded the small boat that was filled with groceries and Rebecca! They had gotten about an hour out of town and the engine on their truck broke. They had just bought it as well so it’s a real bummer. The boat has some strange magic on them, it's going to keep them here forever.

So after all that we got all dressed up, as much as we grubby sailors can and went over to the Newport Marina for dinner on a yacht. It was a really nice yacht, not that I’ve seen many; they have three bedrooms for guests and a nice big room for the owners. They had some live music as well. A whole bunch of use ended up chilling on the fore deck, it was a nice night.

Now I get to listen to Grant pump the bilges, it’s loud.

Ya-Baby