Too many projects, and how we are missing Stuart Island!

It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. It is the age of productivity, it is the age of laziness. There are a pile of boat projects completed, there are a pile of boat projects remaining. In this regard, these days are so much like those of any other time, and yet it's noisiest adherents insist upon it being proclaimed in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Its noisiest adherent is me. And I proclaim these days to be so overfilled with boat projects that they surely can't compare with any other days with anything less than a superlative.

We have Aeolus down to Bainbridge so I can accomplish more work than I am able to do on our trips to Friday Harbor. This is necessitated by our plans to go around Vancouver Island next summer. This is all great and wonderful, but it is really hitting Amy and I like a ton of bricks that we are desperately missing our weekend get aways to the San Juans, and in particular, Stuart Island. There is nothing quite so wonderful as a winter sail to Stuart and having the harbors and island virtually to yourself. It is priceless to us and we miss it painfully.

But the sacrifice must be made to get these projects done on Aeolus and so I am putting all my spare time into them.

Just to give a sampling of what I am currently working on:

Partial removal of old teak. It is both screwed down with wood screws, and glued down with something like 4200.

Teak is largely gone, and now the fun job of scraping off all the adhesive begins!

• Removing all teak from coaming, scraping away all adhesive, sanding and prepping, and recoating with Kiwi grip for better grip and appearance. Given the time of year, I am putting all my energy into the prep right now, and will probably have to wait for warmer weather in Spring to paint the grip.

Some jerk hit and run on Aeolus, leaving only minor damage that lets me practice my fiberglass repair skills. Only the outer layers of fiberglass were damaged. I was able to sand down to only good glass in about 1/8 inch.

• Repairing a gash in our port hull from a boat that hit and run Aeolus a few weeks back while she was on a mooring ball at a friends house. They broke the portlight window, and put a crack in the hull about 12" long. Not all the way through the 1/4' of fiberglass, but broken through the first few layers. I've ground out the damage and am have repaired the fiberglass with epoxy and cloth. Next step is to fair it and cover with a base paint in preparation for painting the whole hull stripe next Spring. 

• Repaired the hatch in the head because the plastic lip that the handle turns into to lock it had broken off. I had to find the right stainless rivets to rivet it back on. Did that today. A small Lewmar hatch. 
• Ordered new portlight windows to replace the one broken and to have a match on the other side. Installed new one on starboard and am waiting for repair job to be done on port for that one too. I'll do a separate post on these great new windows. 
• Removing lazarette lids from cockpit and bringing them home to sand off all the old non-skid to recoat with Kiwi grip. Old stuff had deep crevices that made it impossible to clean, and it white, and stained from years of stuff in the cockpit. Using my disc grinder I've removed all the old stuff from the first one and will paint the Kiwi grip on in the garage. This is part of my plan to repaint all the non-slip on the deck with Kiwi grip. 

Many of these things warrant their own post, but I'm too busy these days to do it. Let me just say, I am loving it, and feeling stretched thin!