2 Steps Back = 1 Step Forward?

Been a long week. The unseasonably high temperatures and humidity have hindered our work a bit, but we did get a lot done. Still taking out screws. Screws and more screws, removing all hardware, teak, hatches and portholes. This afternoon I was joking to our buddy Guy that we have had to have taken out at least 600 screws. Jeanne popped up and shouted, "600? Hell the portlights were 240 alone!" I thought about it for a second and realized, 24 screws per porthlights, 10 portholes...yep, that's 240. Good googly moogly. So, in reality, we've probably taken out over 2000. Then I started thinking that if even 1% of the screws allow water infiltration, that's 20 spots where water has leaked, and I know it's more than that.

Anyway, onto the subject of this post. After removing all the portlights, some of them have had water infiltrate, and there is some core rot around them. But, better to find this now than a couple hundred miles offshore in a torrential rainfall and water pouring in. So, one more thing added to this list. We hope, with some fairer weather forecast for next week, we will get the rest of the deck cleared and be able to start filling unneeded holes, fix the portlight's surroundings and generally prepare the deck for a new coat of gelcoat paint. The other set back was we were hoping to remove then rebed some of the portlights. NOT! Three that had been one time replaced with Vetus portlights, came out fine and are in great shape, but the other 7 were the original Grey portholes and they basically fell apart in pieces. So, 7 new Vetus portlights will be on order soon. So, we are still in deconstruction mode. Hopefully, SOON, we will be in re-construction mode.

Some of our friends/family have stated that the boat did not look this bad. Well, this is true. We probably could have gotten the boat in the water quickly as it really is not in bad shape. However, this is the best time to tackle all of this as it would eventually have to be done. And quite frankly, next year in the Caribbean, I don't want to be dealing with any of this. I want to enjoy my wife, our boat and our new lifestyle knowing every bolt, screw, wire, tank, fiberglass and engine is good, as we have had our hands on it.

- The Captain