The first order of business was to drop my truck off for an oil change. Back at the boat, Pam made a wonderful breakfast of omlettes, bacon, and toast. She's really a great cook.
One of today's projects was to format and reinstall Windows on a PC I built a few years ago. Pam's daughter (Megan) was using it in the guest stateroom and picked up some really nasty malware. I started the format and let it run. Time for a boat project.
I decided it was time to delve into the engine room. It's a nice, big space for a boat, but it kinda became the place we put all the stuff we didn't know where else to put it (we also use the forward stateroom for this function).
For my non-boating friends, I need to explain about boat life. When you own a house, you have living room stuff, garage stuff, attic stuff, garden shed stuff, etc. Everything goes in it's proper room. On a boat, you just have stuff, and it goes where ever you can fit it. It doesn't matter where something lives, as long as it has a home and stays there when not being used. It's important to be able to put your hands on something quickly sometimes.
I went into the engine room and surveyed my opponent. Piles and piles of... stuff. Everywhere. I decided first to discard everything that wasn't needed. First to go was the crappy sound insulation installed many years ago. For some boneheaded reason, the installer used open cell foam insulation. Open cells absorb moisture, and wet foam is heavy. Periodically, pieces fall off the ceiling and walls.
Next was the small shelf unit. I removed everything piece by piece and sorted it- plumbing, electrical, engine, unknown, unknown but cool, and garbage. Then I organized it into empty tool boxes and put stuff back. Not looking too bad.
In this photo, you can see the cleaned up little shelf unit on the right. The port engine and generator behind it are the catch-all for the junk... er... stuff.
Declaring a won battle in this war, I decided to check on the rest of the crew. Upstairs, I found the dogs had ransacked the main saloon.
The dogs were in the helm station, demanding to go outside.
It was raining out pretty good, and someone needed to take the dogs off the boat. I looked as busy as I possibly could, and so Pam decided to do it. :)
Of course, once the dogs are off the boat, they want to play. They don't care if it's raining. Pam does however, and after a short time started yelling at the dogs to get back on the boat.
Ummmm.... no.
Finally they did, of course. Pam can be very persuasive.
Meanwhile, I was running from the engine room to the PC. Sort and organize, toss out. Install Windows and drivers. Move stuff around. etc. etc. I picked the truck up from the dealer. I was biffed $101 for an oil and filter change, and air filter change. I guess I won't go back there again.
Back at the boat, I checked to see what Pam was doing. She decided to clean the head in our stateroom. She discovered that some of the dirt was rot, and lots of it. Again, for my non-boating friends, modern boats are fiberglass, which is great stuff. But to make the boats more cozy, boat builders cover everything with veneer. Boats with old fashioned teak decks, like ours, leak (that will be another blog), and when they leak for a few decades, the veneer rots. Isn't this nasty?
Pam is scraping the old veneer off the fiberglass subsurface with a putty knife. Ugh.
After she removed the veneer from the cabinet top and the wall, she could see where it was leaking. She decided to take advantage of it and created an irrigation system for her plant.
The critters decided that a rainy day is good for naps.
Pam finished her demolition project, and I decided that I needed time to consider my next engine room move. Victory beer time!
Meanwhile, Smudge was fed up with the whole day.
I think the rest of the day will be internet surfing and movies. We'll see what the weather decides for us to do tomorrow.
I just loved that picture of the two dogs and the cat on the couch.LOL
ReplyDeleteBill Kelleher
The animals seem to get along most of the time. They'll sleep together on the couch and even the little dog bed. There are exceptions to the uneasy truce, however. Pam just plucked a cat claw out of Ruby's nose.
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