Saturday, February 11, 2012

Now This Just Doesn't Go With Our Boat

Our boat is a 100 footer.  From 100 feet away, it looks OK.  But if you get up close, not so much.   As our long time followers know, we bought a boat that sat on the hard, uncovered, for 20 years.   This is never good for a boat.  At some point someone thought it was a good idea to tape plastic over the outside of the windows and over the teak decks, but this soon deteriorated and crumbled, leaving behind sticky Gorilla Tape residue.  When we got the boat, we had the decks fiberglassed over, and epoxy got spread all over everything, the gunwales, the walls, cleats, and even the windlass. 

Rather than cosmetics, I focused on the boat's systems, replacing plumbing, wiring, electronics, the refrigerator, bilge pumps, one head, hooked the heads back up to the holding tank, got the engines and generators running, and installed two Filter Bosses and a fuel polishing system.  It worked, because here were are now in Beaufort, South Carolina.  We just didn't look pretty getting here.

As you may recall, the last thing that needs fixing is the Boston Whaler.  It too sat uncovered, on the roof of Drift Away.  The fuel filter had rusted away, the battery was missing (not that it would be any good anyway), as was the fuel tank.  I ordered replacements for all of that.  While working on the steering, the wooden console crumbled from rot.  I thought of buying some wood and making a new one, but found a mahogany one online at specialtymarine.com.   It came today.    I don't think I can put this on our boat.  It's just too pretty.



It would be like putting new shoelaces on dirty old sneakers.

1 comment:

  1. You do have a point there Dave. LOL

    But then again I think you did it in the correct order.

    Bill Kelleher

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