Saturday, April 7, 2012

I'm a Stripper, and Meeting Broulee

Part I.

Yesterday I attempted to rebuild our Groco toilet before giving up and ordering a new Jabsco.  It will be here at the end of next week.   Without the toilet in the way, and because it was only in the 50s here in Savannah, it was a perfect day to stay inside and remove the wallpaper in the head.


The wallpaper was water damaged from twenty years of leaking decks while sitting uncovered in Connecticut.  It had to go.  It was vinyl and stuck on real good.  I tried to simply pull it off, but it wouldn't budge.  I got one of my favorite tools on the boat, my paint stripping heat gun.


I never use the heat gun for stripping paint.  I usually use the heat gun to soften up hoses before sticking them on barbed fittings, or for loosening up hoses stuck on barbed fittings.   Today I used it to soften up the glue holding the paper on.  It was slow going, but it was going.


That section on the left took me about a half hour of heating and pulling, heating and pulling.   Finally it was all off, but a messy residue of glue and fuzz remained.  I can't paint over that, nor put wallpaper over it.


I tried solvents, and I tried sanding it.  Nothing was getting it off.  I needed time to think about this, so I took the dogs for a romp in the pavillion.   While there, Joe from S/V Whirlwind came by.  I bounced my problem off him.   He said he redid the head on Whirlwind and put tile up.   I went to his boat to check it out and it's beautiful!   Great idea!   So the thought now is to look at some kind of covering, perhaps tile, or maybe some other kind of paneling.  Pam and I will have to think about this.  We have time.  After all, it's not the last minute.  The new toilet won't be here until Thursday.

Part II.

In this age of Al Gore's internets, we all have friends we haven't met.  If you're a regular reader of this blog and found it with Google or TrawlerBlogs.com, that's us.  If you look on the rights side of this blog, down near the bottom, you'll see all of the blogs that we follow.  My favorites are the folks who blog regularly because I get to know them, their sense of humor, their pets, and their boat.  Regularly updated blogs are up near the top of the list.

Pam and I were up at the pavillion and a couple walking a black dog came along.... it's Izzy!  Then this must be Rick and Deb from M/V Broulee (pronounced brow-lee)!  Now, you might ask why I didn't recognize Rick and Deb.  It's because people cruising with pets tend to take a lot of pet photos and not too many of themselves.  The dog looked just like Izzy, and Rick and Deb kinda looked like what I saw in a few photos, so putting one and two together I knew it must be them.  We made brief introductions and then Rick and Deb had a few boat chores to get done. 


We went to Drift Away.  We were enjoying a fine box of Merlot on the aft deck after dinner and Rick and Deb came over.   I started to regale them with one of my tales, and Deb stopped me.  "We read all about that on your blog."   LOL!!!   Now what am I going to talk about?   They know everything.  :)

I follow Rick and Deb's blog regularly and have been doing so for over a year, but they've been cruising for 11 years and have 35,000 miles under Broulee's keel.   They had plenty of interesting stories to talk about.

The dogs took an instant liking to Deb and Rick.  Dogs are good judges of people.



A short time later, Dan and Pat from M/V Ironhore came over, and then Dick and Deb from S/V Journey II.   The party was on, and laughs and giggles abounded.


Dan and Pat's dog Jingles also gave Deb and Rick a thumbs... paws up.

As the evening turned into night, a beautiful full moon rose.  I don't have my camera tripod on the boat, but I did my best to steady the camera to get a pic for you.


The full moon meant a really high tide, high enough to flood the parking lot a little.  Deb posed by a piling for me to show just how high the tide was.


It was getting late and it was time to disband.  It was great to meet you, Deb and Rick!

Pam and I went inside to check email and finish watching a movie. 


Yes, the dogs got the couch and we got the floor.  That's just how it is sometimes.

5 comments:

  1. Can't thank you guys enough for the get together. The dogs are incredible and both of you too. Good luck with your Easter gathering tomorrow. We will see you again, either north or in the fall at Isle of Hope - keep it real or not.
    Deb

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  2. Dave, you might try a pull type scraper to take off the glue. Either the type painters use with a few packs of new blades or a carbide replaceable blade scraper(Like Sandvik).

    It may cut the glue and residue off so you can do a light sand and paint.

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  3. Hi Dave,
    Just a suggestion for your wall material. Have a look at counter top material. Comes in many colours...4x8 sheets and fairly easy to work with...easy clean up, waterproof and just glues to the wall. (It's what CHB originally used in white).
    Good luck,
    Ken (Meandering)

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  4. Glad you got to meet Crew Broulee. Very nice folks that we keep running in to during our meanderings.

    And Dave, I once dated a stripper, but I have to say she was much better looking than you.
    Keep your day job.

    Cheers,

    Bob

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