My boat now has a set of awnings from a company called Shadetree. I saw an ad for these sometime back, and said to myself: I want those.
Modelled after the covered wagons used by the early American settlers, the curved awnings provide shade from the scorching sun, yet still let the breeze flow thru. They also do a heckuva great job keeping the rain away. Right after I got them up, a hellacious thunderstorm blew thru. But I was able to keep the hatches and the companionway wide open, and no rain came inside. Awesome! I really do have it "made in the shade"!
Several
other boaters in the marina dropped by to comment or inquire about the
awnings. How much did they cost, I was
asked? One-and-a-half boat bucks, I
replied. (What's a "boat buck"? Remember that BOAT really means "Bust
Out Another Thousand". So a "boat
buck" is a thousand big ones.)
In other news, I opened up yet another
(and hopefully the last) unopened locker.
This one was way back on the transom deck. Looking inside, it obviously had not been
opened for a very long time. Another
foul mark for my boat's irresponsible previous owner.
So I starting pulling out container after container
of what once contained some boat fluid or another, most of them nearly
empty. The last can had contained (note:
past tense) fiberglass resin. The metal container
had corroded, and all of its contents had leaked out. For the uninitiated, fiberglass resin is a
sticky, ooey, gooey, slimy gunk. It had
to be two inches deep in there.
How in the world am I going to clean this
up? That locker is at least 20 cubic
feet - a valuable hunk of storage space in a vessel where every nook and cranny
is precious.
Work continues to get her ready to sail. Stay tuned!
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