The inside of the boat is starting to smell Downy fresh–it’s laundry day and all the clothes are hanging on lines crossing the main saloon and galley area. Smells great!

I’m catching up on computer work as I have the generator on this morning to do that and laundry. Always trying to maximize the amps I’m drawing so as not to “waste” fuel.

David is outside cleaning CPES off of winches and lubing them. The boat’s previous owner (actually I think his son…) had put lots and lots of CPES on the foremast and some of it got onto the mast-mounted winches. Terribly hard to get off, too.

Its been very dewy. With nightfall at 5 pm (early!) comes the dew and fog and then we have wet decks and wet “everything” outside until late morning or noon-time. It may be a bit early to declare success but I seem to have stopped the leak that I have been trying to isolate and stop for a couple months now. First I though it was the window so I worked on that seal–nope, not the window. The, I started looking closely at the cockpit combing to charthouse interface. I’d recalled that it wasn’t well bedded and I’d put a surfacy application of a caulk/sealant onto it in the past. Last week I, again, dug out some sealant that was between the cockpit combing and charthouse, found a little hole where water could definitely go in, so I re-bedded the combing as best I could. Crossed my fingers. Prayed. It seems to be sealed as none of that dew is coming in. Previously it would come streaming in every night–down onto a towel I’d laid on a metal tray below the leak to capture the water.

My way to test the leak is to spray water from the deck washdown system onto it. But, that’s salt water and then I’d be stuck wiping the salt off of everything. I think I’ll wait. It is supposed to rain (possibly) tomorrow so perhaps I’ll spray saltwater on it during the rainstorm!

Enough of that. David’s come wandering in the boat complaining about a winch that isn’t working as it should…I better go outside and at least look interested in his travails since I don’t want to be doing that project myself!

Later,
Brenda

Two days ago, we obtained a 1 month permit for the San Diego “cruisers’ anchorage” A-9. The permits are precious in that only three (3) can be obtained per 360 day period. We’ve put off getting one of these just in case we were “stuck” in San Diego for longer than expected. Well, we’re “stuck” for longer than expected for sure! But, we’ve decided that no matter what, we’re heading out of here to Newport Beach Harbor for a couple months starting in January and then we’ll go north to the Pacific Northwest to spend the summer months.

In the meanwhile, we get to be jostled around a bit each time a big ship–or a fast powerboat–goes bythe anchorage. It is a good place to work on the boat with no real distractions. Since it is about a half mile row to the nearest dingy dock and then we have to take a bus to get anywhere or take a bike in the dingy so David can pick up one of our cars (parked a few miles away)…we have little incentive to go places. Rather, every incentive to work on the boat.

Today, David took the canoe over to the dingy dock (with his folding bike) and, in theory, has made it to the Navy woodshop to do several projects. When he returns, we should have another set of pinrails for the main shrouds. He also is supposed to use the lathe there to turn a flagstaff for the transom. We have a nice 3’x5′ US flag that we have not flown since we don’t have a proper flagstaff to fly it on the stern. Many folks do fly them at anchor on their backstay, but the proper place for the flag when not underway is on a flagstaff, not the backstay. I am looking forward to flying the flag, though.

I’ll be done with my online work in a few minutes and then back to sanding and varnishing things. You’d think I’d eventually get done with that, huh? No, it seems never ending. Sort of like mowing the lawn or sweeping floors or doing dishes–at least we don’t have a lawn to mow here!

More later.