Sunday, August 3, 2014

Dirty Jobs

This weekend, we took advantage of the rainy weather in San Diego and paid some much needed attention to the never-ending boat project list.  Here are a few of the projects that we worked on:

Looking for an easy way to lube your slugs ;) ?  Not only is this easy, it's also cheap and can be done with something you've already got onboard.

Our friend Dave told us about this little trick. Squirt some clear dishwashing soap in the track and let it trickle down through the slugs. Spray most of the soap off with the hose and then hoist sail.




We were amazed at how easy the sails went up and down with this easy trick.  A few minutes in the rain and we had a soapy deck to scrub. #winning.

One of the less desirable tasks that has been haunting our list was rebuilding the master head. This involved replacing every single gasket in the flushing mechanism.  Believe me when I say that it is no fun to open the outlet valve of a 15 year old marine toilet and fish out the old rotten gaskets.  Despite the horrific smell and the instructions written in Thai, we were able to pull it off in a couple of hours and have a perfectly functioning head.

                                 

Up next was reseating the glass hatch in the forward head.  The previous owner decided to use duct tape for this job and surprisingly, it was quite leaky!  This was a quick job that involved a bead of marine silicone on both sides of the glass.  Hopefully this holds better than the duct tape.  

You may have noticed that Phil is the only one working in the pictures. Ya well, my job was to whittle down our shopping list and research where to buy items for a decent price....sure beats rebuilding the head!



Of the many items bought today, a new LED light panel was one of them. It's amazing how cheap these are.  Unless, of course, you buy them from Worst Marine.  I went with eBay for $8 a panel.

Also purchased were  new cabin fans, a new jib furling line, a new toping lift line for the mizzen, new toilet seat, food hammocks and mosquito netting!
Today was also a "no electronics, go play with your sister" day. The girls actually had more fun today than most days sitting on their kindles. In addition to everything else, Barbie now has a 45 foot Ketch.









Ok, so maybe I lied. We did allow the girls to each find a some recipes that they want to make. Our goal is to have them able to cook a few simple meals from start to finish before we leave.  I can't be the only one serving mediocre food to the crew!


So despite the dirty work and the rain, it was still a productive and fun weekend onboard the Terrapin.  It was also nice to get this beautiful sunset today after the rain cleared out.

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