It’s been cold and wet in Sidney. The brightwork is progressing just a bit slower than planned. We should have had the boat back by now, but the cold and wet weather has delayed the return by a couple of weeks. Don at Avalon Brightwork was kind enough to send me some photos of the progress.
As these photos show, it was clearly time for some serious brightwork TLC.
As the title suggests, we have not been kind to ours. We expect our dinghy to transport us to shore and back, take us exploring, adventuring, joyriding, and perhaps even rescue us in the event of an emergency. Yet we treat ours poorly. Not intentionally. We always have the best of intentions. I’d call it benign neglect.
We’ve had our boat a bit over six years now. The inflatable came attached to the stern. Back in early ’12, we installed new davits, seats, steering, and a new 20 hp Tohatsu outboard. For anyone wishing to relive that exciting story, visit this post.
Since that time, the dinghy has lived on the davits on the back of our boat. Good weather and bad. Tipped up on the stern, it’s convenient to use, but not to work on. We wash it and keep it mostly clean, but that’s just about the extent of our care. As for the motor, I check the oil from time to time. I also check to make sure it is still firmly attached to the dinghy.
The most recent abuse came from sitting in salt water for a month while our boat was in the yard. Barnacles and various slimy things were growing on it when we finally pulled it out of the water. Yuck.
The day started out great. More sun and fine weather. By afternoon, the wind had come up and clouds had covered the sky. Before that, though, I went for a nice walk. There were many canada geese over on the grass. Many babies around. It’s that time of year.
Friday started out (after coffee and doughnuts) with a talk by Bill Davis, the current PSGBOA president, about safety and dealing with emergencies afloat. A good subject and cause for thought. Kim and I think we are generally prepared, but we’ve not spent much time discussing and planning emergency procedures. That will soon change.
Another gorgeous morning in Roche Harbor. Americas Odyssey, a Grand Banks 49, is backing into the slip in the foreground. Funny that we should meet up with this boat. It was for sale in San Francisco for several years. Kim and I looked at it several times and seriously considered buying it at one point. It’s a beautiful boat.
We have the boat back. And we have the water filters installed. And now it’s time to head north to the San Juan Islands. We are bound for the annual Puget Sound Grand Banks Owners Association rendezvous at Roche Harbor at the end of the week.
We got a late start from Poulsbo (too many things to do and not enough time) so we decided to head for Mystery Bay. We’ve never been there before and now seemed like a good time. Just across from Port Townsend, it’s a convenient place to stop for the night and get an early start across the strait the next morning. We grabbed a buoy at the Mystery Bay State Park. The sky looked ominous, but it was calm and gorgeous.
Just when you thought it would never end …
It does. Really.
Now that we have the boat back, I was able to tackle what was the easiest part of this project. I just needed to mount the accumulator tank and the pump on the new filter platform, and run new hoses between everything. I pulled all the old plumbing out and took it back to the house. Here is everything mounted up and ready for the hose.
