"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Well, sanders...

The last couple of days I've been sanding stainless steel, taking either
rusty, dinged, material which is still on the boat, or new, to replace it,
mill finish, tube and plate, for the bow roller cage and assembly, to
brilliant.

Good grief. What you're saying is you let your stainless steel go neglected
for so long that you have to sand off the rust? Holy Cow! All it takes is a
going over about once a month with some Never Dull and it stays looking like
new. Mine is 40 years old and still looks and shines like new. Have you ever
heard the old saying, "A stitch in time saves nine?" Wake up, Skippy.

snippage

That's, in part, because I'm now convinced that, our builder just didn't
want to mess with teak. Instead, he claimed that one could not get teak
that wouldn't double or triple the price, and the source I had didn't
actually HAVE teak. (Curiously, it was the place he got the replacement
door frame for our forward head. I wonder if THAT wasn't teak, either
[J/K, it was a case of proof of my presumption that he was just trying not
to have to use teak, not that the place didn't, in fact, HAVE teak].)
Instead, he used Spanish Cedar which, properly stained and varnished, has
a look of teak. Unfortunately, it's not much harder than balsa. The
relief of the binnacle impact area took next to no effort, other than all
the cut-and-try so I didn't take off more than needed. It's so soft,
we'll have to go to barrel bolts to assure that the screws holding the
various fittings don't pull out :{/)

Forget the wood. Nowadays there is a plastic called "Star Board" It comes in
brown that looks like teak and it will last a lifetime and it never needs
varnish. Get rid of the wood and replace it with Star Board and kiss your
wood-slave days goodbye!

snippage

The most recent "Peril of Pauline" is our refrigeration/freezer seeming to
be taking a dump. Long story which I'll not encumber you with, especially
as it's not over yet, but various fixes I've done in the past when this
symptom (no cool, compressor's running, or Smart Speed Control doesn't
seem to be acting right) showed up occasionally have had no effect. Thus,
going from perfect function (8° and 32° in freezer and reefer boxes, even
in 90+ heat) to having NO heat removal since sometime last night, this has
a heightened sense of urgency. Even if I get it to work again, we're going
to have to do something "final" about it before we cast off, as, if it's
not resolved, it will only get worse in the wilds of wherever we are. As
the techs I've spoken with can't tell from the symptoms what it is, we're
about to get expensive, likely, as we track down what's really happening
so we can address it. Cool! (well, it would be nice for it to be
cooling, but not yet...)

Hee Hee. You jinxed yourself, Skippy! It's been less than a month now since
you were bragging about how well your fridge was working even with the keel
out of water. I bet it sprung a leak and all the refrigerant leaked out.

My electrical-taped condenser is still staying nice and cold and the
pressures remain the same so no leaks. My solar panels are really doing a
good job since I bought all new batteries a couple weeks ago. Four new 12v
deep cycles (group 24) to replace the old ones that were four years old and
not charging too well anymore. Lots of bubbling away of electrolyte and
getting warm but not much charge retention. So, they're history. New ones
don't bubble and they seem to accept all the charge going into them. My beer
is outstandlingly cold and my batteries are at about 13.0 volts even after
all night with a Hela fan running to keep me cool in the v-berth.


Wilbur Hubbard