“The most beautiful thing about a tree is what you can build with it.”
For the most part, Spring has sprung down here in the Delta. Days are getting longer and warmer, the bass bite is a bit more consistent, and the flying insects are once again coming out to play. The boat came with all the factory port light screens but the weave of the mesh is large enough that the tiny little gnats still get inside the boat. The gnats don’t bite or anything, but eventually when we move to more tropical latitudes the No-See-Ums are going to become a problem, and the screens we have now aren’t going to stop them from making a meal out of us . Jeni ordered some No-See-Um netting online and cut it to fit around the existing oval and round port screens and it worked out nicely. The screen actually feels pretty durable compared to other stuff we’ve played around with and it’s cheap enough that if something happens, it’s no biggie to change it out.
One thing I’ve been meaning to do for a while is build a screen for our companionway. The other day I was working down at the shed and Rob on s/v Gazelle stopped by to use the table saw. He had a nice set of teak bi-fold doors he needed to rip down into lumber and was kind enough to give me one half of the set, along with all the vintage hardware that came with them. Never one to turn down free, old-growth teak, I wasted no time cutting it up into little pieces, and finally made that screen frame for the companionway (thanks again, Rob). I used the weatherboards that came with the boat as a pattern for the non-square opening and cut lap joints for the corners. I glued it all up with thickened epoxy and clamped it overnight before routing the various grooves and round-overs. A little sanding and smoothing, then screened it with the No-See-Um netting using that rubber spline material from the DIY store.
The whole thing turned out pretty sweet and fits the opening perfectly, but I figure it’s only a matter of time before Suki comes busting through it. At least I built it so that the screen is replaceable when she finally does.