Work has come to a screeching halt lately. My sister and her family came to visit on Saturday so Rich and I spent Saturday morning cleaning up the boat. We hadn’t cleaned the outside of the boat since…it rained last? Shameful. The non-skid on the coach roof is in such horrible shape that the dirt doesn’t really show…or so we thought. Once we started scrubbing and hosing it off, the muddy river of dirt flowing through the scuppers was shocking. Apparently the dirt DOES show, because even with the crappy condition of the non-skid, it looks so much better now. The portlight screens were also embarrassingly dirty and cobwebby. The real disgraceful part was the cockpit. Rich removed all the tools and storage boxes and put the cute wheel back on. Then he vacuumed all the dirt, sawdust, chips of wood and fiberglass out from under the grates. Then we scrubbed it with a brush and hosed it off. Not only does it look cleaner, the teak looks brighter and it feels cleaner. It makes me wonder how much dirt we’ve been carrying around on our clothes and bodies just from sitting in the cockpit.
After the grand tour of the boat, which took all of 5 minutes, we rode bikes down to the garden to check out the chickens and pick vegetables. Then it was back to the boat and into the dinghy for a ride to Moore’s Riverboat Marina restaurant for lunch. It’s about 4 miles away and takes about 20 minutes in the dinghy with just Rich and me. The dinghy will hold 1,200 pounds minus 100 pounds for the motor, so 1,100 pounds of people/gear. The six of us probably topped out at about 850-900 pounds. There was plenty of room in the dinghy but it was slow going. We maxed out at 5.5 knots and made it to the restaurant in 43 minutes. As we were nearing the mouth of the slough, a huge container ship was sliding past on its way to the Port of Stockton. It’s always neat to see those ships, especially when you’re in a tiny inflatable dinghy.
The kids were bored at first, then they figured out they could lean over the bow and grab hyacinth, weeds, and general flotsam as it floated by. Rich made a game of it by steering the dinghy so the weeds were just of reach. After lunch we headed back to the marina, but the wind had kicked up and it was a little choppy and we all got wet. Once back at the boat, the kids fished for a while; then they loaded up and drove home. It was a nice mellow day.
Sunday we decided to do laundry and grocery shopping and pretty much wasted the afternoon relaxing and reading. I thought about sanding the teak, but I really didn’t want to get sanding dust all over everything since we just cleaned. At least that’s what I told myself as I lazed around in the cockpit all day.
the work will always be there, at least that is my mantra. And then yesterday you had to go to breakfast with your mom and dad so that did that day in…I loved it.