Since it is now Spring let us move on with boat projects and other things that occupy our time. Like Boat Projects. That’s it and there doesn’t need to be anything else because Boat Projects are comprehensive and exhaustive of our time (and exhausting).
I mentioned how great our plastic-wrapped boat was over the winter. It was nice and cozy (for the most part), protective and beneficial (for the most part). Truly a boon to our icy selves. It was nice to sit in the cluttered cockpit while the sun peeked through the murky cloud-cover and feel the greenhousey warmth. When the outside air temp was 20 degrees F and the inside was 75 degrees F it was all good… However, when the outside air temp was 50 or 60 degrees f this made the inside of the boat 90 degrees or more. Not good. Bad, actually. Plus the plasticky smell was getting stronger and we couldn’t get much fresh air in and the deck was cluttered… So, one day, Peter took his trusty knife and sliced through the plastic.
The people who had put the plastic on our boat had offered to remove it and wax our hull. For a fee, of course. We decided that scheduling people to do something that we could do ourselves was silly. And, while we wouldn’t have attempted to put UP the plastic, it was simple to remove. Destruction is always easier than creation.
He cut it off the back then worked on the front. I took pictures and helped to make sure that all the plastic bits were accounted for and the straps were secured at one end. We wanted to make sure nothing got into the water. The Hudson has enough pollution without us adding to it.
Soon the front half was off and then began the messy job of cutting through the tape. As much as the wind and wet had caused it to fail in places over the past 4 months this stuff was tenacious! It was wrapped around our standing rigging, the mast, the tiny crane for the outboard… basically anywhere that was guaranteed to be difficult to get to.
Finally just the wooden structure was left – it had been put together by sadistic maniacs with torx screws. We didn’t have any torx drill bits. It was getting late. There was a little swearing.
Luckily our neighbors had just the right kind of bits which they let us borrow (not this neighbor, our starboard side neighbors – you can see their flag in the picture above). Thank goodness! Greg and Artie, you saved the day! Swearing averted, Peter undid the Torturous Torx and loaded the whole shebang into the dock cart (which you can also see in the above picture). It took many loads but, finally, all vestiges of plastic were gone. We stacked it carefully by the dumpster for recycling and I watched the dockhands cart it away the next morning. It will be turned into (and I’m guessing here) park benches or boardwalks. We were glad to be rid of it.
All-in-all it was quite an experience but we’ve decided no more plastic next year, ok?
Oh, and remember all the deck-work that we were going to do? Yeah…
Sailing Devilfish 