One project begets another .. and so on.
Last Friday, Russ Shurtz (boat yard) came down to my slip with his little rubber mallet to investigate a soft spot I found in the fore deck when I was in Baltimore (caveat: you know you're dying, when the doctor comes to your house)! He tapped here and there and told me it would be about five thousand dollars and in the shop for almost three weeks. Ahhh...not too bad.
Well, yesterday he called me on the phone and said "you need to come down here, 'cause I don't want to tell you this over the phone". AAAUUUGGGHHH! The entire fore deck is mush, the side decks are saturated, and now the projected bill is up around twenty thousand dollars (did you want to keep this boat or sell it?). It seems God doesn't want me to live in a house - at least not a big one!
I drove around for a few hours contemplating my next boat and how I was going to bandaid this one so some other bloke would have to mess with the deck problems. I ran up on two issues: first, I'm way too honorable to pawn my problems off on some unsuspecting buyer; and second ... I'm keeping the boat. Pegasus and I have been through far too much to consider putting her on the market in this condition. I DID conclude she'll have to move to a warmer, dry climate, so I'll be taking her back to Mexico some time in the future.
Joe y and I have taken up semi-permanent residence in the local Motel 6, while the boat is being worked on, and I have been invited to offset much of the $85/hour labor with my own sweat and tools. According to Russ, I'm working faster and more efficiently than some of his guys and just one day into the project, have cut the project time and costs significantly.
The weather was crisp, clear and cold today. Though I often curse the cold, when I look up the bay and see the snow-covered Olympic mountains framed by dark forests and clear, clean water, I remember why I like it here.
I'll post pics of the deck work, as it progresses - so you all can see the pain I'm going through!
Aloha!
Sam
