All Work and No Play...

I haven't talked about boat chores in awhile...well other than the Franken-mattress. You might think if I don't mention boat chores, there are none. Au contraire! We (that's the royal “we”) have been quite busy primarily in the area of portlights, portholes and screens. David reminded me that the definition of cruising is not just “fixing your boat in exotic places”, it's refitting it in exotic places, too. Here is a typical scenario on Nine of Cups. We were noticing that the portlights were becoming crazed and they needed replacing. David found a good deal in Hobart for 1 /4” (6mm) acrylic and bought what he needed to replace all four portlights.

As he was replacing them, he complained that the portholes were especially stained and cloudy looking. And they really were, now that I looked at them more closely. Perhaps, as long as he was replacing portlights, he'd replace the portholes, too. There are 12 portholes...a bit more of a project.

When he started replacing the porthole acrylic, he really hated the look of the bronze frames in which they were mounted. They were all verdigrised and corroded. It just seemed like the right time to clean those up, too. He bought some hydrochloric acid (known here as spirits of salts) and set to work taking them apart, soaking, cleaning and polishing them.

Some of the screws were so corroded, they broke off and needed to be drilled out and replaced. And you'll never guess what next? The screens seemed to be in bad shape, too. We'd already seen a mozzie or two. Well, let's replace the screens and clean up those bronze frames, too. You get the picture. I might add, these chores were NOT on any list. Not the A list, nor the B list ... not even the C list.

You can see how easy it is to get bogged down with tasks and have no fun at all. Ah, but that's where I come in. I take my role as the Nine of Cups official social coordinator very seriously. Hence, the reason we can blog about botanical gardens, wildlife sanctuaries and Bruny Island as well as new mattresses, haul-outs, repaired dodgers and new portlights.

All work and no play make David a dull boy ... and Marcie a grumpy first mate. If I had my way, we'd be traveling and playing all the time and if David had his way, he'd be immersed in boat projects all the time. Thank heavens for compromise.