Does the prep work never end?

July 31, 2017

I will admit to being frustrated. More than a tad frustrated. This weekend was a rainy weekend on Friday and Saturday. Monsoon rains. Saturday late afternoon there was a tiny break, so we jumped in the truck to go check on our YellowBird (mainly to ensure the tarps kept the flybridge deck dry). We could not get to her because the road was blocked due to a tree and power line being down.

We subsequently learned of a back way to get to the boatyard which we will know for the future! So no work done at all on Saturday. (Although we did make a trip to Home Depot to get a belt sander and some random supplies).

Sunday we headed back to Jennings prepared for a day of work. It was nice and cool, so we determined we would NOT pack a cooler of snacks and drinks. We do keep some snacks on the YB. For some reason, everytime we do not pack a lunch, we want one! Note to self: ALWAYS pack a cooler.

So armed with energy and good intentions, we uncovered her and found the some of the flybridge decking had gotten wet (mainly section #2) so we left her open to dry out. 

Then we turned our attention to the cockpit bulkhead. Shawn cut pieces of wood to replace the rotten wood we had taken out when we redid the door way.  He then left to work for a bit leaving me to sand and prep the cockpit bulkhead for painting. I also sealed the wood he cut with epoxy to ensure it would not rot. 

When Shawn returned, he installed the wood while I prepped the flybridge for painting. I filled holes with some sort of marine filler and then wet sanded the entire flybridge with 220 grit wet/dry paper. I then "roughed" the flybridge with a red scruffy thing Shawn gave me. It worked better than the wet/dry because I could get it into all the nooks and crannies.

And that took from 9 until 4! Unbelievable! Soon frustrating because when you look at her, she looks no different even though we spent a whole day on her. *sigh* 

As August approaches and the school year resumes, I am just so disheartened. We have worked steadily on her TOGETHER, BOTH OF US all summer long. I do not mind the work and I have learned so much and there is this wonderful sense of accomplishment when I look at what we did that day...and yet.... she is not ready.