I took last week off of regular work to work on the boat. It was relaxing and productive. With the intermittent help of a friend, one of our sons and my wife, we were able to strip all the varnish off the exterior of Sundown and start sanding. As we made progress, I recalled the little things about boat work that I love.
I love the blended fragrance of teak dust and Thiokol (a rubber sealant used to seal decks in boat construction). To me, it smells like a combination of sandalwood incense burning in a tire shop, suntan lotion and cooking caramel–much like I imagine a surf-board laden woody station wagon at the beach on a hot summer day smells. Even the sickly sweet smell of polyester resin has a certain attraction, even though I know it’s potentially harmful to inhale on a regular basis. And yes, I did inhale.
I also love the time I get to work together with my wife. I like the detail she puts into every thing she does. It also is fun to have a hot chick on the job. Now if I could just get her to wear that uniform!
An aspect of boat work I find relaxing is the dynamics of it. I can be sanding one minute and polishing bronze the next. I have worked with epoxy, Sikaflex sealant, buffing wheels, sanders, grinders, wire cutters, wire terminal crimpers, acetone, varnish, naptha, brake cleaner, polyester resin, paint, sand blasters, chisels, scrapers and other assorted hand tools….and that was just in one day.
One important detail I had forgotten, though, is there’s a delicate balance between electrical supply and equipment demand. How many amps does that heat gun draw? How many amp hours will I need to run it with a 30 amp charger? The answer to that question still is not completely known to me, although I did learn that a 30 amp charger cannot keep up with the draw of a 3,000 watt inverter running a heat gun powered by a Harbor Freight 800 watt generator. Even with all of the delicate calculations I cleverly came up with, the solution was to plug in the battery charger. Lesson learned: “cover the basics.”
Also remember to enjoy the rewards of your labors and the sweet smell of your success.
-cmy
Sundown Sailing Adventures 
We love to hear your accomplishments on Sundown, it feels like we are there with you and watching. You and Kim work great together like George and I when we did our kitchen. Hats off to you both!!
Thanks, Ter! Glad you’re following! We do have fun working together and you’re my role model, so go figure…
You gotta do some math occasionally when working with electrical thingamajigs!
What we need is our amp-building, guitar playing expert on board to help!