Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Skull Creek: less; the longest night



        Some of you will recall my quoting Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the early French aviator and writer, that perfection in airplane design is achieved not when there is nothing more you can add, but when there is nothing more you can remove.  Obviously I believe the same is true of boats.  And writing.
        So today I removed two small sheet tracks on either side of the mast.  They were on GANNET when I bought her and I kept thinking that someday I might use them, but not having done so now for seven years and more than 25,000 miles, it became obvious I never will. 
        I wanted to get them off before new non-skid decking arrives later this week.  It is made by a company in Seattle called Raptor and is said to be similar to Treadmaster, but less harsh.  I have Treadmaster on the cockpit sole.  It is excellent non-skid, but very hard on skin.
        I learned of Raptor in the Yahoo Moore Owner’s group.
        Their website does not seem to be fully up to date and the sheets I am receiving are not shown there.  They did send me a sample before I placed my order.
        I have become tired of having to repaint the deck with Interdeck every year or so.
        I filled the bolt holes, five for each track, with Dr. Sails self-mixing epoxy.  It is expensive, but very good, and I didn’t have a container to mix standard epoxy.
        In an orgy of ambition, I also re-glued the velcro for the screens around the hatches.  For this I used another effective adhesive, Gorilla Super Glue.
        And finally I went on deck and polished the metal.
        I have still to oil the interior and re-bed the main traveler.
        The interior needs repainting.  That might happen, but not right now.
        And on the list is the eternal:  look for leak near the bow.  That is a gesture.  I have been looking for years and don’t really expect I will ever find it.  It is not serious.  It is a mystery.

————

        Steve Earley’s entry today, “a perfect day, the longest night” is classic.  It might be subtitled:  you do what you have to do, and could only be written by a really good sailor in a really small boat.
        Outstanding.  
        And if you go to the entry you will have the added bonus of getting to view the great lead photo, which I posted here, again.