6:30 PM. Total darkness outside. The sun set an hour ago.
GANNET has refrigeration. Naturally. 35º last night. My morning orange juice was nicely chilled, as is the Plymouth gin presently beside me.
Yesterday at Walmart I saw gloves that claimed to be useable with touch screens. They only cost $14 and were warm enough, so I bought them. This morning to my surprise I discovered that they do work with touch screens, so with sleeping bag as lap robe, my heaviest Polartec, and gloves, I was reasonably comfortable.
This afternoon saw temperatures in the high 40sF/8C. The label on the can of Interdeck gives drying times down to 40ºF/4.4C, so I painted the areas between the Raptor non-skid pads. While the total area is not great, curves and edges slowed me and it took two hours instead of the one I anticipated. Naturally after I cleaned up, I noticed spots I missed. I will paint them tomorrow.
What cannot go on is the chaos inside GANNET, and now that I’ve painted the deck, it won’t more than another day or two.
Long time readers know that the little boat’s interior has two modes: harbor and passage. In harbor I sleep on the v-berth. In passage waterproof and duffle and trash bags live on the v-berth and I sleep on a pipe berth.
At present the interior is in between. I can’t stow everything until after painting the deck and oiling the interior wood because the paint and Deks Olje cans are stowed beneath the v-berth and unreachable once bags are on top, Deck painted, I’ll oil the wood tomorrow and soon go to passage mode and get everything organized.
GANNET’s interior is showing the wear of 25,000 miles, many of which saw water below deck. When I can I will remove everything and repaint the interior, which hasn’t been done since just after I bought the little boat now almost eight years ago, I am considering painted the interior wood white, which would make the interior brighter, If I do, I will need a power sander to remove the Deks Olje. I have a voyage to compete first,
I still have a few things to be delivered, including the replacement, replacement halyard shackle and protein powder, but I only need one more bike trip to a supermarket to complete provisioning. The remaining things on the list are beer, chocolate, dried fruit. I already have some dried fruit, but would like to get dates and figs.
We may have rain tomorrow and likely will on Sunday.
GANNET will be ready to sail by Tuesday at the latest. I will then be looking for a favorable GRIB.
