It's Already February -- And So Much Left To Do

Remember the rusty steel that held up the Harlem Yacht Club's dock discussed in a recent post?
Well below is the new steel, in place, ready for the planking, side rails, water and electrical to be reattached. Yes, that is ice in Eastchester Bay, lots of heavy ice; it's been cold here. But progress is being made at the Club house.
Meanwhile I put in four work days in January, about four hours each, and I'm dismayed at how much is left to be done. So far I have:
-- inventoried our zincs (ILENE uses four pieces of carefully shaped and placed sacrificial zinc, to be eroded by the seawater and electrolysis, thereby saving the propellor, shaft, weed cutter and inside of the refrigerator's condenser from being corroded away. And now we have several years supply of zincs.
-- obtained and assembled the connectors between the three elements of the bottom sanding contraption. This consists of (1) the new Fein 636 six inch random orbital sander, (2) the Dust Deputy which traps most of the ground up paint dust conveyed through it by a hose, and (3) our existing (since St. Martin) mini shop vac. So two hoses connect the three elements and each end of each of the hoses has to be fitted with connection pieces that I got at Home Depot. The shop vac sucks air through the eight holes in the bottom of the sanding pad which have to be lined up with the eight holes in the sandpaper that attaches to it by "hook and loop (velcro-like) technology, through the dust deputy that collects the dust and the remaining air is sucked through the shop vac. Also needed was an electrical splitter so I could connect both the sander and the shop vac to the one electrical line that reaches the boat. And they only sell the sandpaper disks in packages of 50!  Future tasks involve selecting, buying, paying for and applying the barrier coat paint and the bottom paint to complete this job, but this a long way off as seen below.
-- spent one day with the sanding contraption which works in collecting most of the dust, but I'm now figuring I will need another nine such dirty days to finish taking off the bottom paint. I could have worked longer on this first sanding day, it was warm enough, except my arms said NO!
-- and took apart the two heads to replace some parts and clean others. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with a techie at Groco, who made the heads. He was quite helpful but I may have to call him back when it is time to put the parts back together again. I certainly have a deeper understanding of how our marine heads work.
I also created a list of the projects to be done professionally by Precision Marine and met with them to discuss which of the projects actually need to be done. They will be back from Florida and start work early in March on engine, electrical, electronic, and plumbing jobs.
But not all of the winter is dirty drudgery and expensive. We actually had some fun days associated with boating too.
For two of them I baked my Almond Pear cakes with pear coulis (recipe available on request). The first such cake went to northern Westchester, to the home of Bruce and Linda who, with their son, Dr. Jason, and his parrot, made for a lovely evening. I started sailing with Bruce in 1991, my goodness, that's 23 years ago, long before I met Ilene! We raced on Wednesday nights on his boat and he taught me a lot.  More recently he went over to the dark side, left the Harlem and drives a Grand Banks trawler, J-ERICA. And the arrival of Whity and Alphie in our lives made it harder for us to get together with them in our home or our boat because Linda is seriously allergic to cat dander. But whenever we do get together, we still all have a great time.
The other cake went to the Harlem for International Night. This is perhaps my favorite party of the year -- in January, after the membership meeting, when the kitchen is closed. We open the bar, each bring a dish, have a pot luck dinner and raise a few bucks for the Club. We are a family but do not get to see each other too much in the winter.
Finally, we went to an Open House at the Club and (1) attended the first meeting to plan the 2014 Club Cruise, and (2) met a lovely couple, Phil and Sheri, who, I believe will become members. Phil has a business using a drone with a camera to take pictures of sailboats under way with sails drawing. I sure would like such a photo of ILENE, and this is a lot cheaper than hiring a pilot and airplane. Sherri is an attorney. They sail a 32 foot Catalina and keep it in a marina. I gave them a tour and tried to show how the Harlem will expand their pleasure of boating. But I think the key to their joining will be the bond that seemed spontaneously and immediately to spring to life between Lene and Sherri.
Now back to work.