“Did you do any thru-hull work,” the travel lift operator called, sitting patiently at the controls of the travel lift.
“Uh, yeah. A lot,” was Randall’s answer as we scrambled below.
“I’ll give you a few minutes,” he said to our backs.
Thank goodness. I hate to ask Randall to commandeer the travel lift. Lift operators are always so possessive about the control seat.
We proceeded to check about 20+ holes in the bottom of the boat. 5 for the engine exhaust. 6 for the raw water intake. 2 for the zinc. 10 newly bedded keel bolts. 4 on the propeller strut and 4 on the rudder shaft. Then, of course, the new seacocks and rebedded sink drains. Most of them are the size of the mounting screws but the through-hulls are 2 inches in diameter. Each one had been carefully coated (just enough but not too much, per Randall’s instructions) with marine adhesive 5200. Randall can run a bead of 5200 like cake icing. Mine looks like someone fell into a nicely-iced cake, flailed around trying to find firm footing, decided to roll out of the thing and then decided that butter, sugar and vanilla was a excellent place to encamp for a while. Remember when Farrah Fawcett used her nude body to apply paint on canvas and sold the results at an art show? That’s sort of how my 5200 application process works but, of course, I wear clothes since 5200 is highly irritating to the skin. I would do the application nude if I weren’t working with a toxic chemical. I wish I could say I looked like Farrah at this effort and laughed all the way to the bank. In fact, I think the makers of 5200 laugh all the way to the bank. You see, 5200 is worth its weight in gold. We have determined that the pricing of 5200 is directly tied to gold’s explosive rise. Randall comes to take a look at my work and shakes his head. That doesn’t come out you know, he says, assessing the carpet and walls. And it costs $30/tube, he adds. I know. I know. But 5200 is worth it weight in gold and we should display it, like art, I explain.
All in all, a leakless day on a boat is a good one. We made the 15-minute trip to the St. Petersburg City Marina in 15 minutes. I know. Unbelievable. The Salvador Dali museum is in our backyard, here, so we can compare our art with real Art. I think I got a little 5200 on the clock too so I guess I’ll call it “Study of Melting Clock.”
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