Anyway the rain abated for a few hours today so we took the chance and laminated some fibreglass replacing the wood rot in Kyle’s room and strengthened the port keel with six layers of glass at the aft end of the keel. If the weather holds out tomorrow then we will jack the starboard side of the boat up to allow the fibreglass dent on that side to pop back out and then add six layers of glass to the starboard keel which would pretty much make the keels bullet proof, hopefully. Lola and I had a few moments of disagreements today which is very unusual for us but I believe it to be the left hand right hand brain thing. She is left handed and I am right handed which seems like a small detail, however we seem to see things from exactly the opposite angle. Sometimes we will argue over a certain thing just to discover that we are saying the exact same thing from the opposite side. A simple example would be to draw a line, I use the one side of the ruler as a reference and she would use the other side. Another example, when I place a heavy object like a transformer oil welding machine or a battery in the back of a bakkie, I would use my right hand to pick it up and place it on the left hand side of the bakkie. A left handed person would however use their left hand to lift the object and place it on the right hand side making it difficult for me to remove it from the bakkie using my weak arm. If I twist a wire before I put it into a lug or chocolate block I would twist it clockwise. A left handed person would usually twist it anti-clockwise ensuring that I would first have to unwind it before I twist it up again if I have to replace the lug for any reason in the future. For this and many other reasons I despise working on anything after a left handed person has worked on it before. And at this point I am going to be brave and just say it, I am right, ha ha.
21 Nov. 11
Today we jacked up the one side of the boat with the help of a friend down here. We then repaired the dented in keel by adding seven layers of glass near the back end. Tomorrow we will grind inside the bilge and add another few layers from the inside. Tonight the wind is howling away making the boat shake and rock on the jacks, a little nerve racking but not to serious. Even if it falls off the jacks it doesn’t have far to go. It may however ruin the work we did today. Only a few more days before my son arrives for a long visit. I am very excited to see him.
25 Nov. 11
Yesterday we drove to King Shaka airport in Durban and collected my son. So last night was celebration time again. Today we go to Richards Bay airport to fetch Rauen our other son coming back from his week long visit in Johannesburg. The persistent rain and bad weather down here continues to hamper our progress and eats away at our morale. Every morning I wake up to the south westerly wind with the rain and I feel my spirit just seeping out the hatch. The rest of the day is then ruined as I sit glumly in the cockpit and wait for the sun that never arrives.
26 Nov. 11
We had proper sunshine this morning for the first time in weeks but only till twelve, then it rained again. Yesterday the sun glimpsed through the clouds for a few minutes so I decided to take a chance and mixed some epoxy with micro balloons to fair the last piece we repaired and to cover a leak in Kyle’s room. As I started on the leak the rain came bucketing down and I sat getting drenched trying to epoxy knowing that it shouldn’t cure because it will be wet. At that moment my morale sank to the lowest it has been in a while. I actually felt like breaking down and just sitting in the cockpit crying like a baby. But since I am a “real” man I didn’t.
28 Nov. 11
That epoxy cured in the rain so we were lucky this time. Kyle room is nearly finished, today we should fit his new plastic ceiling and then he can move back into his room. This should make the whole family happy because we get our saloon back and we no longer have blankets pillows and teddy bears all over the place. Yesterday we took Rauen to Jacks corner to celebrate his 15th birthday. He managed to devour an entire kilogram of ribs. It always surprises me how much this kid can eat and still be as skinny as an Ethiopian on diet.
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| The new dive platform is erected - bigger and better |
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| Filleting the dive platform in |
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| Dive platform looking good |
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