Not Entirely Idle

Holy smokes! Three weeks since an update. Almost the whole month of July. Egads! But I haven't been entirely idle. Let's see:

• No recoring. Excuses? It's been raining or bloody hot. Tarping and re-tarping , as I've said before is a royal pain. At least build a semi-permanent shelter if you do something like this. I balked at that initially because I was worried about neighbors. Heh. Turns out, they get to look at my blue tarp and staging all Summer now.
• Chain Plates. I finally got the rear chainplate off by breaking the lone stripped bolt and nut that was holding it on. It wasn't too difficult really, the brass was all corroded and compromised anyway. Then, I brought the chainplates in to Gowen Marine after I called them to find someone who could fabricate one or two for me and inspect the others. The ones from the side decks were pronounced "solid" and perfectly good, and the mids from each side were straightened. I couldn't determine if they were supposed to be bent or not, and both were bent at different angles, so I had them straightened. A new rear chainplate was fabricated from 316 stainless and is no longer the weak link back there! The old one had been bent and otherwise deformed and was scary. The transom will rip off before this puppy gives way!
• Sanding coamings. More of the same. It seems endless. I'm not happy with the way the rotted section is looking. Also, I'm thinking I may need some type of "cleaner" to bleach the wood and make them look more uniform. I'm concerned all the imperfections will only be highlighted by the varnishing.
• Tops in Quality. OK, gripe time. I've been emailing back and forth for around three months ow, no hurry, really. I'd take measurements and email them, and the rep would ask for another measurement that wasn't on their web page. Finally, I asked if he could email me whatever measuring guides he had so I could look at the whole thing already. He did. Two pages. One was basically an updated page from the web site. The other started on I'm guessing the second page of some other document, because the first item was numbered 6. Anyway, I measured everything and remeasured again and sent an email on Monday, 07.17.06, which said, "I'd like to place my order, here are the measurements, was else do you need?" No reply. So on the 19th, I emailed him to see if he had recieved my order. He said he was just looking at it, but didn't see two measurements that I had mentioned in the email. So, I copied them from the email I had sent, and said, "Do you mean these? If not, tell me what else you need." No reply. I figured, maybe he's busy. I don't want to be too annoying, etc. Then, finally, I emailed on Monday, the 24th. I got a reply from someone else that said he was on vacation and wouldn't be back until Monday the 31st! I asked this person if it had been ordered, she said "no" since he didn't get my credit card info... Grrrr. Nice. Guess I'll wait until next Monday, two weeks after I tried to place my order - and they're at least four weeks out, I was told. (Which to me, sounds like at least six weeks now the way they operate.) But hey, what's 2 weeks anyway, it's not like it's holding me up or keeping me from going in the water or anything. But it sure doesn't build any confidence in these jokers either. I wish I had an alternative.
• Stanchions. Now it's "nice story" time. I was hoping for a used stern pulpit and couple of gated stanchions to complete the safety lines when the deck is all put back together. So, I posted a "pushpit and stanchions wanted" notice on the 2 forums. A very nice fellow Ariel Forum from Rhode Island followed up and offered to check his local consignment shops. No luck on the stern rail, but when I asked about stanchions, he said he had found a couple that might work. Low and behold, they showed up in the mail! They are not an exact match, but close enough, considering a gated stanchion at TiQ started at $175! I asked how much and he said "Consider it a boat warming gift." I'm truly blown away and very touched by such a generous and nice gesture. A whole-hearted "thanks" Bill, and drinks are on me when we meet - not that you'll ever read this. :)