I'm So Bad!

Sorry guys I removed this post, things were said that perhaps shouldn't have been said. So it was better to remove it...

All You Can Eat and More!

Everywhere I turn I see more work needing to be done, I'm starting to feel completely overwhelmed. My list of jobs seems to have become a living thing that's breeding baby jobs which are growing before my eyes into bigger and bigger adult jobs. This morning at 5:30am I tackled a new job "delivered" yesterday! While taping around the toe rail our helper Terry used duck tape as he ran out of masking tape… Word of warning here "NEVER USE DUCK TAPE IF YOU INTEND TO REMOVE IT IN YOUR LIFETIME" I'm now left with the nastiest sticky residue that all the sanding dust has glued itself too, in the most permanent "never to be removed" fashion. Desperately searching the Internet for ways to remove the said residue, also proved quite useless. I tried in vain with different solutions, I also used denatured alcohol, that's usually quite good at removing that sort of sticky mess, but that was about as easy as pulling a car up a hill backwards. It took me 20 minutes to clean just 12 inches, and I have about 80 feet to do, "not in this heat!" So, as I sit here drinking my coffee and eating toast and messing around on the computer for a few minutes I decided I would do something else today. It's only 8am and it's already swelteringly hot, there is little to no breeze, so I'm happy for my little sheltered area on the floating dock, where I'll be in residence all day sanding all the galley floor sections.

My little work shop, providing me with some welcome shade.

Happier Times, I need to remind myself of them frequently while I battle the heat and the dust and the bloody duck tape residue, ARGHHHHHHHH… OH and just in case I'm not having enough fun... A little bee decided to sting me while I'm sitting here and that hurts like the devil. The razor toothed, invisible insects are also all out in force today, with no breeze to keep them away they're all busy excitedly arranging for an all you can eat buffet on the Daisy boat, with me as the main ingredient… OH yummy I'm in for a fun day! Don't you just wish you were me?

Heaven on Earth :o)

Sadly, it's not where we are right now. Despite the beautiful surroundings, lovely weather and friendly people, we still find ourselves up to our necks with the ever increasing list of jobs. Poor Captain Bob is becoming quite overwhelmed. It's not even as though the jobs he's doing are going well, each job started leads to another problem. The problem leads to a need for parts or equipment that we don't have and almost have to sell our souls to be able to afford if its possible. The boat parts suppliers all seem to be professional rip off artists; a part that probably costs $5, can be as much as several hundred, and then there's the shipping and the customs, not to mention the time spent in locating the parts and waiting for delivery. I swear you need the patience of a saint to work on a boat. On top of all the problems we're trying to deal with right now, we're also fast running out of time. Before Bob can leave here for Antigua (for the start of the World Rally) he has an enormous list of jobs that really must be completed before moving Daisy to the boatyard to have her hauled out and her bottom painted.

Bob only has 2 days left here before he leaves to go back to work in Europe and America, and he won't be returning until the end of November, and then he's coming home for a week for Christmas, so between now and the start of the Rally on January 6th, he has about 3 available weeks to do about 6 months work and no one to help him… Not a happy prospect, and one that is really beginning to tell on him, he's really feeling the pressure… I'm doing all I can but, sadly I'm not an engineer or a boat technician, I can't fix refrigeration, or replace pumps, or any of the other technical jobs he's trying to do, the toerail needs some major work to repair a crack before I can start the varnish, but we can't seem to find the right glue, or clamps to do the job, a trip into town costs us about 2 hours in time and $80 cab fare… So here we are "part" less, and out of time… My friend Lynn who flew out to stay with us this week, has pretty much had to entertain herself, fortunately this is a pretty nice place to be if you don't have work to do… So life aboard Crazy Daisy is pretty much living up to its name :o(

Broken Bits!

So this is how it goes, when working on a boat: You decide which job to start first, you get the tools out needed for the job, and set about deconstructing the 'said job' in preparation for the "repair"… You already have a time frame in mind for how long it will take to complete, anything from 10 minutes to an hour, but whatever you decide (or rather hope) it will be, you secretly know it will actually take much longer. To start with the 'said' thing won't come apart, when it finally does, after much bashing, teasing, cussing swearing and throwing of one's toys around, something breaks, or, as in the case of working on a boat, the said thing/part falls overboard into the ocean, lost to the fishes forever. This is followed by much more cussing, swearing, and toys continue to fly through the air. This small headache/disaster is then shortly followed by many frantic calls to whatever dealer, distributorship or supply store that can be located within a reachable distance from wherever we happen to be at the time. "OH yes" is their immediate response, "no problem, we can get that for you, but, OH wait, it has to be ordered from the mainland,and special shipped here, probably 5 or 6 weeks, and it's going to be X- hundred dollars, much more than you know it would be on the mainland, a $5 part can sell for $50- $100 in the islands). At which point we say 'OK" because we have no choice, as they well know. However, this is only the beginning of the sad saga of the shipped parts, because once the said part/parts arrives in whatever corner of the globe we happen to be currently marooned in, it's then held up by customs, because they also want their share of the pie. You then have to pay a "customs service charge" which is bizaar as they haven't provided a service, but you are helpless, so you pay up, and end up spending hundreds of dollars, hours and hours of wasted time, and much frustration all for a $5, 5 minute fix (anywhere else in the world)..

Fantastic!

Well scrub yesterdays post, no last coat of varnish on the galley doors for me! The work was not up to Captain Bob's standard, so I have to take all fittings off and re-sand and varnish every single door. Sometimes being married to a perfectionist is a bloody pain in the neck. And the amount of work ahead of me is so overwhelming my head is spinning, I'm going to have to be a miracle worker to get even half of it done, bearing in mind I have to meet the highest of standards… I'm so sick of the dusty mess we're living in, I've been eaten alive again by the invisible insects with jaws, my legs are covered in bloody scabs, and I itch all the time… crap, crap, crap… How I love boat life!!!

My Reason Why!

So, here are just a few of the reasons that I've not been posting on my blog this week...

Daisy deconstructed, working on Diesel engine, and generator, sanding and varnishing the salon table and every other wooden surface!

My collection of galley doors, and companionway step outside getting final coat of varnish...

Fitting new solar panels...

Entire toerail waiting for finishing touches before varnishing...

Navigation station, deconstructed… Living on a boat really is just maintenance in exotic places...