Maintenance and little dreaming

by Chuck August 4, 2002

After a long day at work I needed to spend some time relaxing, so I grabbed the portable radio, my West Marine catalog, and a Diet Pepsi and headed out to the boat for some sailboat therapy.

I tried tuning in the local classical station, but they were playing something with way too many violins, so I switched to the jazz station, popped the top on the Pepsi, and started to putter.

One of the first things Dana bought me for the boat was a little whisk broom and a dust pan. I used it to clean up the pine needles that had migrated into the cabin, and pick up a few Fruit Loops that had snuck out of the kid's treat bags and under the seat cushions. That only took a couple minutes, so I swept the pine needles out of the cockpit too. There is always a little condensation in the runner trough for the sliding galley, so I toweled that out.

20 minutes or so, and the clean up work was done.

I stretched out on the port cabin seat and pulled out the West Marine catalog. I want to put "yachty" cabin lights in, instead of the cheap RV-style lights that were one of the first things I pulled out of the cabin when the boat came home.

The first time I told Dana that, Katie asked "What does 'yachty' mean?"

"Expensive." Dana is quick.

There are a few surface mount lights I think would look great. I'd like to get aimable halogen lights to make the most use of the electricity they take. I also want to get one candle or oil light to hang on the forward bulkhead when I put it back in. I'm a romantic, and I don't think there is anything more soothing than the light of a candle on a boat at night. (Yes, I know it's an open flame. People used them for years before electricity.)

Joe came out to help me hang out on the boat. He sat, mostly quietly, and looked at the catalog with me. He had a few questions, but surprisingly few given how talkative he normally is.

After half an hour or so, it started to get too dark to read comfortably, so Joe and I closed the cabin up and headed inside. No water, but Joe and I got a few quiet minutes together anyway.

Tags:

Sailing

Comments are closed
Log in