Tuesday 20 Oct, HHN, boat winterizing day 20: And today … something completely different, with a pinch of cheekiness.
For all those bored out of their minds with hydraulics, you can relax. I had intended to press on with them today, but after getting back from food foraging this morning I found that Karen (owner of Red Sky Detailing) had kindly dropped off her carpet vac. This leads to a sudden change of plan. It will be all hands on deck to clean the carpets today …. well, my 2 hands at least.
It’s a beautiful day for it. Mid 20s (70s for Americans) and bright sunshine. But first, I have to locate the carpets. There is so much stuff covering them, almost can’t see them! 30 minutes later, and a lot of grunting about my untidiness, the seats and berths are now covered in ”the stuff” and the carpets are thrown overboard ready for the operation.
But where to do it? The yard’s gravel is pretty clean but also very bumpy. I try one carpet but its no good, the underlying surface is just to uneven. I need a flat surface. There is nothing around and I have no vehicle to lumber it all to the nearest concrete. Plus I will also need electric plug-in and water. Flat surface? Flat surface? Where to find one?
Then an idea pops to mind. I really shouldn’t confess this because it really doesn’t look good on me … I’m eyeing up the nice flat and large foredeck of the neighboring boat! Normally, I would not consider going on someone else’s boat. But I convince myself this one is special. It recently sunk in the river and is now under a big insurance debate. Outside it still looks like a gleaming plush motor yacht. But inside there is water damage everywhere. So I summise: considering no one really owns it now, neither owner nor insurance, surely there is no harm to borrow the foredeck for the day. Decision made. And it had better be worth it, because it’s a huge effort to lug the carpets and cleaner up there. First thing, I clean the deck. It’s pretty grimy and it also helps to ease my guilt – I get to use their deck, they in turn get it cleaned. Win-win, I’d say.
This deck really is the perfect place. But I do keep one eye and ear out for incoming vehicles. But fact is, senior yard staff rarely visit this corner, and I’ve never seen anyone attending this boat.
At first, I try with the carpet vac. But with 3 ½ years of dirt, since we last wet cleaned the carpets, I don’t feel the vac is really doing much. So I revert to the way our grandmothers would clean rugs. On hands and knees, with a scrubbing brush and lots of soapy water. It’s harder work like this, and the carpets get much wetter, but the result is clearly better. When I rinse off with the hose jet, the run-off water is really dirty.
Each carpet then gets left draining over the lifelines while I start on the next. We have 3 fitted carpets (aft cabin, saloon and forward cabin) plus several rugs. The cleaning takes me most of the day, and by 5pm I am exhausted, but pleased with the way they have cleaned up, as they sit in the sun draped across the mast.
Next job, is to get the floors cleaned, ready for the carpets to go back in. A few more hours doing that and it’s mid evening. I bring all the carpets on deck and put the saloon carpet back down. It’s still damp, but the dehumidifier should dry it out overnight. I’ll refit the rest tomorrow. And tomorrow I may even push-the-boat-out (not literally) and wet vac the seats in the saloon, nav station and aft cabin. It will be nice to return to the boat knowing all upholstery is clean and spartan.
In the evening I get good news. The new sails have cleared customs in New Jersey, and will be shipped to me as soon as I pay the agent’s invoice. However, when I first read the agent’s email I nearly have a heart attack. It reads: “…please find attached our invoice plus 7512 for duty to be paid. $7512!!!! What??? This is more than the Swedish VAT I saved. I was very clear with the agent NOT to clear customs if the duty was more than 2% of CIF. I’m both confused and furious.
Then the penny drops. The agent was in fact referring to the customs form No. 7510… she made a typo, and I’d assumed her written figure was the duty to be paid in US$. On closer read of the customs form, duty was assessed to be precisely $0. Literally duty FREE! Amazing eh? I don’t even get to pay Maryland State tax of 5%. It doesn’t seem right, but I’m certainly not going to stand up and complain .
Love it when a plan comes together. No Swedish VAT, plus a 25% discount for ordering more than 2 sails. These sails would have cost 40% more if we had been in Europe. The only slight ripple is the agent invoice for services amounting to $860, which seems a bit steep to say the least. But in the big picture …
As I head to bed, I’m sure I will sleep like a baby! A happy baby about to receive something very nice.