And on the 7th day he rested… or should have done

Sun 25 Apr, HHN day 12: Low productivity as I am suffering from allergies. And went out to dinner for first time in months.

A terrible night, but rescued by my on-line Bunny-nurse in Bucharest, who led me directly to our antihistamine pill supply at 4am. Even after a year off the boat, Oana not only remembers what we have on board but also exactly where it is! 20 minutes later I can breathe again, no more sneezing or skin itching, and I go back to bed. The pill also knocks me out and when I finally wake at 10am I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus. This sets the scene for a pretty hopeless day productivity wise.

After my 2nd cup of coffee, I finally push myself outside to get going. I decide to try to finish the genoa motor today. The epoxy on the top of the housing has hardened enough to wet-and-dry smooth, so that is a gentle first job, done in the galley sink. But once smooth, while the pitting is now full of epoxy, the rest is bare alloy and needs some kind of protection against corrosion.
Ideally, I should paint with some Zinc Chromate aluminum primer. But I don’t have any. I’m certain the local hardware store won’t have either. So, this leads me to some time on the PC, ordering primer from Amazon. And while I’m at it, a bunch of other stuff that has been building up in our shopping cart… One $16 can of spray paint triggers a total order value of $450! Oh, the dangers of online shopping.
And then after another coffee’s worth of contemplation, I decide I cannot wait the 4 days for the primer to arrive and decide to instead add another layer of epoxy to the housing top, to get a good seal over the bare metal. If I manage not to sand it all off this time, it will likely give similar corrosion protection as a primer would have. And don’t worry, the Zinc Chromate won’t go to waste, I need it on various other parts of the mast/boom.

Given I will no longer get to finish the genoa motor today, I decide it’s time for a tidy up on the aft deck. (do you see a trend here? …. yes, I am indeed aimlessly wandering today!).
Once it is tidy, I start thinking about the mast head project. Ray has cut me out a mast cap out of high-density fiber board, to stop all the rain going down the mast center, but I need to make a couple of modifications to accommodate it.

And maintaining my contemplating mode, I also start to think about how I can make a special tool to undo the main nut on the aquadrive thrust bearing, so I can get into it to service. There is a special tool that can be purchased, but at $500- and 10-weeks delivery estimate, I’ll be making my own tool thank you.
My first attempt failed, ending in bent pieces of metal, so the next version needs to be much stronger. I am just getting into grinding a new design out of a solid chunk of Aluminum when I realise it’s time to get ready for dinner.

Jay and Dale have invited me out this evening. I met them last year, just as they were about to purchase their first Hallberg-Rassy, an HR53 from 1995. Dinner is at the Dockside bar next to the marina, and it actually feels weird being in a restaurant again. We sit outside in the relative warm evening and there is even a band playing. It all feels very civilized for a change. Is this how we used to live, pre-Covid? Hard to remember.
We have a nice meal and of course conversation is ALL about boats or more precisely Hallberg-Rassy. It seems they have quite a lot of work on theirs before it’s up to their standard. Then they plan to retire and head for the oceans, which they are very enthusiastic about.

My apres dinner evening is quiet. I really don’t have the energy to start anything else. Certainly an early night for this Captain. Let’s hope energy and mojo both return tomorrow.