Holes in the boat

3/31/12 - Grand Marina, Alameda, CA

Today I drilled some holes is the boat.  For some reason this is always hard for me to do.  It seems so permanent.  You can't undo a hole one you've drilled it.  So you better make it right the first time.  I have to mentally prepare myself for these type of activities.  I'm a planned by nature, but when it comes to drilling permanent holes in the boat, I almost plan myself into inaction.  Just like today, I measured 6 times to make sure everything is centered and looking good.  (Trying to level something is somewhat futile on a boat, especially one that lists ever so slightly to port) I mock up the fit with tape to check it out...and then when I'm confident everything is perfect... I drill.  Still it never seems to turn out the way I expect it to.  Just a little off, not quite perfect.  And then I remember that it's a boat, and nothing is quite perfect, and I go on with life. 



Where are these holes?

Today's mission was to install a couple of pad-eyes in the cockpit.  These are so we can clip our tethers to them and reduce our chances of being lost at sea on a cold dark and lonely night.  The last part might be a bit embellished, but the point is to stay connected to the boat no matter what, and better yet, to let the person who's not on deck know that the person on deck is safe so they can relax down below.  Anyway these little things involved drilling some holes in the boat and that scared me.  I finally got over my fear and started drilling.  It went just fine, except that the bolts I bought were too short.  We'll remedy that tomorrow at the local WM.  (FYI any C34 owners who do this, the bolts under the companionway need to be 2.5" long to get the nuts, washers and acorn nut on)  The story of a boat project.   On the upside, I wandered into our local marine consignment shop, The Blue Pelican, and all of the misc. nuts and bolts hardware had a "FREE" sign taped to them.  I took them up on the offer and found almost all of the hardware I needed.  Very nice.


Who knew something so small could be so scary?

Ellie "helping out"

Makes for a pretty exciting day if you ask me!