Not Knowing Is Not Failure. It Is The First Step To Understanding.

Day 5, June 2, 2019. 

Can't believe it's only the fifth day since we left Ottawa! It honestly feels like a month has passed.

Today was a day of firsts. We did some work on the boat that we have never done before. 

It's nerve-wracking to take the first step in whatever job you're trying to tackle. 

Thoughts running through my mind: Am I doing the correct thing? I don't want to screw this up. Do I have the right tool for this job? What if I make a mistake and it can't be corrected? Hmmm ok I guess I'll just go for it and see?

Aila wrote out a great little saying from school and brought it home a few weeks ago: "Not knowing is not failure. It is the first step to understanding."

How very fitting for today!

My first job today was to start scraping the hull. It wasn't too hard but you had to use quite a lot of muscle to really get the paint to come off. After 30 minutes and my arms and shoulders were already aching.

I tried a test section with the paint stripper and it was significantly easier.

It's better to use the paint stripper in the sun when it's not raining so I will continue doing that on the next sunny day, likely Tuesday according to the forecast.

It rained pretty steadily for most of the day. So onto some indoor jobs.

Based on our cruising coach's recommendation, we wanted to take out the chainplates so that we can better inspect them in case we need to replace them.  

Chainplates are what hold the rigging in place. And sometimes they can be rusty behind the bolt themselves, so you need to inspect them carefully.

There are chainplates on either side of the boat, left (port) and right (starboard) and also one in front (bow) and one in the back (aft). Chainplates are bolted on to a piece of wood to act as an 'anchor' so they stay solid and strong. Faulty chainplates are bad news.

Unfortunately the portside piece of wood is fairly rotten, likely from decades of rain and moisture seeping in. It will need replacing for sure.

To get these bolts and  chainplates off is no easy task. They are typically hiding behind some bulkhead (shelf/cupboard) and awkward to get to.

So our salon looks like all our tools had a massive rave party. 🤪 Tools and more tools everywhere!

We are getting good at moving very slowly and deliberately around the boat. Every single movement you must be careful not to step on something important or sharp. 

Even more important, you must not step or bump into something that might cause a domino effect where tools and equipment could go tumbling down into the bilge.

Also with all the rain that was coming down today, it gave us a chance to see which porthole (window) leaked. Unfortunately for us, there is a slight leak in our aft cabin's hatch (window, but bigger than a porthole). 

Now we have a piece of foam draped from the ceiling to catch any drops throughout the night. 

It was another productive day and we worked well together.

We found a fabulous radio station that blasted all the best tunes from the 80s and 90s... Great music to get us dancing and singing while we toil away.

Dinner was canned seafood chowder and instant noodles. Served in mugs, fancy style. We ate in the cockpit under our bimini enclosure which we put up this afternoon. Now we have a space outside to sit and relax too!

After dinner, we continued to take out the remaining chain plate bolts. Not easy when you can't see what you're actually doing and you have to contort your body and neck to actually get access to these bolts.  

We finished the day by washing our dishes and pots in the marina bathroom. 

Now watching the last of the Raptors game and ready to collapse into bed. 

My body aches from all the lifting and moving of boxes, scraping, going up and down the ladder, and just general use of muscle groups that I never regularly use! Who needs the gym anyway ?!

Tomorrow, more of the same. Except it will be canned beef stew for dinner since that's all we have left. 😋

Ain't that the truth today!

Waking up to a foam sheet diverting rainwater from my head.

So many hidden storage places. The key is to remember where everything is afterwards! 

Tools anyone?

Taking off the chainplates.

Head in the mast head hole.

Rotten wood. So soft the knife went through easily!

The bolt is off!

Whoaaa!!! Not Good :(

At least a couple of dozen times each day we climb up and down this ladder.

Looking down the ladder off the boat.

Let there be hot water!

Let there be coffee! Thanks Jillian Moon for the ⛵ mug. And that's the cover for
the French press that Aila made on her loom! 😍

Opening the top-loading fridge.

We discovered some pretty cool lights in our galley. 
All LEDs, they give some cool ambiance!

Fixing the Bimini enclosure.

Looking towards the front from the back.

Rainy view out of the cockpit. That big orange bag is our life raft.

Full Bimini and dodger enclosure in our cockpit. Great to be able to sit outside and not get wet.

Ready to scrape the hull!

About 45 minutes worth of scraping. Sooooo much more to do!