Arts and Crafts and Leaks!

There are many tasks on the boat that can be re-framed into arts and crafts. I love art nights and have been missing these night with my friends lately since we’ve been spending so much of our time working on the boat. I was reminded of this reading a post from a new virtual sailing friend, Leah over on their blog, With Brio. So as we do projects I’m re-imagining them as art.

Fiberglass work = paper mache.

You get dirt or debris in the mix and now it’s a mixed-media application! It’s a collage! Perfect. Re-tabbing bulkheads turn into a creative endeavour.

Just a lot more toxic and itchy.

My glueing skills are at an all-time high in accuracy. We’ve been re-glueing de-laminating floorboards and the salon table that broke. When we were living on Leela in October we spent a weekend sailing to Gambier Island with my family. On the way home there was some wind and bigger gusts through Howe Sound. I went below to tighten the portholes and was tossed into the salon table when we keeled over with a strong gust and tore the table from the floor. It was a bit much for my niece, who was 2 years old at the time and felt more dramatic than it was. The plywood had been damaged by a leak in the boat and didn’t have much strength left. So we’ve been fixing the consequences of leaks and have made a few more discoveries as to the source of the leaks! Satisfying, to say the least.

And fixing the leaks has been a paper mache rampage. Emmanuel sanded and ground 5 bulkheads and 1 stringer, which create structure for the boat, and I came behind to re-tab with fiberglass. A big job and only minor amounts of epoxy made it into my hair, so overall a win. It feels reassuring to see the progress we are making and to strengthen the boat in real ways.

Stringer and bulkhead re-tabbed under the salon.
Stringer and bulkhead re-tabbed under the salon.
Under the galley sink - Emmanuel added a new support for the bulkhead which had rotted away. This was a huge paper mache job!
Under the galley sink – Emmanuel added a new support for the bulkhead which had rotted away. This was a huge paper mache job!
Emmanuel doing the worst job on the boat yet. Grinding fiberglass. Mentally and physically done.
Emmanuel doing the worst job on the boat yet. Grinding fiberglass. Mentally and physically done.

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