Ship's log: fiberglass and 'frigeration

Repair:

Russell helped me deal with the bent stern rail and the hole in the fiberglass under the port stanchion supporting it. We did that yesterday. It's taking a long time to cure. Theoretically, that means that it will set up amazingly tough. I like tough. I just hope it stops sagging; it's becoming concave. Patching it in would be no problem, though.

Upgrade:

I noticed part of the roof of the cooler was not insulated. I got some heater insulation (two layers of bubble and foil) cut it to size and glued it in.

I put a shelf in the cooler that will hold two blocks of ice near the top of the cooler. There should be room above them to slip in a couple of cold packs, for injuries and to settle down a bad flare.

This involved cutting down a wire shelf, cutting two lengths of pine and drilling a pair of holes for the straight side of the cooler and drilling two holes plus chiseling drop-in slots for the slanted side of the cooler. (In a smaller boat, pretty much everything has a least one slanted side to accommodate the shape of the hull.) It was fun to try to find random objects that were just the right height and size to hold the wooden brackets in place as the glue dried. Really.

This morning, I oiled the wood and set the fan in there to blow out the last of the smell. I inserted the rack... and it almost fits. Close enough, in fact, that I'm going to use it just the way it is.

Also, the lift-out cover of the cooler, which is heavily insulated, was coming apart. I had just gotten clamps, and they were exactly big enough to clamp the lid and no bigger. I used Gorilla Glue all along the edges, as it would fill the gaps. I clamped two sides with my three clamps, let it sit for the day while everything else happened, took off the overflow with my new chisel, and am hesitant to drop it back onto the cooler because it can't possibly have been that easy to fix.

Projections:

A delightful Coast Guard who lives at the marina said he had buddies who'd be happy to fix my Atomic 4 for food and beer. He's got something on the ball, or I'd normally dismiss the offer is nothing more than a friendly gesture, but I'm not sure I can wait around for his buddies to be bored and hungry enough that working on a 30-year-old engine, in unbelievably tight quarters, sounds like fun.

It’s about time for the boat yards to refurbish the engines people traded in, so over the next couple weeks I’ll have more options.