Gynecology, plumbing, and scrubbing

I've been on the boat a few days, most of them in rough weather.

On land, rainy windy days are bleak, featureless trials to be endured. On the boat, they're days of texture and adventure, filled with startling colors, gusts of fresh-washed air, and simple-minded logistical challenges -- like figuring out how to get in and out through the narrow opening of the tarp I've spread over the hatch, creating a little mud-room in the cockpit. My wet-locker is a winch; my foulie's hood fits neatly over it.

I climbed below to get something for Russell yesterday. I crouched low to get under the rim of the tarp, got my head and shoulders through the hatch, stuck a foot out in front of me so I was doubled over, moved forward until I could hook my leg over the ledge, moved back to get my other knee bent around right, and leaned waaaaay into the cabin to get that other foot inside and under me.

And then I realized I had had an audience to the rear for the entire butt-upwards performance. I don't know how he refrained from laughing aloud. Crawling into that damp, compact passageway was nearly a gynecological experience for me; I never meant it to be one for anyone else. Sometimes I am such a boob.

Apart from amusing my neighbors, I've gotten some things done this visit...

Housekeeping:
- Books into baskets; clothing onto shelf; tools and gear have finally found permanent homes. The bulk of the organizing is done, until cabinets and additional storage get built. (sometime in the next century)
- Resolved drain blockage in cooler. You ready for this? I had seen the end of the drain hose crawling along the bilge, and thought it connected to the manual bilge pump. Once I disconnected it, it was fine.
- Put up paper towel roller ... then taped up a little acrylic sheet to ward off the drips from above.

Plumbing:
- I threaded the polypro tubing along the engine, through the hose-and-wire-infested undersink area, through the storage lockers under the settee, and out to the fresh water tank. Extra tubing is coiled in one of the lockers near the midpoint.
- To be done: Attach it to the galley pump; cut off suitable lengths and hook up the head sink; attach it to the tank; secure the tubing along its length.

Brightwork:
- Tackled the top step, an eyesore and disaster waiting to happen. It was filthy; took 40 minutes of dilatory-but-persistent scrubbing to start looking like wood again. With my pull-saw, I removed the fragile overhanging lip, which was causing the front edge to crack and try to break away.
- To be done: File the forward edge into shape, sand the whole thing, and soak it in teak oil right before I leave.

Then there are the other 2 steps, the junk drawer, the patches that need to be sanded and finished from my last visit, and .. well, most of the rest of the interior. Like I said, dilatory but persistent. It still doesn't come naturally, but I'm less fretful about missing the energetic explosions of effort I used to pull off miracles with, since seeing the cumulative effects of this new approach. It really works. It pays off in every way.