We have officially arrived in Homer! The summer was amazing. We spent three weeks this spring working on Bluewater. We removed her ceiling liner and insulation to paint the underside of the cabin with a mixture of super-toxic 2-part epoxy paint and microbeads. The microbeads are super-tiny hollow glass spheres that add just enough R-value to stop the steel from condensing; so small that we wore super-duper respirators so as not to accidentally inhale the little beads!
As usual it was a bigger job than we expected and had a few hidden surprises. Most notably, a spot in the deck that I suspected of being thin was so thin that the grinder ate right through it! The beauty of steel is that it is easily repaired. The welder that came to fix the hole inspired me to learn to weld – that and the bill! Much more welding and I could buy my own welder. Fortunately, our good friend Bruce is learning to weld and owns all the gear, so with his help we added a mount for a new bow light and I was further inspired to learn how to weld.
We departed Valdez the first time this season with Sara and Jasun, who visited from PA to experience Alaska. Their trip was amazing ”even if we dubbed it Voyage of the Plague Ship. Sara keeps promising that she will write a guest post for everyone to read, but it has never appeared. So my loyal readers, please email her some encouragement. You can reach her at: saralego{AT}gmail.com. Please send her a nice note and ask her to finish her guest post so the world can share her and Jasun’s adventure!
Sara, we are all waiting!
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