Sunday, July 12, 2009

Progress? It depends on how you look at it.

We have been home for almost a month now from our big adventure to Alaska and as always it has taken quite a while to get back onto the swing of things even though “things” will not let us stop to long to reflect or even take a breath. It seems that the 4th of July and all of the craziness that comes with Salmon Beaches biggest holiday was upon us the day after we got back. In reality it was about three weeks of trying to catch up with a very neglected yard in town, work (of course) seeing Mom and Dad off to China and finally getting our trusty Salmon Beach work boat off to the Bates welding school for some well deserved rehab. Our good old welded aluminum work boat (built at Bates in 1980) has lived a productive life in the service of its original owner Ib Christensen (a long time resident of Salmon Beach) and then me and Rhonda for the past few years. It has been thru storms and sun, earthquakes and fires, a couple of sinking’s and yes, a few trips to the Tides Tavern in nearby Gig Harbor. So when the floor boards started to flop around this spring I got this great idea that I could make arrangements to take the boat out to Bates to get “a few things done” while we were in Alaska. So in the midst of getting ourselves ready for our trip I spent way to much time striping the boat down to the bare hull so that it would be ready to drop off just before our departure. Upon our return I would simply pick up the boat slap the motor back on and be ready for the 4th. Well that kind of project coordination only happens in my dreams and as we all know real life takes its own path. So hopefully this week I will get the boat back to the beach so that I can start doing a slightly modified version of the rehab that I had in mind myself …for you see keeping a boat, even a welded aluminum boat in the harsh environment at Salmon Beach has taken its toll on the even a tough boat like the Salmon Beach work boat and the instructor at Bates did not think that any of his student would be capable of taking on a project like the one we had in mind with the aluminum in the poor condition that it is in. So on to plan “B” (I haven’t yet given up on my plans to make the needed repairs and improvements) to install new non skid aluminum floor boards on a slightly thicker foam floatation floor and new grab rails on both sides all bolted in place instead of welded. So life goes on and even though we aren’t currently working on the wooden row boat that is the purpose of this blog , we are at least working on a boat …and after all isn’t that what it’s all about? Let me know what you think, If I don’t hear from you here, I will see you on the trail.

1 comment:

  1. I think when it is back to its old self that rowboat will need another voyage to the The Tides to visit. If not, we are just going to have to come over there to get the full stories on your amazing trip. Hope to see you both soon.

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