I’m the only bottom in the village!
So I know you’re all dying to know what I did at the boat this weekend.
But it was raining!
Yes. But in a stroke of unforseen genius last year I asked the yard to flip my boat upside down. Et voila! Instant shelter to work in. I have noticed that of all the 50 or so boats in the yard mine is the only one upside down. I was the only one working in the yard this weekend. I’ll say no more. I’ll just wait for the accolades. In fairness most of the boats in the yard still have the superstructures attached and it would be nigh on impossible to flip them over.
The plan was to get the rest of the top off of the hull. I’d decided I’d fucked the boat up enough and wanted to start from a blank canvas (just the hull). I was going to drill the rivets out and then just lift the hull off of the top as well as taking out the rest of the cabin and cockpit.
2 problems:
- No way in a month of snowy Sundays am I strong enough to lift the hull on my own.
- The whole fucking thing is sitting in the air on top of beer kegs.
Cue a rather handsome genius. Me. Obviously! I went on the hunt for more kegs and planks. As it happens the yard has a metric fuck tonne of both stored near my boat. I’d never noticed them before. I systematically moved kegs around the boat in different positions as I worked to support the hull. Moving them as and when I needed to. Anyway I started drilling rivets out only for the drill bit to snap and my drill jammed. Motherfucker! Regardless, I continued my quest of getting the rest of the superstructure off the hull using my cutting tool and countless games of musical chairs with the kegs. I got most of it done. I had to stop. All my cutting blades were fu-ucked. Here followeth the results of one day’s work:
I was pretty happy with the results. The hull itself is pretty spacious to be fair. There are two minor irritants. Ever since I started sanding the boat way back when I’ve wanted to rip out the little baling plug hole fittings in order to be able to paint the hull eventually. I know they’ll result in a lot of frustration later on. Up until the weekend I never really had ease of access to unscrew them. Nor do I own any tools which could fit around the plastic nut things. A right bollock ache.
What would an Accidental Sailor post be without a bit of misadventure/clusterfuckery? Drill bits. I never know the difference between masonry/wood/steel bits. They all do the same job surely? They fucking drill holes. What more could you want from a tool? Well apparently more than I imagined. I posted the day’s highlights on Facebook and Zed, Project Manager for BeastInTheHead Inc gave me a quick tutorial on the different types of drill bits. Not without ridiculing me first of course. He has of course earned that right since we’ve been best mates for over 30 years. Apparently his Mrs knows the difference. Why anyone would brag that their wife knows how to use power tools is beyond me. But there you have it.