Down & Dirty

Remember how we repaired our cockpit flooring using Gorilla Glue and Mother Nature immediately balked at us? Well, Attempt 2 was made using epoxy, thanks to my friend Ali coming to visit us and needing something to do in between reading books.

Normally I wouldn't subject my loved ones to boat projects when they're on vacation, but Ali is notorious for project slayings. She designed and painted an entire room of furniture for my nephew. She built floral bouquets out of sea shells and ribbon flowers for my sister's wedding. She puked peppermint schnapps all over my deck when she was 15. So not only does she have a knack for this kind of tedious work, she also kinda owes me.

Since Ali was going to be doing all the work, we decided to do things right this time. We bought new dowels to replace to broken ones and went with headache-inducing epoxy. 

When Mack and I were at work, Ali was doing work. She was hunkered down on the patio mixing epoxy in paper cups and probably feeling all kind of crazy knowing she had mere minutes to place pieces of the floor grate puzzle into place. We were getting paid, but she was not. I love my friends.

After a few days of working in bursts, Ali had managed to get the pieces back together, including the weird tiny pieces. And she was just as creative with weights as we were on Attempt 1... Flower pots, rocks, and kettle bells are a woodworkers best friend. Also, I'm a lousy gardener, so pay no attention to my dying plant.

As a reward, we took Ali to meet Kenutu. We did not take her sailing in it because, if you haven't deduced yet, we are mean, terrible friends who work when people come to visit us. Mack gave Ali the tour, showing off his most favorite area UNDER THE FLOOR. He is obsessed with that dark smelly abyss.

I felt pretty good about this floor repair, optimistic even. When I picked up the large sections they felt like a solid piece of wood as opposed to a delicate warbly grate. The little sections were even sturdier. They felt like you could drop them and they'd stay intact. Ali had done an awesome job.

And then came Mother Nature, who apparently has a personal mission to destroy this floor. It held up longer than the Gorilla Glue fix, but nothing about it was permanent. 

So you know what this means? Attempt 3. I'm emailing Elegant'sea right now to find out who this Owen guy is and see if they'll share their plans for their cockpit flooring with me. Hopefully they'll be as good a pal as Ali was!