One Girls Ocean Challenge

April 29, 2012

What a successful day!  In between the 40-50 knots of wind and rain squalls passing through, lots got achieved on OGOC in anticipation of needing to meet the new volume requirements.  I needed to start with emptying out the boat in preparation of all the sanding dust for the glass work.  In light of all the rain, I opted for stowing everything under the cockpit floor, instead of taking it all home.  It’s a long walk down the pontoon to the very tiny car.  Everything would have gotten wet, and it wouldn’t have all fit.  Check out the before and after of the little space under the cockpit floor.

Before the work started                                                                  Tidied up for the work

Under the cockpit floor “before”                                                  Under the cockpit floor “after”

Next I needed to get the electronics out of the way and try to cover up everything as best as possible.  Gel dust gets deep into anything and everything!

I found a good use for all of the grocery bags I keep buying!

The last job was to figure out how to run the generator without drowning it in the downpour, and ensuring the exhaust was outside.

Simple, but effective.  This is looking out the companionway door.  You can see the little yellow sticker of the generator sitting at the companionway door.  Overhead the solar panel is deployed giving the little generator somewhat of a roof.   Directly over the generator is one of the lee cloths jury rigged up to provide a tent to keep the rest of the rain off.  Behind the boat you can see rocks.  Those rocks are the harbour wall.  The wind was so strong today that the spray was streaming over the rock wall and landing in the cockpit.  I couldn’t risk drowning the little generator, so it needed lots of directional cover.  This whole setup allowed me to close the hatch and sand away like crazy.  By the time I was finished the whole boat was one giant billow of white dust inside.  When I opened the hatch you would have thought we were on fire as there was soooooo much white smoke coming out!  Well the sanding is finished for now.  Tomorrow I’ll measure again for the foam location, and mark it out against the tabbing I’ve sanded up.  Tuesday I’m off to the local “bricolage”(which is french for hardware store), to get the foam and cut it to fit.  If it’s stopped raining, I’ll also move the bilge pump aft…..if it’s stopped raining!

Diane