2/14/2017 – St.
Valentine’s Day
First thing today, Clark and I drove down to the local
canvas-repair shop to buy some material to patch the dinghy cover. When we got
to the store, we saw their posted business hours and groaned. They only opened
to the public on Monday’s and Friday’s. Hmm – today was Tuesday, so we were out
of luck.
I noticed the shop's truck in the parking lot, so I
tried calling in hopes they were inside before we left, but I got no answer. Google showed another shop option,
so I got on the phone and called the next place a couple of miles down the road
and found out they were open. As we got
into our car to drive away, the driver of the van came out and got in his
truck. Clark ran over and talked to him, and the next thing I know we are in
his shop paying for a yard of fabric and some matching thread. What perfect
timing!
When we got back to the boat, Clark immediately ran off to look at his
raw water pump that we had rebuilt while in Fort Myers. Clark had noticed a leakage
problem, so he was very anxious to take a look at the seal to see what needed
to be done to address the problem. While
he looked into that, I texted my boater friend, who said she would help me with
the canvas work, to let her know I had the materials.
She and her husband came over with her supplies to help me
patch two holes caused by chafing on the rough edges of the boat. I had patched a
small hole recently but without matching fabric, it looked unsightly. Now we
had another hole caused by a sharp VHF antenna. My friend has experience
working with canvas, so she was a godsend in helping me make the job look
professional and not slipshod.
Clark found his raw water pump leak to be a quick fix, so
when our friends came over, he spent his time chatting with my friend's husband about boats while my
friend and I put our heads together to patch the canvas. The hole where the
antenna had rubbed through needed serious attention. I could tell that just
sewing up the hole would leave it vulnerable to wearing through again in short order.
One of the items I planned to buy at the canvas shop was strong
fabric as backing for the repair. In the “excitement” of them opening up just
for us and the rush to be done with the purchase, I forgot to buy that material.
I decided to search the boat for options. Pickings were extremely slim as I
needed something substantial. Finally, I found an old canvas bag with a logo and 1999 stamped on
the bag and decided I might need to sacrifice the bag to do the job.
I got in trouble recently for making a unilateral decision
on something that I deemed garbage and threw away. It certainly appeared to be
useless junk to me, but Clark was not pleased with my actions. I figured he
should know that I planned to sacrifice the bag for the dinghy-cover cause. Not
surprisingly, he said, “Ahhhh, I like that bag!” I knew I was in trouble.
The four of us looked at the damage to the canvas, talked
about doubling up with the new canvas patch to cover the hole, but ultimately
decided that the strong fabric from the bag would be the right choice for the
repair. We arrived at a compromise. Clark said he did not use the pocket on the
front and suggested I use just the pocket material. Fortunately, it was a
reasonably-sized pocket, so that became our solution. The bag is still intact
but now sans pocket. Anyone looking at the underside of the dinghy cover will see the emblem from the bag proudly touting the 1999 date.
After our friends packed up and left, Clark and I sat down
to lunch. While we ate, someone knocked on the boat with a delivery of three
packages. Clark jumped for joy and I groaned. He had parts for something he
could repair, and my St. Valentine’s Day just got shot to heck. Even though we
did not plan on going out for an expensive meal with huge crowds today, I had
hoped for something more special that boat repairs.
As expected, one package did include parts specifically those required for
the sink repair that Clark has had hanging over his head for several days now. He
quickly dove under the sink and started working on the fix. Many hours later, he
came out and announced that although the part that arrived today worked, the
part we bought earlier in the week at Home Depot did not fit. The sink could not be
repaired with the available parts!
Trying to salvage some part of Valentine’s Day, I asked
Clark if he would take our bikes and get air in the tires. Our bikes are unique
in that the recommended tire pressure is over 90 psi. Pumping with our hand
pump, we are lucky if we can get it up to 30 or 40 psi. The manufacturer strongly admonishes against riding with the tires under-inflated. Since I have not been
able to ride my bike, I hoped to get air and open up that option for exercise
and entertainment. Clearly, having a car on this trip has made us a bit lazy.
Clark agreed to my request and packed the bikes into the
back of the car so we could get air in them.
We had other shopping to do, so we did that first. Since we have to
travel Route 1 here and traffic is awful, we stopped at places on the eastbound
side first and then westbound coming back. That put the bikes last in queue.
We passed one gas station where they had an air machine that
took quarters. Clark hates them with a passion. He decided to go to the motorcycle rental
store practically next door to our marina and see if he could get “free” air. We
found a guy there lying on the ground working on a motorcycle who told us to help
ourselves and even pulled out the hose and an air pressure gauge for our use. Nice
guy! No charge!
For Valentine’s Day dinner, I made Clark a nice home-cooked meal
that we both thoroughly enjoyed. I have to admit when our neighbors on Water Witch told me of their day, spent
on their dinghy, restaurant hopping to celebrate the special day, I felt
jealous. Since neither Clark nor I enjoy large amounts of alcohol, however, I
expect I would not have enjoyed the outing anywhere near as much as they did.
They both came back having imbibed enough to feel “buzzed”.
Sometime over the course of the day, when Clark was walking
around the marina, he encountered an iguana enjoying the docks. He recorded the
event and posted it to Facebook.
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