October 21 progress report

We visited the boat last weekend and painted the boot stripe with Interlux Brightside, two coats.  Didn't bother using a primer coat.  Masked with regular 3M #2090 masking tape but not for lack of trying to get the perfect tape "#471".  It was something that was not available locally.    The stripe came out just fine.  We cleaned the area first with #216, then sanded with #150, cleaned with #333, masked, firmed the edges with a credit card, rolled and tipped the first coat, waited 16 hours, sanded until the gloss was gone, cleaned again with #333, rolled and tipped the 2nd coat, removed the tape, and smiled!

Rusty spent some time in the dungeon and got acquainted with the sea cocks and strainers, spare parts, etc. etc.  I think there is a mechanic in the making!

Both of us wiped down most of the cubby holes, closets, kitchen (whoops galley) cupboards, microwave & fridge  We took the dishes and cutlery to the Residence Inn and ran them through the dishwasher, laid down some new shelving liner, and set up the kitchen cupboards. 

The final list of repairs, we hope, was prepared and presented to the boatyard.  It was good for us to be able to see, touch, understand a little better what makes up this boat.

Today, we made a couple of major decisions, and a load is off my mind as a result.  All the dock lines. and fenders need replacing.  Everything was researched.  We consulted with other Monk36 owners and they have been soo helpful!  The order was placed, gulp, gulp.  Fortunately the fenders that came with the boat will come in handy when we go through the locks - better they get shredded than the new ones.  We are getting colored lines and fenders - that seems to be the in thing plus you don't see the dirt and they aren't any more expensive.

But the truly amazing decision that was made was the choice of toilets. We've spent well over a week researching, talking with experts, talking with other boat owners, talking with dealers, talking with the boatyard.  What we want we can't have.  The Jabsco manuals sit on a platform and it is either do a complete refit or find something that will work on those platforms.  Our #1 choice was Raritan Elegance Smart Flush with pressurized fresh water intake but it would have 3-4 days labor at $88/hour to put in the wiring and do the installation, plus the cost of the toilet and a new platform.  Reality set in.  So then we looked at plain old electric toilets with raw water intake.  Well... then one had to make a decision whether to purchase an integrated pump or a remote pump.  The decision came down to whether the heads were located below or above the waterline.  We didn't know.  And we couldn't get a definitive answer, sooo we took the headmistress' advice on manual toilets and ordered two Raritan PHC.  That was the only Raritan model that would work without a refit, so the decision was easy.  It is so important to look at the measurements on the Raritan and measure the area on the boat to make sure the model will fit in the space.