Living Contentedly

It was cold early. So after sanding & taping off, the bilge & top planks were painted. A roll & tip off technique was used to reasonable effect, but the International brand paint was a bit thin. A further coat needed. Once done, the lacquer should lift it a lot.  The rudder, bin & varnishing are coming along or complete. The only major element is the hull below waterline.  It got cool later, so Patty was happy to watch the world go by from her new cat door. 

Cat Amenities: today the feeder was reloaded & powered up. Then I fitted the cat flap.  It was tricky, but the cats are familiarising themselves with it & may soon need no assistance.  Ilona painting: the deck boards, complete with nonskid, were fully varnished ready for refitting  The hatch was given a sand & a second coat.  Bilge painting: The old flakey paint was chipped away and given a patchy coat of green. Next, the bilges will be painted out.  There was a setback today, for some reason my near new pot of clear lacquer fell over & spilled itself out. Before I discovered, it had become hard. $80 down.  

My new Honda generator was ready to collect, so I did. This will be a standbys power source for Clancy . I dont like the idea of burning fossil fuels, but the space for solar on board is pretty limited. I'm also expecting the autopilot will draw a lot, especially on heavy weather.I then dropped into Whitworths for some paint & bolts to mount Ilona's bilge pump. Hopefully come Monday she will be up for sale & Clancy will get my undivided attention.  Afterwards the dog & I hit Nobbys Beach for a run. Apart from the strong icey SWer, it was a nice day. Clear of the main beach, we hit the sand, the only ones around & it was beautiful. Around under the lighthouse & onto the break wall. The swell was pretty small, but the seas were looking storm tossed & sailing south would be mighty tough.  Along the walk I started noticing whales all about. One big breach directly off the harbour entrance, but they were well offshore heading to Fingal Island lighthouse...

Up & about predawn to realise the blusterimess persists. I wrap in suitable clothes, feed the hungry cats, but they appear soon after, still hungry. The dog eats appreciably and only wants me to walk. Cats for domestic company, dogs for walking.  Reading about an old mentor Rousseau in  Philosophy of Walking. How   R. discovers himself through walking, an act of shunning society's failings and distractions, to be a quiet, self loving being.  "...when the solitary walker tried to unearth from under layers of culture the inborn truth of human passions, he only discovered a naive and unassuming self-love".  The author cautions, this self-love as being quite different to egotism.  I am barely a fraction of the man Rousseau, but I can agree a) that walking provides for the mind, body and soul, and b) that a respectable goal of self and cultural critique is to discover a simple self love.     

After fettling the cabin back onto shape and firing up the woodheater to ward off the blowy chill, I returned to work on Ilona. I had left the deck boards sanded, but with only one coat of varnish. So today's efforts were to add two more coats of varnish to the deck. I branched out to sand & varnish other exposed timber on deck; centreboard case, outboard well surrounds and fore and aft deck scuppers.  Under lights tonight she's definitely blinging it out!  

Having a coffee fromonkwy on the Wire, Wellington. 100k down in wet & stormy.conditions, its been good to get out here during a weather break & stretch our legs.  It stayed stormy all around, all the way. Frequent heavy showers, miles apart. But the scenery was beautiful.