A boat repair project

A boat repair project

Scruffy’s a fiberglass boat. The hull is real thick fiberglass. That’s good news. That means unless a thru hull fails, Scruffy will still be floating when Zombies roam a radiated world. The bad news: all the decks are teak wood screwed into a layer of fiberglass. The glue and caulk gets old and cracked and before you know it, the damned boat leaks like a sieve.

This deck above my bed leaks.

All the decks leak. Winter is right around the corner. So what I gotta do, I gotta seal all these decks. Remove all the screws, glue them. Remove all the black gunk (caulk) from the wood slats and recaulk them with deck caulk (30 bucks a tube). This is more work than I would impose on a mule team.

Fat cat boaters hire out this work. I hate these “yachtsmen” because they reached old age like drifting swans while I eat shit with groveling beasts.

Anyway, I’m stuck doing my own work.

I tried using a power tool to remove the caulk and succeeded in stripping chunks of wood. I had to stop before Scruffy became a “art” boat UGLIER AND MORE LEAKY THAN THE SHARK.

So I referenced YouTube videos and discovered the magical utility of this simple hand tool. A REEFING HOOK!

Reefing Hook

Nothing is ever simple when you’ve reached my age with the brain plaque spreading like rust and rabid dogs circling your dome tent. This simple tool no larger than a child’s toy screwdriver sells on line for 60 bucks. West Marine (champion gougers in a class with Whole Foods) wants 58 dollars and is predictably out of stock. (practically nothing you need to fit out a boat at West Marine is currently IN STOCK…unlike their casual wear and deck shoes.)

So I’m stuck scrounging around for a tool that approximates the skill of this fabled Reefing Hook.

a grouting tool I customized
Another tool for sanding the seams

Home Depo (a corporate juggernaut of which I approve) offered these alternatives to the REEFING HOOK. The tool on the left is a ceramic caulk remover that sells for six bucks. (I customized it by squeezing the lip with a pair of pliers) The other tool is a simple hand rasp that sells for 13 dollars.

So for 19 dollars plus tax I have the power of the fabled REEFING HOOK.

Thank God for Home Depo!

The moral of this ongoing story? Build a retirement fund while you’re Brain Plaque Free and you’ll become a “Yachtsman” capable of hiring boat laborers rather than a old dude like me drinking cheap wine and scrounging giveaway piles.

Have a nice day!

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