The Mysterious All of a Suddens
This weekend felt monumentous. Between Saturday and Sunday, all of a sudden, the old mast was gone. All of a sudden, we had an installed sink and counter. All of a sudden, we had running water. All of a sudden, we had a (temporary) working propane system. All of a sudden, we had cushions on the boat.
Counters, sink, stove, instrument panel, ladder, engine face . . . Whose boat IS this???
Of course, there is nothing sudden about it. The mast? Almost as soon as we ordered the new one, I was in touch with my friend Anne, who has her pulse in the wooden boat world, to see if she had ideas for who might be able to use the old mast. It may be 45 years old, but it looks to be in really good condition, particularly for a skilled shipwright who wants to take on the joyful work of maintaining it. (Wondering why we swapped it out? This blog post might give you some answers.) Turns out, Andrew Guest (Anne’s partner) is restoring a 130 year old Cornish lugger (the only one left of its kind, apparently) and this one will work for his mizzen. Sweet!
Tying down the old stick in the misty rain.
The sink and the counter? We’ve dry fit them approximately one zillion times, but something always got in the way of installing them for real. Most recently, it was the painting. But. Painting is done. And Jeremy got out the silicone and away he went. Not moving any of it now!
Then came the water. We’ve been connecting and disconnecting Pex fittings, pulling and replacing water tanks, for what seems like weeks. We debated ordering a new foot pump but decided that between the 5 different ones we have on hand, we should be able to create at least one working one. The manifold was fixed in place, the jerry cans were filled at the yacht club, and (after one false start that had the pump leaking, which necessitated pulling it out, disassembling it to lube it all up, and reassembling it) we had water at the sink.
The stove? It came out of storage about a month ago, if I remember right, and it’s lived on the salon floor for the last couple of weeks (painting, remember?). We’re going to install 20 pound aluminum horizontal tanks up by the mast, covered in some kind of box, and run the new propane line up there. For now, though, the regulator and valve are working well; we’re reaching through the porthole over the galley to open and close the tank.
Test firing the burners
As for the cushions, it was close to a year ago when we spent time templating and sending off the templates to Amanda at Yacht Canvas in Annapolis. We picked up the cushions in late January and it’s been so chaotic down below on Calypso there was no way we were bringing these gorgeous things on board. After a lot of cleaning and dust removal, we fit the first set (our bunk). Ahhhhh.
Little tweaking needed on the outboard one.
Yes, all of these photo-worthy events happened this weekend. Not a single one was started this weekend, though. The next time you’re thinking about how fast something seemed to come to fruition, take some time to see the backstory. These “all of a sudden” moments are the result of a whole lot of hard work.
I’m still basking in it all.