Parked

We pays our money and now we is parked in Cape May, NJ until 7/5/2017. The strategy is to weather out The Fourth of July down south where the prices are more reasonable, plus this is a beautiful little community. Groceries, hardware, and The Lobster House (est. 1922) are close at hand. A mere walk or bike ride away and Charlotte has her pick of ice cream shops.

Of course being at a discount marina means we are out of the action but just as well. Yesterday we rode our bikes to the beach and realized that half of New York and New Jersey are here on vacation. Procuring a can of pop at a local family run fast food cafe proved fruitless. Between mom-behind-the-counter and mom-and-grandma-in-front-of-the-counter attempting to come to a kind of catering deal while mom-behind-the-counter’s prediction of her chef/husband’s demise if her daughter does not show up to help over the holiday, we gave up and went to the hardware store.

I decided to strip the pilothouse doors of their burden of failing varnish. I was sick of making excuses for my slovenliness. It was the reason for the stop at the hardware store. 3M stripper, sanding pads, a tarp, and a paint scarper were purchased.

The scraper, a Stortz Straight End Paint Scraper (Ultra Sharp!), deserves further description. I was looking at the usual boring collection of paint scrapers and putty knives when I saw a grouping of orange covered implements off to the side. Now these looked interesting, so I started to inspect them. They come in all kinds of profiles: square, trapezoidal, round, oval, everything it seemed but straight.

Of course, the prices were higher by maybe five bucks but who was I to quibble. It said right on the label/storage unit Finely Ground, Heat Treated, High Carbon Steel. I carefully un-velcroed its thick paper case and almost drew blood. It was then that I noticed the warning on the backside, Extremely Sharp! in red letters with the instructions to keep it in its protective sheath.

I only had it in my hands for thirty seconds and had already violated several of the rules. It was then that I knew it was coming back to Carrie Rose with me. I would have to use discretion otherwise, the pilothouse doors didn’t stand a chance.

Other than it emitting a nails-on-chalkboard squeal each time I pulled it across the somewhat gooey melting varnish it worked as promised. I started at 11 AM and finished at 6PM. The first and last steps required concentration. The doors had to be detached from the boat and gingerly carried down the skinny side deck to the back. I am not sure if teak floats but I did not want to test the proposition.

The next day the doors were coated with teak oil; oil that has the consistency of fine extra virgin olive oil and the smell of a fine men’s cologne. I sat back to look at my handy work mainly because I still could not straighten up after leaning over on the back deck to scrap the doors clean. I am feeling better today, just a little kinked. What’s a vacation for after all if I can’t figure out a way to throw my back out!