New Addition to the Fleet

We have a new addition to the fleet. I bought a Kayak to play with. It is a two or one person Kayak depending on which position you put the seats. I have been roaming around the harbor in it. On Saturday Sharon and I paddled over to Sombrero Beach and watched the Dragon boat races. It was about a half hour paddle each way. It is nice to get some fun exercise.

This week I changed the zincs on Queeny. One on the rudder, one on the drive shaft and two on the hull. A zinc is a sacrificial metal that gets eaten away by the stray electrical currents in the water instead of metal that is attached to the boat such as the propeller or rudder or any other metal that is below the waterline. I also had them bottom of the hole cleaned by a diver. when I was changing the zincs under the boat I scraped up my arms and fingers pretty bad from the barnacles on the bottom. I learned a valuable lesson. Next time I will clean the bottom before changing the zincs. The diver told me that if I sprayed rubbing alcohol on the scratches that they would not get infected it would not hurt near as much. I did this and it's stung like FIRE. I wondered if he told me this just to torture me because I changed the zincs myself rather than paying him to do it. I sprayed the worst scratches. I didn't worry about the little ones. Two days later the large ones that I had sprayed are fine at the little ones that I didn't spray are still stinging and hurt a lot. Oh well life is a learning experience.

We are getting Queen ready for a summer with no AC. I installed 2 new 12 volt fans in the aft cabin. I also bought a new hatch to replace a non-opening port above our berth in hopes that the breeze will blow from the open port on the front of the boat straight through and out this new hatch. Time will tell. Hopefully I will get it installed next week. This is very high on my priority list.

Till next time.