First Steps Toward Nautical Ecstasy

HMS Wee Guy After waterblasting

My mind was abuzz during the drive home. Aside from the usual "I wonder if the boat's going to fall off as we ascend the harbour bridge" and "Did I ever tighten that vital brake bolt after that time I borrowed it for something else" type questions, there was the far more complicated and concerning issue of diffusing the parental shitstorm that was bound to eminate in the next few hours, as it was for their driveway that I was headed.

The stimuli that evince said parental reaction are as follows:
1. The eyesore factor, both of the boat and associated mess around the site.
2. The noise associated with tool use in ameliorating the eyesore factor.
3. The strong-smelling chemical compounds used in every stage of these processes.
4. Previous experience suggesting that completion would take around 11 times longer than my estimates (proving correct so far, haha!)


Essentially it can be said that they are concerned with the environmental impacts. As middle-class British people they are bound by the constraints of what can be considered fair on the neighbours, and no doubt struggle to understand how they're son has comparatively little regard for such matters. They no doubt also struggle to understand how I've become some kind of hick reprobate who more understands pistons and carburettors than civic responsibility and the importance of working regularly.

The few minutes after arriving home are a blur in my memory. I know there was a lot of frantic waterblasting of the hull and wire brushing and spray painting of the mankiest bits of the trailer, nervous looks over my shoulder and tidying of my existing mess in the hopes of softening the blow.

However, a glance toward the front door destroyed all hopes of a peaceful settlement, as the stare of an incensed scorpio woman brought me close to cardiac arrest. Luckily this conincided with the arrival of a student she was about to tutor (she's an ESOL teacher) which bought me two hours until the full force of her wrath.

I set about to sanding the hull, as painting it would ultimately reduce the eyesore factor and immediate, visible progress would repress their concerns about the amount of time the boat would take to complete. Forty minutes later it was ready to go, so i went and bought some marine acrylic enamel for the topsides. I hastily brushed this on after some quick filling, and was pleased to see that even one coat had reduced its eyesore factor at least 112 points!

I went and bought a cover for it immediately after (-27 eyesore points), and began to think that I was in the clear. I definitely wasn't however, and got a (perhaps justified) verbal explosion that evening. The response from neighbours and pedestrian traffic was positive however and within a week or two the threat level was reduced and we were again on speaking terms, yuss!

Rain was forecast for the few days following the purchase, after getting increasingly frustrated i arranged to borrow a friend's garage for the day to do a couple more coats, and she came up beautifully! Here's a photo from right after:

I'd done a sealing coat of varnish at some point also before this photo was taken, I think it must have been that first day... It came up very nicely, though since I didn't recoat it it now needs re-sanding and doing again with more coats, grr!

But times were good, and I now sought to fill the sad, empty stern with some kind of delicious powerplant. You, dear reader, will find out about this in an imminent post!