Hello From Bonaire

Well, Cheryl sent a blog at the beginning of her visit to Canada so I will send one as her visit winds down and let you know what has been going on here - work, work, work, and now rain, rain, rain.
End of Blog
Actually, it has been an experience being here by myself. Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of exciting things done but I learned stuff. First I learned that I haven't changed in regards to taking on more than I should. I am hoping the reasons behind this type of behaviour has changed though. In the past it was, I think, so that people would be impressed with my wonderfulness and talent and stuff - and then people would like me. Now, I think I do it because old habits die hard and I sometimes measure what I can do by what I used to be able to think I could do. Confused yet - well, a simpler explanation may be that I am getting older and slower - lets go with that one!!
What this is about is my decision to "fix" the coach roof portion on the boat. The coach roof, to save you looking it up in Wikepedia, is the portion of the boat that is above the deck and covers the fore and aft cabins as well as the salon. It starts in front even with the deck and then raises up to about 3 feet above the deck, becomes the sides of the cockpit and and then goes back to cover the aft cabin. The mast goes through the coach roof (and through the salon to the keel) and it also holds our windshield at the front of the cockpit. Although most of the cockpit isn't part of the coach roof because the cockpit mostly sits over the motor compartment, it is part of it at the front because it has part of the salon roof and has the companionway as part of it and at the back the seat back behind the steering seat becomes the aft cabin roof.
The reason for all this explanation is as follows: when we had our teak removed from the deck, in order to put awlgrip on the deck they had to tape the edge of the coach roof. When the tape came off, so did a lot of the paint. We had noticed this before when we had tried to use masking tape on the roof - when it came off, so did the paint. The boat had been re-painted at one time, apparently by inept amateurs (unlike yours truly - an ept amateur!) because it appears as if they either didn't put enough primer on (if any) or they used a very poor paint.
Okay, I'm getting there.
I thought while Cheryl was in Canada, it would be a good opportunity to re-do the coach roof and cockpit. Now comes the part about taking on too much. The process was to first thoroughly sand all of the working surfaces. This meant taking off the windshields (there are three pieces), removing our cockpit table, taking out all the instruments from the "dashboard" and removing as many lines as I could without dropping the rigging.
Next steps in sequence after initial sanding - wash everything down with soap and water and then clear NON-seawater. Apply one coat of primer. Sand all working surfaces lightly. Wash down with clear water. Apply 2nd coat of primer. Sand all working surfaces. Wash down with clear water. Apply first coat of Awlgrip paint - sand, wash, and apply second coat of Awlgrip.
Then reassemble instrument panel, windshield and cockpit table.
Was I thinking it through step by step while considering this - obviously not. Did I get it all done - NO! But in my own defence, I would have gotten it mostly done if, 5 days ago, it hadn't started raining. While this was not okay, it did give me a chance to repair the mess I made of the inside of the boat while working on the outside. Hey, who woulda thunk that the paint that came off would be carried downstairs on my feet and then stick with the power of gorilla glue to the floor. Who woulda known that brush and roller cleaner would eat away the finish on a big spot on the dinner table. Who woulda believed that the people who cut the new plexiglass pieces for the windshield (2 out of 3 of the ones that came off had cracks) would refuse to drill the necessary holes. Incidentally, for those of you who use drills for work while on water, news flash, the key that fits the chuck that allows you to change bits DOES NOT FLOAT. And as clear as the water is here in Bonaire (I was able to retrieve my socket handle!!) it is really difficult to see something that small when there is rock and sand on the bottom. Further, in case you are ever here - they don't sell chuck keys anywhere.
So where do I sit now? Well, I have repaired the table finish (oh and the porthole screen I forgot to mention that got shredded), most of the floor has the white specks removed and I have marked the holes in the new windshield and have figured out how I am going to change bits.
I have not gotten any Awlgrip applied as it needs at least five hours without rain and sixteen hours before you can apply the second coat. As a result I also don't have the instrument panel or the table back together and the windshield is not in BUT, my honey is coming back and she promised to help me without any complaints about taking on jobs that are too much and no "I told you so's". What a sweety!!
One last thing, for all you people in the throes of fall/winter. I can also tell that winter is here - there have been 9 cruise ships visit Bonaire in the last 11 days. Oh, the temperature here - around 30 during the day!!
Caio