Well, sports fans, work continues. A major problem has developed on Sojourn, however. Goblins have invaded the ship:

And a horrible case of varicose veins have burst to the surface of her skin:

Additionally, a new highly invasive crop of electrical wires are blossoming right out of the brightwork!

Not to mention the pre-existing fracture in the caprail that still screams for a remedy:

Actually, it is believed that the goblin issue will resolve itself in time, if we just give him (her?) free run of the ship for the time being. I’m ok with that.

And fortunately, I was pleased to discover that these varicose veins are really a good thing. Every crack topsides has been ground out and filled with multiple coats of brown epoxy.

Plus, the mangy bouquet of wire sprouts above are just my little prank on you, and you’ve probably figured out that this didn’t just happen. Oh no, folks, I had to steel myself to drill a big honkin’ fishing hole in my coach roof teak trim in order to fish the running light wires that previously popped out of the pilothouse bulkhead to now get them to come out on top. It seems they always didwant to be on top anyway, so why not? Hmmmm…

But you may ask, “Why, Cap’n Geno?”… a temporary “try for fit” below might give you a hint. We’re tired of always bumping into the old running lights with our hips when going forward, so it would seem that now is the time to rectify that. You guys also get to be the first to see one of the new semi-finished sideboards in situ. Now the boys in the shop can fill and glass the old hole in the wall (see the green flash below indicating “fill it”):

Now for the fractured caprail. ‘Tis a tragic tale. I’m hacking out six and a half feet with traditionally-shaped scarf joints at each end. A tricky cut, to be sure. What to use? I made it less than half-way through the rail with my Dremel-type “Wiz” (Black ‘n Decker’s version of the flexible shaft Dremel) using a cutting disc. Now I’m committed, but must graduate to another tool that will cut vertically to a deeper but finite depth, and obviously, not in a straight line. Any ideas, oh ye great tool warriors? Bring it!

Now it’s time for more of this – behind every captain there is a great admiral! A.K.,if you would be so kind, please “pay to the order of”…

We had previously driven Arthur and the Star Boat Shop to have their part of Sojourn’s restoration complete by July 1. There had been some delays on my part (wanting to complete as much prep work as possible myself, which took longer than I had hoped), and to a lesser extent, on Arthur’s part (not getting deck core material as quickly as he had hoped).

Why July 1? We wanted to get the boat back to her home slip before we left to go up north for a few weeks. Now that no longer seems entirely practical, so I offered him an alternative approach. If they take their time completing Sojourn, fitting it around their other jobs, with no pressure from me, and target completing their work no later than August 15th, that would take the heat off them (pun intended). We could travel north while the boat remains in the protection of their shop (and out of the weather and water during a portion of the storm season). Then, when we return from our trip, and then bring the boat home to continue work on interior restoration in her home port.

Win/win. So that’s the new plan (at least, for now).

Well, its been raining H-A-R-D this afternoon, and the power has been up and down like a Yo Yo, Ma, at least ten times in the last hour, so I’m gonna save and send before losing this post.

Lator, ‘gators