Leveling the boat

Leveling the boat with a rotary laser

The wasps have moved in again! We have removed no less then ten nests in various states of construction. Every time we think we've plugged all the holes they find a way in and start building again! I peeled off my respirator and grabbed a can of bee killer from the shop, hopped below and exterminated the little buggers! I should have put my mask on first; I managed to dislodge some fiberglass dust and got it in both eyes. It didn't seem to bother me much and I though nothing of it,.......that is until 0530 when the pain woke me. My eyes were red and swollen and I could hardly see. My wife drove me to Walmart to to fetch a bottle of eye rinse with the little eye cup to fill and place over the eye. We asked the sales clerk who was standing in the eye care aisle where we could find some sterile solution. "We don't have any sterile eye solution" she said. I described my situation and asked if they had anything that could help. She was adamant that they had no sterile solutions and I was outta luck. I thought about this for a moment and realized that all the eye solutions must be sterile. I pointed this out to the clerk who replied "well, its not sterile once you open it". Ok says I,......can you direct me to a bottle of sterile right now,....but not once I open it,....eye solution please. She gestured down the aisle and off we went. We procured a bottle with an eye cup and made our way home. After several rinses my eyes started to feel a little better. I have custom spectacles being made for my respirator but until they are ready (in about 10 days) I have to wear contacts lenses when wearing my full face respirator.

With my eyes being tender for several days I was unable to wear contact lens and had to do something other than grind fiberglass. We rented a rotary laser level and set it up near the boat at the hight of the water-line. When we sanded the hull we found a second line lower than the first, we decided that being the older line we'd use it as the benchmark for leveling the boat (and judging by the numerous layers of paint over it we thought it may well be the original line). The hardest part was adjusting the laser so it would strike the line amidships. Once we had that dialed in it was a simple matter to move jacks around the cradle to make the necessary adjustments.

The temperature has hit 100 degrees in the yard today, much hotter in the boat! Working in Tyvek suits in that heat is not possible, at least not for me. Instead the day was spent in the much cooler garage sanding teak moldings and applying coats of satin Poly Wipe to them. I've prepped enough for two bulkheads and will prep more when its too hot to work inside the hull.