Sandblasting of Simba is imminent, once two neighboring boats are moved by the travel lift out of possible harms way (the threat is the sandblasting). It will be ugly for a few days as I understand that sand will very likely work its way through aperatures and make things quite gritty. However, the boat is already pretty darn dirty and, as I type, I see my fingernails and hands are dirty despite several washings today. My day began at 7AM when I watched my wonderful new lithsome LED worklight spring free of its magnetic attachment to the steel engine room wall and dive ever so gracefully into the oily black bilge. I rescued the light as soon as I could, thrusting my right arm into the black pool, but I think the light is doomed and my hand and arm will henceforth label me multi-racial (not a bad thing anyway). Speaking of that, I stood behind a multi-racial couple in Wal-Mart today. Neither of the parents were particularly appealing, but their three year old daughter was a hoot, standing inside the cart, unloading the purchases, even climbing onto the conveyor belt to rearrange the items.:-)
The reason I was working in the bilge is I am trying to pump it dry so I can clean and paint it and have my welder cut a foot square hole in the bottom of it, which is the bottom of the boat of course, and weld a two inch deep basin or sump in place there. I shall relocate the bilge pump there. A bilge pump can never remove all liquid but this will reduce the amount remaining to ounces instead of gallons.
I have removed all hardware from the deck bulwarks so the sandblasting and painting will be as thorough as possible. Sandblasting removes all paint and rust down to bare, raw metal. A prime coat of paint is applied almost immediately to prevent contamination (rusting) of the raw steel.
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