GIRI Boat Work Progresses

Tom is a perfectionist. It probably could be treated with SSRI drugs or even neurosurgery. But like the obsessive compulsiveness of most professionals it's of benefit to others. So if there was a drug that removed caring for instance perhaps we wouldn't want our friends to have it. Right now Tom's perfectionism is being applied to the GIRI. If I'd been working on the boat alone once Barry welded the patch on I'd have had the boat in the water but much to my surprise I find that Tom and Barry felt that in addition to the welding to prevent further deterioration the whole interior needed to be sanded and rust proofed and epoxied. And that's what they did. The much larger stronger compression pole than the original factory one is also welded in more solidly. And well Tom was epoxying he looked up at the shameful bow and said that didn't look good against the rest of his skookum repairs. So he removed the dent and epoxied the bow to a pristine crease.

While I was happy to see all the grand foundational work done that bow repair truly lifted my spirits. It was a bit of scarlet letter on the forehead of the boat. I'd been motoring out of Astoria along the Columbia River on a beautiful sunny blue sky calm river day when I decided to read the instructions of the new handheld VHS radio I had, put it together, while making an expresso coffee on the stove. Between the my not paying attention in general and coffee steaming I stepped down below to pour the coffee when the GIRI felt like it had been hit by a tanker. Kabang. It was horrible. I ran up on deck and throttled down as I looked at the huge Channel Marker Buoy some fool had purposefully put in my path. I next ran upfront saw the dint and ran below and checked for leaks. Then I ran back on deck and looked around to see if anyone had seen me and wondered what the fine for banging into a marker buoy might be. The marker buoy was wholly untouched and unmoved so then I began looking around again to see if anyone saw what a fool I was. Then I steamed away hoping no one saw me. Every harbour after some one has been sure to comment on the big dent in the front of my boat. When Ive told them terrorist attacks and such or just mumbled the older boaters have of course smiled. Tom has finally removed any need for me to shuffle my feet on the dock and say something absurd or tell the stupid story of how some stupid fool boater wasn't watching and got away lucky. Anyway I'm really glad no one will know now about that Columbia River incident. The captain was a real bozo that day. The coffee did taste good and the new VHS Hand radio was assembled but still the captain was was real bozo.