Boat Yard Trials and Triumphs

Day 37:

Ellen: Another emotionally draining day. One of Lalo's complaints yesterday was that we kept working on our boat after he had left for the day and on the weekends while he was gone, which messed up "his job". Gosh, didn't realize he was such an expert and a prima donna to boot. Anything that was wrong with the epoxy fills, he blamed on our work. Unfilled areas that he said were our fault, I knew without a doubt had been filled by him or another worker. And we weren't even upset about them; he was the one doing the finger pointing. So frustrating.

So while I went to town for more groceries and supplies, Todd's tactic was to let the prima donna show what good work he could do and let Lalo do all the filling while Todd mixed epoxy for him. When I got back from town, I wasn't thrilled with this plan as I didn't like how Lalo was applying the epoxy. For Todd and I, our nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Todd was trying to keep Lalo happy during the epoxy phase so he would still be a happy worker during the sanding and fairing phase. Our concern has been that if we anger the workers, they might do a bad job on our boat. I wondered how we had let our project get so far out of our control. I had really stressed Todd out yesterday by being angry about the stands not being moved. So when I went to Todd and told him that Lalo was working with epoxy at the waterline but had not taped the waterline and therefore had gotten epoxy on the gelcoat, Todd's shoulders slumped in dejection. I was surprised at his reaction and said, "I can't say anything without making everyone unhappy. I just won't say anything at all! Let him ruin the f***ing boat!" I ran up the ladder into the boat and proceeded to cry. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've raised my voice at Todd. I don't think he's ever raised his voice at me. Today was an unhappy low in our nine-year relationship.

Todd taped the rest of the waterline and then came up to work things out. We talked a bit and then I went for a beer. After removing myself from the situation for about an hour, Todd asked me what would make me happy. I said feeling in control of what was happening to our boat would make me happy. We agreed that I should go talk with Eduardo once again about the situation.

I told Eduardo specific reasons we were unhappy with Lalo: not taping the waterline, not wetting out with plain epoxy before applying thickened epoxy, putting epoxy over dry epoxy that hasn't been washed and sanded yet. These are serious problems, not just stylistic differences.

One interesting item to come out during my discussion with Eduardo is that we wouldn't get charged lay days for working ourselves without workers. I mentioned that if Lalo wouldn't apply epoxy according to the manufacture's instructions, we would rather apply it ourselves without workers, but that we didn't want to get charged lay days. He said, "Lay days are not a problem, but we wouldn't be able to guarantee the job if you did work by yourselves." HA! As though we'd put any merit in a guarantee they gave us. We wouldn't know if there was a problem until we got to New Zealand. What could they do for us there? I told him I'd rather apply epoxy ourselves and take responsibility for the end result.

At the end of our discussion, we agreed to have another big discussion in the morning with Lalo, Eduardo and us before work began. My plan was to tell Lalo that Todd and I are in charge of the project, not him.

Todd and I decided to walk into town for dinner and hopefully walk off some of our tension and stress. I felt much better after my talk with Eduardo, as it seems we are taking back control of our own boat. In the course of the evening, Todd and I discussed how we would approach the meeting in the morning. After a couple hours of looking at the situation from many angles, we decided to tell Eduardo that we want to apply the epoxy without workers, to not be charged lay days, and to have workers when it is time to sand and fair the hull.

Well, we'll let you know how it all turns out. I haven't prayed much lately, and I think it's time I acquired the habit.

Day 38:

Todd: Good news, we are now back in control of what happens on our boat. At 8:00 we had a meeting with Eduardo who was very receptive to the idea of us doing our own epoxy work and having Lalo work on other boats. He even agreed to have their workers help us sand when it is time. This is a bonus since Cutter Jones was not able to get any more workers after they started doing their own work. So we purchased some more Colloidal Silica and 2 metal squeegees and got to work. From 10:30 to 3:00 we filled almost the rest of the boat except for the starboard keel area where we have not faired yet with the fairing boards to identify low spots. We did do the turn of the keel on the port side, which Lalo had started yesterday. Ellen pointed out that I did a much better job than Lalo. After a much-needed nap we spent about 30 minutes doing fairmaster on the keel. Again, this is the process where we draw all over the keel with a pencil then sand with a fairing board getting a full upper body workout while making the keel smoother and identifying low spots that need to be filled in with epoxy. Our spirits are much uplifted now that we are doing our own work the way we want it done. Lalo is avoiding us as we are him and things progress.

Day 39:

Todd: Another good day. We spent the morning doing fairmaster on the keel and the hull to identify low spots then the afternoon finishing our second pass of epoxy. We are too tired to write much more, but at least everything is happening exactly as we want it.

Day 40:

Finally got one of the yard workers to help us out. Thomas came to help sand and fair. Grover also came after riding his bike all over town looking for sand paper for us. He is a great help and very eager to learn. I faired most of the day until 3:30 when I could no longer hold a sander or fairing board. Ellen cooked up some great tacos for lunch and did her share of fairing too, not to mention laundry in the morning. This evening we went to town for some fish tacos then watched race 3 of the America's cup with Grover. After walking back from Marina de La Paz to where our boat is we are ready for bed. ZZZzzzzz.

Day 41:

Ellen: Another day of fairing. After cooking and laundering, I was only able to do about an hour of fairing yesterday before I was worn out. I somehow hurt the front of my left shoulder yesterday and was concerned about using the fairing board again today. So I used the random orbital sander to take down the high spots in preparation for the fairing board. With 80 grit sandpaper it is slow going, but we are less likely to sand too far. I was able to sand for about three hours. Sand an hour, rest an hour, sand an hour, rest an hour and a half... You get the idea.

Jesus came and ground down the area Lalo built up too far on his last day of work on our boat. Todd worked closely with him.

Our friend Grover came for more fairing punishment. We agreed that yesterday seemed like we weren't making much progress, but today we could see that progress is being made. This realization made work today easier. We are encouraged by our progress. Tomorrow we are taking the day off to mentally and physically recuperate.

Day 42:

We have had a wonderful day off. We spent most of it in town. Todd made some thruhull backing plates with our friend Kelley while I drank coffee and read my book at a café.

We visited an acquaintance who will be sailing to the South Pacific on an Ocean 71. Yes, that's a 71-foot sailboat. We got a tour and were suitably impressed with most of the yacht.

We consumed fish tacos, ice cream and fruit juice and enjoyed ourselves in general. We downloaded some investment articles from the Internet café and then meandered our way home for a nap. A much needed mellow day.

Cutter Jones began applying their barrier coat today and we learned some good tips from their experience.

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