More Unpleasantness

Mmmm, rusty!

Things have been pretty busy over the past week; the kids are back in school and I promised them that I would have the sailing dinghy finished up before it was too cold so I've been picking away at that (post coming soon).  I did however manage to wedge myself below the cockpit and start the fun job of removing the pedestal steering column from the deck.  I think I mentioned in the last post that I had decided to keep the wheel steering to appease the family but I still needed to take it off so I could replace the cables and chain and give me the room I'll need to replace the cockpit sole with new wood (TBD).

So all I have are a few pictures of the tight spaces that I am working in now to get at the steering.  The photos really don't do it justice; it sucks much worse than it looks.  Sometimes I just don't fit, and I have to spend a few minutes trying to figure out the best approach to get at a nut.  I may have to capture my 12 year old son and stuff him into the lazarette with a wrench and a few sandwiches and just have him unbolt anything he sees in there.

On a brighter note, early next week I am going to tap out most of the deck fitting holes and get the first coat of finish paint (Interlux Perfection) on.  Also, the KiwiGrip arrived and I'm pretty excited to get moving on that once I have the Perfection done (still a few weeks out on that).