Diann was awake first and I followed her out of bed. It was 7AM. Zoey need to pee.
Having made coffee, and checked emails, it was time for a bit of business catch up.
That done, boat projects ensued.
Two portside hatches were on my agenda for the day. Like the starboard saloon hatch, they were most recently bedded with butyl tape. Unfortunately the tape used, by the previous owner, was acquired from an RV dealer and so was not up to the standard for marine use. The benefit of taking up butyl tape bedded hatches is that they aren’t glued down like those having silicone caulk as the sealant.
Trust me, for many reasons, properly applied butyl tape is a superior method of bedding hatches. The tape requires more time to apply than simply squirting caulk, but far easier to remove if the need does arise.
This photo is of the removed hatch and the poor adherence of the tape than had been used.
Poor Adherence
After injecting epoxy in the port saloon hatch screws (as had been done yesterday for the starboard side) I was able to bed the hatch over the head. (All screw attachment points in the head were in fiberglass and so no epoxy protection was needed for wood.)
Off to West Marine, I went for a new grill regulator. I was also able to weight the propane tank and verified it to not weigh more than it should for the amount of fuel it could safely hold.
As I finish this post, I can see the Catalina Grill waiting for another opportunity to grill those Italian sausages in preparation for spaghetti. This story better end well……………..