Screw it!

[Marlene Anne Sassaman]

Well, well, well, for two days I have been practicing how to screw. Now, don't get the wrong idea. All of this screwing has to do with adhering two wooden disks designed to cover and seal out water from the center board's swivel pin. First, the 4 disks had to be epoxied. If you saw my epoxy work you would know that goo went mostly in places other than on the disks. Consider that one of the disks had to be put on in a narrowing compartment barely 3 inches wide where the bottom screw goes. After the epoxy dried the disks needed to be sanded in order for the silicone to adhere. Looks like my sanding has not improved much; either spots get missed or gouged.

The end result was that the silicone did not have enough time to cure, or it did not bond well, or I just didn't screw tight enough. It was only by lifting SPRAY back into the water that we can see water rushing in. Back out of the water and properly blocked I spent no less than 9 hours yesterday, separating the disks, and cleaning/sanding the silicone off.

My hands are so sore this morning after scraping out the screw holes from the dried epoxy and silicone. Guess the epoxy had dried in 3 of the holes. When 3 screws did not seat all the way in I should have known there would be a leaky problem. I was so tired and hoped it would be o.k. as the other 5 screws holding the 6 inch diameter disk went in all the way. Using a teeny tiny nail I picked out the 'junk' from the screw holes. Then, my sailing/boat building/designer friend Keith again came to the rescue. He taught me about a tap. Ah, not the kind that goes on the bottom of my clogging shoe, but rather a screw like piece of metal designed to make the screw grooves in the object the screw is going to go into.

It took me another two hours of using the tap on each of the sixteen holes, er uh, 32 holes to clean 'em up. Before I left last night (16 hours after I had arrived), the disks fit perfectly. The only thing that scares me is tonight I have to unscrew the screws and apply the 4200 sealant. Hopefully, the 4200 will protect the wood without having to re-epoxy again.

Lordy, this job cost me two days or salary earning work. Oh shoot, if I don't quit babbling I'll be late, as I dare not take off a 3rd day in the row. Up until two years ago, I usually won the perfect attendance award. Not, since I decided to sail off into the wild blue yonder, though as my dedication as a school counselor waned. O.K. Bye,