As boaters we have all experienced the dreaded sound of “Bloop”. You know that sound that sometimes is preceded by bounce, bing, bong and then followed by the dreaded blooping noise. It could be a one off screw, nut, bolt, favorite tool or something more irreplaceable like a ring or other item that is now bequeathed to Neptune. Yep, perhaps even your favorite pocket knife.
As it happens, it was a nice day and one of the warmest days here in Whangarei in a while at 21° C. I had just finished putting down some non-slip pads under the cabin rugs below and decided to grab a beer and have a sit out back in the king’s seat at the stern of Dazzler. My special lady saw it as an opportunity to join me and take in the warmth of the day by joining me on Dazzler’s stern seat.
We were enjoying the moment when we both heard the sound of a big bloop! Jilly asked me if something had fallen out of my pocket. I looked down and observed that my pocket knife, that used to be clipped to my right pocket, was missing. The only thing visible were a few bubbles and pond rings increasing in size away from the sound of the bloop on the surface of the water just below my butt. Well that can’t be good.
I wasn’t too concerned about the knife because I already had a plan to attempt recovery. I got up and grabbed my 3”x 3” magnet and started tying lines to it to lower it into the water. Jilly kind of laughed a little and I’m sure she was thinking that I was silly for even thinking I would be able to retrieve my knife. She then stepped it up a bit by saying that she would kiss my hairy white butt before God and everyone if I recovered my knife. I’m sure she fully expected that she had a sure bet. You know, that’s not something you get told everyday. The odds of retrieval would be astronomical if we were at anchor. But, being tied to the dock was in my favor. I started fishing with the magnet lowering it down to the bottom which consisted of some nasty mud. I spent about five minutes from Dazzler’s stern seat over the area where the knife had fallen into the water with no positive results. I decided to get serious and move to the dock where I could make incremental patterns of retrieval through the water and across the muddy bottom.
Jilly decided this was a photo opportunity and went down below to get her camera. Just as she was sitting down on the stern seat I made my first cast from the dock into the water near the stern of Dazzler’s keel. Once the magnet was on the bottom I started to move it slowly across the bottom. Once the line and magnet were perpendicular to the edge of the dock I started to pull up the magnet to check it before making another cast.
As the magnet approached the surface I observed something stuck to its bottom. “Hey! That’s my knife.” Jilly responded with, “No Way!” The look of amazement and shock on her face said it all. “Oh no!” You could even see her brain clicking on her face as she was struggling to find a way to redact her words from earlier. I reminded her of what she had said, “I’ll kiss your hairy white butt in front of God and everyone.” With those words echoing in my head. I calmly marched over to the water faucet to rinse off my knife with fresh water. As I walked along the dock back toward her, I had that spring in my step with my chest poking out like a proud peacock. She noticed my posture and commented again about her disbelief that I could retrieve my knife from the clutches of Poseidon.
I positioned myself in the cockpit directly in front of her, turned around and dropped my shorts right there in broad daylight in front of the entire world and I collected the debt owed me. Jilly said she’ll never make that promise again.
Having a proper retrieval magnet onboard is definitely beneficial for the recovery of ferrous objects. This wasn’t the first time that I have successfully retrieved an object that blooped into the water. It won’t work on stainless steel or other non-metallic materials of course. A magnet should be one that is strong enough to lift a heavy tool and it should have a proper attachment point, otherwise you may just be waisting your time. I suggest when you use a magnet for object recovery that you develop a systematic pattern that overlaps for the best success rate.
My knife re-clipped into my pocket, a fresh beer in my hand and lipstick marks on my left butt cheek. Ahhhhhhhh! Does life get any better? Nope!
Until next bloop or project take care and remember to not promise something unless you are planning to go through with it….whatever the level of embarrassment there might be.
Cheers!
Captain Dan
P.S. Sorry folks…there will be no photos of the butt kissing!
Sitting around watching the Kiwi world pass by one day at a time gives you time to ponder many things. Spiritual, metaphysical, chemical, biological and interior boat design. Where did that come from? LOL Well, Dazzler’s interior saloon cushions have been on board since I purchased her in 2003. In fact, her saloon cushions may even be original making them 33 years old. That’s really not bad life expectancy if you ask me. In 2014 I did replace the seat cushion foam but not the fabric. With the reality of seeing tread bare areas on some of the cushion surfaces it was time to consider having new cushions made for her.
You can imagine all the possibilities to consider. What kind of foam? What kind of fabric? What color fabric? What style of finished cushions and so on… If I need to fix something on the engine there is only one part that fits that one engine. You don’t care about the color or style as long as it is the right part to correct the issue. Cushion hunting is a different animal. It’s not like buying a pair of men’s Levi’s 501 jeans. No no no! It has to be uplifting, add style and refinement to her interior with just the right amount of je ne sais quoi.
So, while being locked in New Zealand at level 2, we headed to one of the local canvas shops to look at marine fabric and ask enough questions to create another Spanish Inquisition. We first stopped at Canvas and Covers here in Whangarei as we had bought some fabric from them for other projects on Dazzler. Lynn at the front of the store was very happy to answer all of our questions and Jilly found a fabric sample that met her criteria for possible cushion fabric for Dazzler’s interior.
We next needed to schedule a time for their cushion specialist, who by the way, has been sewing fabric and cushions since he was 15 years old. He looks to be well seasoned with several decades of experience. A day or two later Paul was on Dazzler taking measurements for a quote. The quote was provided the next day via email. It seemed reasonable but we wanted the get a second opinion, as you do. We made arrangements with another canvas company here in Whangarei. Their specialist was timely and provided his company’s quote within a day of being on Dazzler.
The second company was a few hundred dollars cheaper but had too many restrictions on finished styling. Plus, we both had a very positive feeling from Paul and his level of expertise as well as the personnel at Canvas and Covers. All of which made our decision very easy. We had a good Sunbrella fabric selected, a good finished style and a business that we both felt a high level of comfort with.
We stopped by on a Friday afternoon to leave a deposit and went back to Dazzler to bask in our buyer’s glow. About 10 days later Paul was back on Dazzler making patterns for the cushions. He was on and off in little over an hour. The business did allow us the opportunity to take some photos of the manufacturing of the cushions along the way. We even caught Paul behind the machine actually working. LOL Seriously though, from what we’ve seen he is an exceptional worker with a high level of experience and integrity in his work.
The saloon cushions would be removed during the process which would make it a bit uncomfortable. We decided to be a bit more comfortable and decided to acquire an Air BnB that was about a block away from Dazzler during the cushion construction phase. While off the boat, I decided to add a little face lift to the galley and navigation station varnish as well.
Oh…the mess!!!!
The first day I started by removing all the hardware to make varnishing a bit easier. Bells, whistles, cleats, lights, barometer gauges, wooden phallic symbols, I mean tiki statues, adorning the top of the navigation station. Once all items were removed I started sanding. We hadn’t moved up to the Air BnB yet so I made some plastic drop cloth curtains that separated the saloon from the galley area. I then started creating a white cloud of sanding dust. The vacuum was running and the orbital and dermal sanders were whirring; followed by intermittent hand sanding of all the nooks and crannies.
Day 2, we moved daily operations up to the Air BnB so Jilly could start binge watching West Wing with the provided free Netflix and Amazon Prime video along with full internet access so she could also work on our blog. I walked down the hill and finished sanding and vacuuming and preparing surfaces for varnishing. A long day, but a lot was accomplished. Tape was put down, initial sanding done and I was ready for the first coat of varnish. During this job there were several areas that did not require being sanded down to raw wood, however, many of the fiddle block edges needed a deep sanding to remove all the old finish from years of use. Before heading back up to the flat on top of the world, I wiped the raw wood with some good quality teak oil as a wood sealer to help bring back some of the rich teak look on all of the raw wood.
Day 3, I was on board Dazzler early and started the electric heater to warm up the air. I wiped down all the surfaces to be varnished with a wet rag followed by acetone in an attempt to clean the surfaces from any moisture and dust particles. Varnish stirred and mixed at about 5:1 ratio of varnish to thinner for the first coat. I was done varnishing by 0930 hours. The varnish was setting up well so I added a second coat to those areas that had been sanded down to raw wood. It was now about noon and time to clean up for tomorrow.
Day 4, again I was up early and walking down the Vale Road expressway, LOL, at about 0700 hours on my way down to Dazzler for another productive day of sanding and dragging a wet brush of varnish across the boards. Anyone who has done varnish work knows that preparation is about 90% of the whole job. I personally find that scratch coating freshly dried varnish is much easier than grinding down those old finishes preparing for the first coats of varnish. As is the case today. I scratch sanded all the varnished surfaces and was ready for additional coats of varnish by 1000 hours. I applied the second coat all over and in some cases a third and fourth coat on those areas that had been sanded down to raw wood. By 1400 hours I was in clean up mode and getting ready to lock things up for another day completed.
Day 5, I struggled with the decision of whether to apply a hand rubbed varnish finish or leave the gloss finish. I finally decided to pull up short and leave the gloss finish in the galley and the navigation station. Part of me wants to believe that it may be a bit more water resistant around the galley and the opened companion way. Only time will tell if I have chosen wisely. LOL
Day 6, early morning again and down the road of life to start cleaning up the mess I had created down below. Pulled all the tape, re-installed all of the hardware, radios, electronics, gauges, phallic symbols, I mean wooden tiki statues, hula girls, Hector the fire breathing alien and other assorted doodads. Next clean the saloon with the vacuum, and dust to get Dazzler’s interior ready for the new cushions.
Magic day! The cushions were going to arrive. We checked out of our Air BnB, loaded up the car and decided to stop by Canvas and Covers to check on timing of delivery. We were given a mid afternoon arrival time, so we headed over to one of our local watering holes for an early lunch and then back to Dazzler to wait around the Tiki Statues for Santa Clause to arrive with our new cushions. Funny that Santa in our case was Paul from Canvas and Covers with his elf, Brendan, the owner. Just as I had to leave to pick up our floor coverings from the dry cleaners, I saw the Canvas and Covers truck pull up near the dock. Oh well, I had left Jilly on board just in case they called while I was out. Upon returning to Dazzler I found Brendan and Paul were still onboard. A small measurement error and a few cushion backs had to go back for modification. Knowing how boat projects go from living on board since 2003, we took it in stride. Just a small bump in the road and everything will be just fine tomorrow.
The final day. We were told that it would be about noon for the cushion return. Actually it was about 0900 hours when the phone rang to inform us that Paul was on his way. The West Wing binge marathon had caught up with Jilly as she was still slumbering in the bunk. Even after my attempt to be a human alarm clock earlier. I’m not sure I have ever seen her move that fast before. Grape Ape and I just stood back out of the way while the white tornado dressed, applied make up and did her hair in about five minutes flat. So now the truth has been revealed. It is possible to get ready to leave the boat in much less than 1-1.5 hours. Note to self here. And then Paul was here with our new cushions. Push here, push there and snap! Everything looked outstanding. Dazzler’s interior is so much brighter and cleaner looking. It is awesome and completely exceeded our expectations. Color, style and function have now pulled her interior into a much needed fashion update from her time capsule era.
Settee….Before and After
Table….Before and After
Jilly is a happy camper!
The finished product looks amazing and we are very satisfied with our choice of fabric, style and the upholstery services of Canvas and Covers in Whangarei, New Zealand. A little varnish work completed along the way and we are now ready for our next project. Something greasy I’m guessing! Ha Ha Ha
Cheers!
Captain Dan
P.S. A few notes from Jilly: I’m not going to address the West Wing comments because, well, he’s right. I did find myself completely immersed in a week long marathon of West Wing that kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. That said, I did manage to get a lot of work done on the blog for our Dazzler Approved Business pages and I got a nice new haircut!
Our Air BnB was absolutely perfect for us and the added bonus of being able to watch TV and movies we haven’t seen in years was even better. Susan and her hubby David live upstairs and were excellent hosts. The location, just up the hill from the marina was perfect and we definitely recommend their place for yachties or anyone who wants to be close to town and have a terrific unit at a great price.
My new friend, Paul. He’s certainly a gem!
As for the cushions…I’m beyond happy with them. Paul, Lynn, Brendan and the entire crew at Canvas and Covers did an outstanding job! I simply cannot thank them enough for everything. They were helpful, easy to work with and their work is top quality! I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone looking for canvas or upholstery work in this area.
Stand by though…the job is not complete yet. With the beautiful new cushions our old throw pillows simply don’t fit. They don’t match and they look old and ugly so now we are working on finding material to have new ones made. Of course Dan is enjoying every second we spend in fabric stores while I pour over swatches and samples. HA HA Honestly I think he’s ready to fly my mother in to help.
Dazzler's Watch 