Those of you who remember the column from Bay and Delta Yachtsman will recall my usual cast of characters included the Divine Esther, among others. This is the continuing saga of life on board, uncensored and unedited. I hope you enjoy!
The Divine Esther has just saved herself over $12,000. She got this estimate from Svendsen’s Boat Yard to remove the teak decks from the flying bridge from Meri Mate, her 29-year-old CHB trawler. After checking around and finding that she could not find a better price and, being frugal by nature, decided that she would much rather spend that money on vacations, liquor and fast men rather than hand it over to a boat yard.
Her son gave her a tool kit specifically designed for removing the old teak deck as a birthday gift in March. Incidentally, our neighbor Dean gave her a ratchet set and Sweetie gave her a starter tool kit. She wondered what kind of woman gets tools as gifts. Esther’s kind, that’s who.
Anyway, the first day she went at the project with a vengeance, ripping and prying the old planks from the deck. Every wooden plug had to be removed and every screw unseated.
Esther was diligent in her pursuit. She gave herself a deadline and every day removed a few more planks. Eventually, all the planks were up and all the screws removed. She found that the fiberglass deck under the old planking was still in good shape, luckily.
She then proceeded to sand and fill all those tiny screw holes with epoxy, a messy job but necessary. Next came the epoxy barrier coat to seal the deck. This step took several days, but Esther persevered.
She decided since the new flybridge deck was now going to be primarily white to strip and paint out the teak trim around the base of the settees and helm. This step took another few days to sand down the old Cetol finish, prime and paint.
She has just about completed the project, needing only the final coat of paint to cover the deck. She is waiting for a weather window to apply the Bright Side top coat.
We went over for drinks the other night and she held up a glass jar filled to the brim with bronze screws. She said, as we raised our glasses in celebration, “This represents $12,000, right in my pocket!”
That Esther is quite a gal, especially when you consider that she is officially a senior citizen.
