Small boat projects resume

Last Sunday we were running the snowblower and a week later, it's 50 degrees. You have to love New England.

This weekend we got back to some small boat projects. The first was to reinstall the back panel on our bridge enclosure. The zipper on it had come loose and Frances took it to a person we call "Canvas John." He won't let us give out his business name because he has more than enough work but Frances has befriended him. He replaced the big zipper on that panel for $40 and even returned the old zipper to show us why it couldn't simply be sewed back in place.

When Frances picked up the repaired panel, Canvas John  mentioned that the best stuff to clean the plastic windows is 210 Plastic Cleaner and Polish. Figuring that he must know what he's taking about, we looked it up. From their website...

"210 Plastic Cleaner and Polish the professionals’ choice for protecting and maintaining isinglass, plexiglas and vinyl. Anti-static, anti-fog and non-streaking. 210® Plastic Cleaner/Polish seals the pores in all plastics, leaving a protective coating with UV inhibitors to prevent browning and hardening. Provides plastics with a clear, lustrous look."

Sounds pretty good to us and we're going to try it. Defender Marine, Pep Boys and, of course, Amazon has it at about $16. 

But today, we wanted to clean the window part of the panel before reinstalling it. We used Plexus, which makes the plastic window very slick but doesn't really last that long.

 Then we drove down to the boat and reinstalled the bridge enclosure panel with its new zipper.

 At least now, the bridge is completely enclosed again. The boat may be in a shed but that doesn't mean that the dust and dirt doesn't blow through.

Then we went below to check out out how our sink cover fit, No exactly what we wanted, but close. We'll keep sanding. We never realized how complex the top and sides of a stainless sink were. You can see how well it fits, or doesn't, in the video.

We always like to check out the river before we leave. Today, you could wear a short-sleeve shirt but the river still had some ice floating down. A little more than a month until spring, but we'd guess there is some substantial winter weather still ahead.