Simple Pleasures
Recently, a friend loaned me a dinghy that had not seen the water in over 10 years. During that time, the homely, but solid, little white fiberglass pram had been “stored” outside in a corner of the driveway and it looked pretty shabby. Now, my introduction into the boating world years ago involved more than a few shabby boats so I felt comfortable I could handle this one.
Last night I attacked the situation with Lestoil, a heavy-duty scrub brush, and some powerful hose action. Surprisingly, the years of filth stripped away fairly easily, leaving behind a clean, if not perfectly smooth, hull and interior. The boat had never been bottom-painted, so I measured off and taped a waterline, and roughed up the hull with 80 and 120 grit sandpapers. Finally, I applied one light “primer” coat of bottom paint, followed by a finish coat.
This morning, I stripped the blue masking tape off and inspected my work. “Not bad”, I thought to myself. The dinghy didn’t look new, but overall, it did look fresh and neat, and bottom paint line followed the contour of the hull nicely. I now had a perfectly respectable little craft for inner harbor transit. Sometimes, you don’t have to go far to experience a simple pleasure like breathing new life into an old boat, even if it is just a dock dinghy.
