I flew home last Thursday for three days of running around and handling some things that required my presence. The AmyUnit, the weasel tribe, the two retard cat infestation and Mr. Kitty managed quite well without me. I am now back in the mega-mansion with everyone else and we currently stand at T-minus 28 days and counting until our return to life afloat.

To that end, I have been working on tying up a number of projects including finishing the rehab on our 9.5 foot APEX rigid inflatable. One of the multitude of pieces and parts I brought back from the states was a new air valve and some new Hypalon patch material. The air valve assembly went in without any issues and when I pumped the dink up, I discovered two separate holes that required patching. Neither was very big and I opted for 4 inch round patches coupled with new, 2 part Hypalon glue.

After 24 hours at rest with large C clamps holding everything in place, I am glad to announce that I have successfully enslaved the air molecules! Who’s your daddy? I own you O2!

This is the first time in like 5 years I can remember our dinghy not leaking slightly from somewhere, so to show my dinghy some love, I have crafted a new set of chaps to protect said dink from things that go bump in the night. Or the day. Or pretty much anytime Amy is driving.

Yes I know they are bright. And no we aren’t big Miami Dolphin fans, but it’s what I had.

Actually this iteration of the chaps is made entirely from an abrasion resistant vinyl product that a friend who works for a fabric company sent me to try. Supposedly it hold up ten times better then Sunbrella which is what I used on my roughly 40 set of chaps I have built to date. The cost is actually about half of Sunbrella, but the denser, heavier material is tougher to work with and that adds to build time. I have 6 hours in this set so far and maybe another 2 or 3 to finish it up.

These chaps are going to be held on entirely with two inch industrial Velcro, which is a bit of a departure from past designs. I’ve used the Velcro to hold the inside down before, but never the outside, so if I die in a horrible conflagration of flames, two stroke oil and dinghy particles, you’ll all know something went sideways. More importantly you’ll know not to try this yourself.

Ok, more updates are on the way. Remember, be safe, it’s dumb out there….