Take 2 on the Engine Thing... Success on the Registration #'s

So this morning I trucked the engine to another Evinrude dealer. I am cautiously optimistic. Cautiously optimistic enough that I am going to go ahead and apply the bow numbers, paint the bottom, and finish the woodwork this week. Then hopefully I will get the engine installed early next week and have a launch sometime around the 20th. Remember, I'm being optimistic.

On Mom's day, my PU's arrived and PU1 lent a hand with installing the last of the teak grab-rails. Now all the cabin-top teak is either installed or temporarily installed. Vast quantities of 4200 sealant have goobered out of one of the cabin-top sliders, but its only a temporary installation anyhow. The grabrail installed by PU1 and I actually went quite well.

The past couple nights have been spend wet sanding the old registration off the bow. I was tipped off to using either ammonia or oven cleaner to get the wax off. Last fall when I sanded the old name off the hull It took forever to get through the wax (Poliglow, which is actually an acrylic polymer, or something like that and not a wax at all) but the gel coat sanded quite nicely. This time around, the ammonia/oven cleaner would cut the work in half.

Its dusk, the birds are quietly settling into their roosts, and I ascend the ladder to the fore peak in order to reach the old registration numbers to sand off. I have oven cleaner, ammonia, a sanding block, some rags, and 600 grit wet sand paper. Its a great night. I take a drink of Stella and reach for the ammonia.

The Ammonia has the same effect on the Poliglow as licking the hull would. It didn't do much of anything. Time to reach for the good stuff. It'll just take a couple passes of Easy-Off to get the hull cleaned, then wait 5 minutes (drink beer) and wipe the oven cleaner away.

I line up the bottle on the numbers, take a deep breath, and spray. The wind carries the Easy-Off in a slow-motion arc from the aerosol can, toward the hull, and then straight back into my face.

It is a difficult thing to describe the stinging sensation that comes from a face full of oven cleaner. It makes your lips tingle and eyes sting. A quick escape is difficult from 12 feet up in the air, so I had to gingerly come down the ladder to wipe my face clean and get some water to rinse away the chemicals.

Luckily I had acne as a teen, so the pitting shouldn't be too noticeable.

Back up the ladder and scrub away the old numbers. In the past 2 nights I have pretty much removed the numbers to the point that i am convinced Poseidon will have forgotten the boat's old identity, and I can gleefully go forward free of curses from the god of the deep. Tonight I hope to apply the new Ontario Registration Numbers, you'll know if I do, 'cause it will be one less thing on the to-do list tomorrow!

If I do really well, I may even jump ahead of myself and slap on some bottom paint. Oh the excitement!