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OK! Time for the old girl to get a bath! First, we have to explore all of the nooks and crannies, and get all of the stuff out! Wheeee!
OK...The first lesson here is: Always use the right tool for the job!
Here we see our intrepid hero trying negotiations with some unwanted boat-guests using the only can on hand...."Armour All Tire Foam"....Let's see how this works out....
I think the official response is that "Negotiations have failed, and stronger methods of persuasion will have to be obtained"...
(In other words..."That just pissed them off!) LOL
Some terms come to mind...
"Better living through chemistry"...
"Weapons of WASP Destruction"...
OH!....The humanity! (Don't let the little picture fool you...These guys have been living in the boat since before we bought it...They were HUGE...and not happy. It was them or us...)
How did SO MUCH STUFF come out of, what we thought, was a fairly empty little boat?!?! This is about half...I couldn't bear to show the finished pile!
OK! Time to fire the steam up!
We used an old Simpson Hot Water Pressure Washer to take the grime and mold and dirt and...well, you get the idea...
I am probably going to make some soap manufacturers mad... But I started out with a careful mixture of Simple Green, some concentrated Car Wash, and some House Wash, left over from last weekend...After a while we realized that it really made no difference...The steam blasted everything off...We could not tell where we had or had not sprayed the soap...Eventually we quit spraying it altogether. It made NO difference. I'm sure it would have without the steam...
Take a good look...I don't EVER intend to let her get that dirty EVER again!...(Of course you know that saying..."Never say never."?...If you'll read the above sentence again, you'll see that I didn't! heheheh)
Depending on your monitor settings...That may be GREEN that you are seeing there...hahaha
With the sound of "FROOOOOOM"...the steam washer fired up, and very shortly the water got VERY hot...about 200F...
This was SOOO KEWL! LOL
We were pretty excited! (How sad is that!?) hahaha
I didn't even have to use any "Mark Twain Psycology" on Cody...He WANTED to do it! (He is really starting to get excited about the whole idea...)
Here's Cody taking another turn, after I got mine...(Note the word "OOH" carved into the grime!
Time to break out the dew-rag! It was only about 80F that day, but that water is HOT! (Note the steam...) At this point we are still foolishly spraying the unneeded soap. (See the sprayer...)
WOW! It is like spray-painting "Clean" onto the boat! I'm not sure that this kind of bliss is healthy!...
Ya know...We didn't really think that it was THAT dirty...Boy, were we wrong! LOL
At this point, we were no longer using the soap...
Can you tell the difference?...(Neither could we.)
You know how "they" say that it is always darkest, before the dawn?... "They"...are right...
I thought that steam was hot OUTSIDE the boat...
The interior was a bit daunting, but armed with my trusty wand...I fearlessly treaded into the abyss....
(Note the small blob of dirt in the middle of the pic, on the keel trunk...It's a dirt dobber nest...)
People pay big bucks for use of a suana...Yet, here I am, inside the cabin... enjoying the benefits of one without even trying! (That is steam drifting out of the hatch.)
It's amazing how much water comes out of that wand! This Wet-Dry Vaccum was GREAT for the job! It gleefully sucked up water, paint chips, wasp nests, water, dirt, water... It holds 16 gallons...We had to drain it 14 times... Anyone want to add that up for me?! Anyone?...Bueller?...
Eventually, we wised up and placed a box fan over the forward hatch...What an improvement! It was wonderful inside!...
(Well, compared to before...)
The steam washer effortlessly, and quickly knocked any loose paint off...It must have pretty much ALL been loose! :-)
In most places, all coats other than the original factory paint came right off...There were a few spots where that came off too, down to the resin...but that is OK with me! Less sanding, is less sanding...
Every corner was steam washed...So not only is she clean,...but she is almost sterile! LOL
Why yes....Those "Renegade" sunglasses do go quite well with that "ICOM" hat..."No...You cant have them. Now, back in the hole!" heheheh
(OK, OK we were still taking turns....)
Any good captain knows how far to push his (or her) crew, before mention of the coming plunder, to get that last little bit of enthusiam out of them! In this case we were heading to the best Mexican Resturant in town! Oddly enough it is not run by Mexicans...hahaha They consider themselves a California Style resturant, but nonetheless, if you want to sample the closest thing to authentic mexican food, this side of the Rio Grande, this is the place....I475, exit 9 in Macon, Georgia.
That is a disciplined crew! (How cruel of me to tell them to wait, while I snap a couple of pictures! Hold on! one more! )
That great big...humongous chunk of aluminum foil, is called the MOAB...(Mother Of All Burritos) and is just one of many fantastic things on the menu!
Ahhhhh, that is the look of contentment! (He actually ate about half of it, before he gave up and asked for a box!) Once upon a time, Caliente's would put your Polaroid on the wall if you finished one! (It's way harder than it looks! The pics don't do it justice!)
I guess I COULD show you some "clean" pictures...HUH?!?
Hmmmm I was so hungry, this is the only good one we took! hahaha, I will take some more, to post!
OK, I have taken a few more! (It's amazing how good it feels to show off the work that we have done....When we are through with the refit, I will probably explode...)
That's not dirt in there...That's where we (I) blasted the original paint off of the resin!
Well, I hope that you enjoyed this small victory as much as we did, because the next section will be a real downer! ;-)
"Coming soon...To a 'puter near you!" :-)
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