2791Hrs – A Thoughtful Gift

Another five hours today, sanding, filling and coating the crossbeams.

Tomorrow if all goes well I’ll get a coat of primer on them and then I’ll be on the downhill run to getting this major construction job ticked off.

A few days ago I had an e-mail from my brother. He told me that he was making me a gift of a liferaft for ‘Gleda’ so as to give both he and my parents some peace of mind when ‘Gleda’ goes offshore, a generous act for which I’m grateful.

The raft arrived today, it’s a 4-man raft with survival pack and I was pleasantly surprised at the relatively small size of the container although it is pretty heavy at 45 Kg (100lb).

It remains my opinion that the boat itself represent the best liferaft I’ll ever have. ‘Gleda’ has watertight crash bulkheads in the bows, numerous sealed buoyancy compartments around the boat and of course the absence of big bits of lead hanging off the bottom means that she wouldn’t sink even if fully waterlogged. Two hulls are better than one with regard to collision or holing as well.

I spent years in the Royal Navy working with liferafts and believe me they are not a nice place to be unless the only other alternative really is swimming. All of the above meant that a liferaft was way down my list of equipment but now that I have one I’ll find somewhere to mount it (probably behind the deck pod) and there it can sit reminding me that there are loved ones far away who care for me.