There is something special with doing something for the first time. This year I will be doing a lot of things the first time, one is to secure the keel to the boat and it did teach me something today.

You might have read that yesterday I did five keel bolts and that I had to tighten them today. The reason was that the square washer under the nuts just kept spinning as I tightened the nut and I want them to be as square to the boat as possible, one reason is that I don’t want them to be touching the side of the floor ( a floor of a boat is not what you usually walk on, it is the beams that the sole lies on. The sole is what you walk on and that many refer to as the floor. Yes, it is confusing!) since it can collect standing water and risk to lead it down to the bolts.

Well, I did wrong. Some times less is more, and I went on a sealant bonanza yesterday where I added waaaay to much sealant under the washers, effectively making it into a lubricant. As I tightened down the nut, the friction between the nut and the washer was greater than the nut and the hull, hence rotating washer. Today after breakfast I got to the said bolts to tighten the nuts, but they still rotated, since the sealant hadn’t cured over night.

I did however realize my fault and had to redo two of the bolts, and after that it worked, even if some washers did do rotate a few degrees before seizing to the hull, no big deal.

Perfect is a mindset, not a state.

Anything that meets your needs are perfect, if it gets the job done. Your needs may change over time and what was perfect before might not be perfect anymore, even if it hasn’t changed. So strive not for perfect, since it is a moving target, but strive for getting the job done. Then allow the needs to change to become better.

Eventually I got the last of the eight aft bolts changed, and I felt I had to celebrate a little! I drove to the store and got some candy for the first time since I left Sweden fifty days ago! I enjoyed them in the car back to the boat yard. Now, this is not how I will celebrate in the future, because I don’t want candy to be a part of my life any more. So I did take a side step, but every plan has to accept the harsh reality some times.

Now, my plan was to replace six keelbolts today. I managed to do five, again. The main reason is that the last one took me nearly two hours to finish! It is a real pain to replace the forward bolts since it is such a confined space to work in. And I’m not looking forward to do the one in the corner where I literally only have 90 degrees of rotation available for the tools. That is the smallest rotation that I will have, the one I did last today had at least 110 degrees and it makes a great difference. But let’s hope it will work!

It’s time to hit the bed!