Three! Count 'em - three!!

On Wednesday, I mentioned "one task per day."  I must have been running behind... we tackled three tasks today.  Or, maybe it means I get the next two days off?  Sure as heck, my buddy Pat is going to ask, "How do you know you have a day off when you're retired?"  He'll find out... his countdown clock is ticking.

What?  Oh, yeah - the tasks.  We have been pondering where to put the solar exhaust fan we bought for the boat.  I went back and forth between the head and the v-berth.  Both places generate plenty of humidity.  In the end, I decided to mount the fan in the forward hatch, because it would have a better shot at sunlight, due in large part to the radar arch on our boat.

I followed all the directions.  Measured a whole bunch of times.  Made an "X" with tape to pinpoint the center and went after it with the hole saw on loan from our friend Roger...

A have to say, I really don't like drilling holes in a perfectly good boat.  Going through my head while I was cutting away: "This hatch will cost me about $500 to replace - sure hope it doesn't split out!"

The hole saw made it a snap.  I pondered some more...

As far as holes go, this is a good one...

I carefully sanded the edges and test fit the exhaust fan...

Some 5200, and it's in...

For those who are not boat people, 5200 is a gooey white substance often used to repair and install stuff on boats.  It is part adhesive, part caulk-like, dries hard as nails, and one blob of this stuff is guaranteed to get in the most amazing places... like in your hair, on your sunglasses, and on the skin under your skivvies.  No one knows how that happens, but it always does.  It takes days for the 5200 to set up good and solid, thus the tape on the above image.  The fan housing fits in the hole nicely, but I wanted to make sure it didn't rotate in the hole... I'm not obsessive or anything, but I have the screws lined up nice and even...

With task one done, I moved on to number two: more drilling.  I promised Joan I'd put in a cable connection in the cockpit so we didn't have to do that "Sanford & Son" through the window thing again.  Drilling in the cockpit...

I worked on the outside, while Joan threaded cable in the cabin.  It will be set up for cable or satellite TV...

No, the finished product doesn't have that cable hanging out - the little white box is nicely drilled and mounted to the bulkhead wall.

Task 2.5: Joan wanted a cable connection on the outside of the house, in the same place as our power outlet.  Again, I drilled and mounted, while she ran cable.  Then, the test: all systems are GO, in the house and in the boat.

Then, the really tough task: getting that pretty fiberglass bed cover back on the truck.  It is a beast, and it has to come off to tow the 5th wheel.  I made a hanging mount for it in our cargo trailer, so we don't have to carry it far.  In the past, I have found a couple guys working on something else in the neighborhood and offered them $$ for 3 minutes of heavy lifting.  Joan said she was up for the task today... I was wishing I was.  I sucked it up and we hauled the cover on to the truck bed.  Joan was even kind enough to put in the screws at the far end of the bed so my achy ol' bones didn't have to crawl back there.  8 bolts/nuts hold it all down.  It is a lot of work just to take the 5th wheel out for a few days... but, it looks go good and gives us covered storage in the back of the truck.  So, on and off it goes.

Somehow, those tasks ate up most of the day.  Barely had time for lunch out and a trip to Wally World to pick up a few more lengths of cable.  We should be good to go... and looking forward to a couple days off! ;-)