Hello (again)

[Chrisc]

Hello all,
It has been a year and a half since I last contributed to the forum, at which time I wrote that I really couldn't think of any more excuses not to go off cruising, so off we went!
Well, its been a fabulous year and a half, and I have to agree with all the others who have said 'if I knew it would be this good, I would have done it sooner.' We are coastal cruisers here in NZ, and having only scratched the surface of our wonderful cruising grounds, expect to continue with the livaboard life for some years to come. We average two days per month in marinas for stores, water etc and for the rest we are either on passage or at anchor someplace. I've got a couple of years to go before I reach pension age and not being rich, have to watch the dollars pretty carefully, so we have been very pleased and surprised to note that we have come in under what was a pretty tight budget. Its amazing what you can do if the incentive is big enough.
Just now, we are ashore for a month whilst I am helping our son who is well advanced with the construction of a 37' catamaran. Apart from all the usual jokes (he) 'you only sail a half-boat.... (me) if I wanted two hulls I'd buy another boat... I have to admit to a sneaking admiration of his boat. He has a whole leap more room than I have in my 40 footer.
I am busy with day after day of sanding fibreglass and since he is building the boat in a plastic shade house where the temperature gets to 35 degrees by mid morning, overalls et all are not an option. I suffer a lot from the fibreglass sanding itch, but joy of joys, I have discovered a solution.
(1) Have a hot shower, towel dry any give yourself a good over all dusting of talcum powder. (2) Enjoy yourself sanding. (3) At close of play, take a cold shower. You can add a little warm water but only enough to take the chill off. After a good rinse, hot shower as normal, dry and apply baby oil.
The theory is that the hot shower in the morning opens up the pores of the skin which the talcum powder then fills, preventing the ingress of the glass particles. The cold shower at the end of the job keeps the skin's pores closed and washes the glass particles from off the skin. The baby oil soothes and eases out any bits of glass that may have sneakily worked their way in. The worst areas for irritation when sanding fibreglass are usually between the fingers and the wrists, but using the above I have absolutely no trouble. Probably an old remedy but worth repeating in case there are any other gullible people like me who get conned into assisting in other people's boatbuilding projects.

Joke & Chris

[Stillraining]

Welcome Back...I wasent here your first go.

Sounds like your enjoying your self..Ive got 7 or 8 more years to go before I can even consider what your doing...slightly jealous..

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Joke and Chris,
Welcome aboard! Good to have you back. I knew a guy who would jump straight in the Bay just after sanding fiberglass. He swore that he didn't get the itchys.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[Pelagic]

Welcome back Chris. It is great to hear of another successful transition to the simple life and we look forward to hearing details of what you learned about cruising NZ economically. (It is a place on my must visit list)

Your son is a lucky guy to have a father like you….. but you do have to laugh at the irony of that one night, so many years ago, of relieving another itch, would bring it back…..ten thousand fold!

Here’s to the end of the sanding!