Distinguished Young Women of Alaska

2012 Distinguished Young Women of Alaska

Our first kayakers of the season were the contestants in Alaska's Distinguished Young Women competition. We cleared out some space in the Arctic Fjord, and put poggies on all the paddles and went out to paddle on a sunny but chilly spring day. We very much enjoyed the girl's company and in addition to all their other talents, they prooved to be distinguished kayakers as well. Big thanks to Bob McClory for organizing the event and to all the young women for their energy, good humor and excellent singing.

The DYW heading into the dock

Roof Carpeting

Lars gets the carpet ready

The roof carpet was one of the ickiest things about the Arctic Fjord. It was light grey which showed the mildew very nicely and was also peeling off in a lot of conspicuous places: at least it was easy to rip out. First, Greg took down all the lights then the old carpet came down easily. Once it was all pulled out we patched the soft spots and sanded the ceiling.

I would have to be honest and say that I have never liked to see carpet anywhere except on a floor: you can't vacuum a wall can you? But roof carpeting seemed to be the only way to go on the Arctic Fjord, so we picked out a nice boaty blue and set to work. Once again, Lars was extremely helpful. Getting carpet onto the roof proved to be quite a tricky business: it took every last gallon of contact adhesive that could be purchased in Ketchikan and a rolling pin.

We cut the carpet (which is a carpet designed for boats) into 12x6 foot strips.  A layer of contact adhesive was applied to the carpet and to the ceiling and left to dry for 1 hour. Luckily, Fat Stan's Bar is at the top of the ramp: you could not stay in the boat while the contact was drying. Once the glue was ready, Greg and Lars carefully positioned the carpeting on the ceiling, then rolled over it with a rolling pin (just a regular one from the kitchen) until it stuck.

We had to cut out around the windows

The high section of the boat was tricky, because we only have one ladder and the carpet had to be cut out around the windows, but it looks good now that it is complete. Greg got the tarps out and almost all of the lights back up, ready for the first kayak event of the year.

Floor & Ceiling

Greg & Lars working on the Floor

The frp looks great and only a few pieces popped off the curvy parts of the walls in the extreme cold last week. The temperature has not gotten much higher, and it snowed all weekend but those errant pieces of frp have been firmly screwed back on. It's was time to move on to the floor and ceiling. The plywood floor is being replaced and then we will lay linoleum over the top of the plywood. The plywood was nailed down with several hundred galvanized flathead nails. Nailing the plywood took a long time but got done, with many thanks to Lars, who has been helping out the last few weeks.

The flooring is vinyl backed vinyl: a linoleum that is recommended for use in marine and other wet areas.
Unfortunately , when were all ready to lay the flooring we discovered the adhesive had frozen and when it thawed was was semi solid and useless. A quick trip to the flooring store and we had another 3 gallons of good stuff and were ready. A flooring expert friend who now drives a cab told us to lay the lino over the openings to the bilge areas and then cut them out. This worked fairly well except that the weight of the lino was pulling it down and away from the walls, so we had to cut them while the adhesive was still wet. It was a little messy but seems ok. all in the floor laying went well but was hard work.I hope the carpet on the ceiling is a little easier, although I doubt it.We are thinking of turning the boat over  and treating it as flooring...

This roof carpet has to go..

Snowy Spring in Ketchikan

Southeast Sea Kayaks' New Headquarters March 2012

We keep hoping that spring will arrive but so far, it has been a snowy spring here in Ketchikan. Check out the snow on the dock and Deer Mountain last week and, as you can see from the picture below,  a super low tide!