Kai O'hana
05/07/07 - Brightwork Topside
-Letters from Lauren
There were so many jobs to be completed on the exterior, it would have been hard to know where to start or what to work on without Craig managing the critical path schedule. But once we had our priorities set, it was just a matter of picking one of many projects, starting it, and following through until it was complete.
Alexis had grown in both age and knowledge to the point where she was now tackling bigger and more complicated projects. She focused on the walkway bulwarks removing wood rot, filling and painting, and prepared the stanchions so they would be ready for varnish. Once she had the walkways complete, she moved to the bow of the boat where she prepared all the wood for varnish. She always had a way of making her jobs fun, rain or shine, and would pass on her joy of life to all she was around. When we worked together painting the settee roof and applying non-skid, the way she worked reminded me that we all can be young at heart, and that your accomplishments are a reflection of your attitude.
I would be recruited from time to time to help push along or complete a job. I could sand, work on "dutchmens," or varnish because they were items that I could work on between meal preparations. It was nice to occassionally get out of the galley since it seemed liked most of my days were spent there; although the time I spent in galley helped me discover what needed to be done to make it more user friendly. Also, the more I prepared food creatively, the more it kept me and the crew from dietary bordem. I learned early on, a well-fed crew makes for a happy and productive crew.
Sara set herself up a production center where she had more than one project going at all times. She worked on the wheel for the helm using a dremel to sand in small confined areas of the wheel, then she taped off the brass part of the wheel so that she could move onto the varnishing. The stairs for the walkways had to be disassembled so the split, rotten and/or broken components could be reinforced with epoxy and reassembled to be varnished. Sara created an assembly line for all of her varnish jobs. Ultimately she would move a project into the make-shift paint booth where its final coat of varnish was usually sprayed on by Preston. When Sara decided to get a job done, you just had to get out of the way and she would run with it.
Our web designer Tracy took a sabbatical from the website to help move the Kai Ohana to completion. She would take over jobs that I would start so I could get the meals out on time, or to give me a reprieve from, what I call, " having a moment" -- you know, those moments that you wonder if you are losing your mind. She prepared the mid-deck hatches for the installation of metal grates that Daniel welded and voilá, beautiful, yet safe, mid-deck hatches with her artistic touch, as always. As her epoxy or varnish projects were drying, Tracy would start on other projects like maintaining the varnish originally applied to the salon exterior, or finishing the toe rails. Taping off is imperative on every finish project, and Tracy did so as any artist would -- she had less clean-up during or after the completion of a project than anyone else.
Because of Preston's good nature and well-rounded experience (by this point in the project), he was the assistant to Craig, Daniel, or Chad. When he could carve out a moment or two for himself, he would work on his cabin. His hatch cover is just an example of how his cabin was turning out, which he was doing with no assistance from anyone. He was turning into a man with each passing day.
From time to time we would have a special guest visit and give us a helping hand. Every time Miss Carolyn would fly in from Canada with her parents, Mark and Agnes, she would come to our boat to see the girls before she even got on her own boat. She would always ask how she could help us, and Sara, always up for assistance, would have something ready for her upon her arrival. This month it was paint, but we also discovered she was very good at sanding and varnishing.
Chad would always help when he had a spare moment or if he needed a distraction from his engineering projects. I saw this as his creative time. Installing completed stairs or disassembling the helm or whatever it took to push the whole project forward was his credo. His insatiable lust for knowledge would drive him to tackle any job that looked like it would either be challenging or needed to be done -- he consistently and untiringly pushed every project along if it would help in the overall completion of the boat.
His main project during this time was rebuilding the helm. It was also a project everyone was excited about and lent a hand whenever they could. Maybe it was because when it rained water would pour into the salon and the captain's quarters. Or maybe because we could see ourselves at the helm under-sail. Once all the wood panels and electronic components where assembled, Chad put the wheel on so we could all take turns imagining what it would be like to be the captain at the helm crossing the seven seas.
