A Frustrating Day

I didn't start work on the table today. I got up late, vacuumed the newly renovated jon boat and attempted to put the new boat cover on it. I bought the cover months ago, before I had "done" the boat. The box clearly described that it fitted 16' pointed front and square front boats and that it had reinforced corners.

If you aren't familiar with "square front" (jon) boats, you can slightly see it here.



I unfolded it and found 2 narrow reinforced corners and hooked them on the front corners. I stretched it out toward the back and hooked a third reinforced corner and hooked it on 1 rear corner. No 4th corner! I went round and round the cover trying to find the 4th corner.

Well, sometimes I an more persistent than mentally swift. It took a bit to realize that there were only 3 corners on the cover and I had it backwards. I reversed the cover on the boat after a few minutes. The back corners fit nicely, but I realized the thing was really only designed for a V front boat, not a square front one like mine. I went inside and examined the description on the style of boat the cover was supposed to be designed for.

Yep, it showed a picture of a square front 16' jon boat. But it won't fit. I can hook the front reinforced corner over a trolling motor attachment in the center of the front, but it will NOT stretch out to the sides (and there is no reinforcement there anyway).

I repackaged it (no easy task, they must use elephants to squeeze the cover small enough to fit into the box) and returned it to Walmart. They refused to take it back even with a receipt because it was over 90 days. That wasted 40 minutes of driving there and back and standing in the long return line.

I'm going to email the manufacturer to see if I can mail it to them for a credit. It clearly will not work as advertised.

So I got home and decided I had to weed the garden some. I had added compost from the Compost-Tumbler I bought a few years ago. Don't ever buy one. It will NOT heat the compost up enough to kill viable seeds. I ended up with hybrid grocery store cantalope seeds EVERYWHERE. Now, that wasn't a problem among the tomatoes, corn, or pole beans. But I can't tell which seedlings are cucumbers that I planted and which are unwanted commercial cantalopes!



I THINK the cucumbers have a slightly more pointed leaf, but I am not confident enough to pull the blunt leaf plants out yet. I knew I could pull out everything that wasn't directly under the trellis. I left 2 large seedling not in the row so that I could see what the melons looked like as they grew. Hopefully, I can use those to differentiate between the melons and the cukes.

After weeding the corn and the new herb garden, it got dark, so I came inside to make dinner (steak, fresh corn, and salad). With wine, of course.

Hopefully, I can start on the table tomorrow...

I suppose that, since this blog is about projects, I can brag about the boat work. After years of making plywood floors that rooted in a few years, I decided to end the problem by getting some heavy duty aluminum plate floors. It wasn't cheap ($300 for a 4'x8' plate) but I think it will be worth it.

I had the sheet cut to 2 pieces, attached outdoor carpet to the aluminum with exterior double-sided tape, and attached bolts with fender washers at the corners. Then I attached seat pedestals in the center (being careful to straddle the ribs of the bottom of the boat. I found there was a slight flex in the aluminum plate which caused some noise walking on it, so I lifted them off and put some cheaper outdoor carpet underneath. That solved the problem.



I have to say it looks a feels "right" now.