biggerboat's building boondoggle blog
I started this in H&F but this seems a better place for it. These are my H&F posts. A bit long-winded but hopefully en
Yeah, I just don't know how important this book really is to me. I want to get it done but I'd rather do it at my own pace.
When I was writing, it was extremely important to me. Years later in retrospect, I realize that it was extremely important for completely different reasons than I thought at the time. So yeah, your attitude seems perfect to me.
Heard about the storm at lunchtime, thought of you guys. Good luck. Does the new setup make it easier to get the boat out of the water?
Also sorry to hear about your back, but glad it's coming around and you were able to get out.
High tide right now. Probably a foot higher than normal. Tide will be going iut as storm approaches but they are still predicting a pretty big storm surge. Fingers crossed.
Pretty bad. Water in the house. Wife's car under water. We're safe but it sucks. Tr in a few days.
So many things to post.
The night of the storm, our neighbors had a little dinner party just because. We sat and watched the water coming up and quickly everyone realized this might be bad so we all went home.
Power went off about 9:00, but water still was ok. Then it started coming up.
It finally started seeping in so we got towels hoping we could manage it. I actually think we would have been ok but the door to the garage wasn't sealed well and it gas a cat door. It really came in fast there.
Its really disturbing just watching it rise and not knowing how high it will get.
Then stuff you dont think floats, does. Like a refrigerator. We kept hearing stuff fall over. And a constant gurgling of water seeping in places. Its really eeerie.
About 1 am the water stopped rising. When it started to fall it went down pretty quickly. Eventually the water outside got lower than in the inside. I opened the back door and water rushed out like a river. It almost took my feet out from under me.
During all of this, my wife's car started honking and the lights were going off and on. We looked out and water was over the headlights. I went out and disconnected the battery. Fortunately my truck was ok.
Spent the rest of the day squeegee water out.
More to come.
So, our next problem was trying to find a place to stay the next night. There were so many people affected that most hotels in the area were booked. Even worse though. The city shut down the wastewater plants so the hotels turned off water so many of those weren't taking reservations and people were going to Tampa.
I finally found one online but when we got there it was really really bad. One of those that people live in. There was a kid shrieking nonstop in the room next to us. Really shady people hanging out. It was too much for my wife. She sort of melted down. We had no sleep at that point and it was just too much.
So we got in the truck and drove to an area i know that has hotels. First one was booked solid. Second one same but the lady was so nice that she called around and found one that had one room left. So we went back to the first one and got our bags and moved again. Glad we did because we got a really good sleep in and it really lifted our spirits.
More to come.
So it looks like this will become another building boondoggle blog again. Pretty much gonna be a complete remodel. All cabinets need replacing. We have several pocket doors that have to cone out. Actually all doirs have to be replaced. and we have to cut the sheetrock about two feet up in the entire house. Replace all receptacles. Floors in the bedrooms. So much.
No. We made the decision a while back not to carry it. It's ridiculously expensive and really hard to actually get paid.
That's a mighty fine question. We've been asking it ourselves.
Things you don't think of. I'm in line at the county landfill behind about 500 other people. Crazy.
Today I started cutting the walls. We don't have sheetrock, it is cement board, which they say should be fine after a flood. The problem is that water got in between the walls so they have to be opened up. I figured I would cut it about 2 feet up. Cement board is tougher than sheetrock. My little vibrating cutting tool blade lasted about 5 seconds. So I bought a grinder tool and put in a masonry blade. Worked pretty good. Kicks up a ton of cement dust though. Got one bedroom finished.
We found out the city was coming next week to pick up debris so no more trips to the dump. I'll post a picture of our pile.
We applied for aid through fema. Fingers crossed.
We're still a little overwhelmed. Not sure how we're going to proceed.
But we're back in the house tonight. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor but we're really happy to get back.
I forgot to mention the boat.
I put it as high as it would go on the lift. Looking at it when the water is normal you could never imagine it getting high enough to float away. So I didn't tie it to anything.
When the water came up, my wife watched it. She said it started to float just a little. Another 6 inches and i think it floats away.
A neighbor's boat is sitting on the road by us. We can see it from our back window.
But ours is fine. Unfortunately all the electronics for the lift were underwater so I can't lower it until I assess it, which is really low on our priority list right now.
Apparently there's a tropical disturbance brewing in the area helene started. May or may not get here.
I say, bring it on mfer.
Is that a "While you're up," sorta thing, or a "well, ****, what else?"
Good luck on the repairs and FEMA help. At least the boat's ok?
