FROM THE USE WHAT YOU GOT FILE: Helm Cover

It feels good to have the boat back on the water. I still have not gone out for a sail I'm still getting things organized and cleaned up and doing some small projects. One of which is a new helm cover  I stripped and varnished the cockpit table recently and wanted to protect it as much as possible. A large helm cover fits the bill.  I've seen helm covers made out of Sunbrella material and I may make one once I get a Sailrite Sewing machine which is on my wish list. Instead I made one out of some recycled shrink wrap material:

It completely covers the helm and the table is pretty durable and the only cost to me was a few brass grommets and some spare line I had lying about to keep the sides secure :

While maybe not as colorful as a custom Sunbrella cover it does the job and helps keep some shrink wrap out of a landfill somewhere.  Plus the price is right.  It can also function as an additional shade cover if one should need it when it's not covering the helm.

92 IN THE SHADE

Ninety-two in the Shade was decent book by Tom McGuane and a forgettable movie starring Peter Fonda. But, with a Bermuda high parked over the East Coast it is a reality in the cockpit of BIANKA and the heat expected to last another day or two. The solar bimini I built over the cockpit:

is doing it's job by keeping the 12 volt and 48 volt battery banks charged up as well as providing much need shade from the summer sun. But,with temperatures in the mid 90's and fickle breezes it still gets hot. Luckily relief is just over the side with a swim.  The other day I was rewiring some digital panel meters and as I was sweating getting ready to fire up my portable butane soldering iron the thought the idea of anymore heat was unthinkable. So I stopped and jumped in for a refreshing a half hour swim instead before finishing things up.

Though I am not cursing the heat at all. It is summer and it was only five months ago that this was the scene I was looking at:

So the only thing is to keep the beers cold and fire up Ray Bonneville's July Sun on the MP3 player and enjoy the season and know that as hot as it is on board it is much worse on land.