Friday, September 4, 2009

Getting the Varnishing Done

Ignacio Varnishing

We don't have much exterior teak left on Soggy Paws, but we try to keep what little we still have looking nice. This time, with the help of another cruiser, we found Ignacio to do our varnishing.

Our friend Cameron, the captain of Morning Calm III, met Ignacio while out surfing in Salinas. Ignacio is a young Ecuadorian who loves to surf.

Though Ignacio already has a 12-hour night job at the local 'fish factory', Cameron hired Ignacio to help him do cleaning and sanding on Morning Calm for a few hours a day, in exchange for a surfboard. And Cam told us that Ignacio was a really hard worker. So when Cameron had no more work for him, we took him on.

Though he's never varnished before, he's a quick learner and follows direction well. Dave has coached him through the steps to prepare the teak and apply the varnish, and he's done a beautiful job on Soggy Paws' teak, with minimal supervision. This has freed Dave and I up to continue working on other things.

Dave also had him clean the topsides and polish all the exterior stainless. He's quick but meticulous, and really a hard worker.

Ignacio speaks a little English, and is working hard on learning more. He has helped Dave with some of the Spanish vocabulary when he was trying to deal with other people in Spanish.

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