There are some purchases in life that are super exciting, like a vacation or a house or new pajamas or WOOL. 🙂 And others, like buying appliances or tires or I don’t know, rocks, that have zero thrill factor to them at all.
Well, I now have something that beats all of those.
Mooring chain.
What is mooring chain you ask? Well in our case, it’s the chain that attaches a floating dock to the main dock. And basically, it needed to be replaced.
So off to the marine store we went. To buy chain. Giddy up.
So while the HH was off comparing galvanized chain, I walked around the store for 30 minutes checking out survival suits and buoy paint.
Did you know a survival suit will set you back $829? What do you think that pocket on the arm is for? Snacks? Cell phone? ID?
Salmon Sisters octopus boots. Clearly this store caters to women as well as crusty old fishermen.
Rope. I must have stood there for at least 5 minutes thinking geez, what a boring purchase… but then I remembered all those cool lobster rope doormats that I’ve seen all over Maine and was like… you know… that might be a fun arts and crafts camp activity for Camp Butterfield. Hmmmm.
Well, as it turned out, it was a good thing Monkey Boy was here over the weekend to help with installing the new chain because it wasn’t exactly the easiest home improvement project.
First the boys sprayed WD 40 on the shackles thinking it would loosen them up and the chain would just come free. But nope.
This project required 2 more trips to town and a seriously strong pair of bolt cutters.
That took BOTH of them to cut the chain.
Thrilling, I know.
Luckily though, once they had all the right tools, they were able to install the new chains in like 30 minutes. That was the good news. The bad news was that someone had to go down and pull up the old chains {there were {2} 35′ lengths to haul up from the shore}.
Lucky me!
That old chain. Check it out! The top part of the chain {about 10′} was still in pretty good shape, but it was soooo interesting to see how the saltwater and sea air had taken it’s toll on the rest of it. I think we might have been about a season {or less} away from the chain breaking off and our floating dock heading out to sea a big windstorm.
House projects. Some of them are definitely more fun than others. That’s for sure.
Well, that’s the latest from my neck of the woods… How about YOU? What sorts of projects have you been working on lately? Do tell, because it’s got to be more exciting than installing chain. 🙂
Happy Tuesday!
~Mavis
Caitlin says
For one half of a second, I really thought you were chained to the canisters in some sort of lobster themed escape room, which you were going to tell us about as a new Maine business. I clearly have not had enough of my morning coffee.
Trava Olivier says
While the task may seem less than thrilling to you, it is fascinating to see what you went through to this land locked, mid-west living and loving girl!
Linda Practical Parsimony says
Well, I have never seen such a project.
Angela D. says
Yes, neither have I, living here in central WI. Very interesting!
Kathy says
I can see a future project using the weathered chain on your property somewhere. I know you won’t let it go to waste.
Sydelle says
The pocket holds the locator beacon. My oldest brother was a commercial fisherman in Alaska. The survival suit is the most important piece of equipment they purchase.
Mavis Butterfield says
That makes sense. Thanks for answering.
Janice Gallaugher says
My guess was going to be to hold a safety flare. It seemed like the right size for that.
Mrs. C. says
Driving t-posts to create paddocks.
repairing fence
cleaning out freezers and canning
rendering lard from said freezers
giving birthday hints, which included a skill saw and a lubricating gun
my life changed sooooo much when we left suburbia. All I really think about now are tools.
Rory says
If chain was that tough maybe it really didn’t need to be replaced!
Lana says
Not worth taking a chance! We own a vacation house on a lake and over the winter there was a big storm and one of the trees that our floating dock was tied to came down in a storm and then the wind twisted our dock around and ran it up on shore. What a mess.
Lana Popejoy says
From one Lana to another Lana, sounds like the Lake of the Ozarks, where docks were torn up due the icing up of the Lake in February.
debbie in alaska says
Fun to see Salmon Sisters Xtratuf’s in your neck of the woods. Everyone and their mother owns a pair (or more) up here in Southeast Alaska.
Judi says
Your dock is beautiful!!
Sean says
That is some amusing writing.