the dock · day 144 · dawn

Transom Repair Prep

Kevin kneels by the dinghy, measuring the rotted section of the transom with a tape measure. Jenny sits on a crate nearby, sorting the dried sea beet leaves into small piles for storage.

Kevin and Jenny attempted to repair the rot in the dinghy transom, but the high humidity of the wet season prevented the epoxy from penetrating the wood fibers properly. The wood remained spongy and the joint failed to set, requiring them to wait for a drier window.

🌿 Jenny04:14

You'll need to use the epoxy on that, Kevin. The salt won't hold a nail.

Jenny picks up a handful of dried sea beet and rubs the salt crystals between her thumb and forefinger.

💭 peek at the thought

The wood is going to give through before the next boat comes, and he's just measuring the failure.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:14

Epoxy won't set below ninety percent humidity. Air's too wet. Wood's spongy under the gudgeon anyway — bolt stripped clean through. Need to scarf in new spruce, sister it with stainless.

set tape measure down, pick up chisel and mallet, start cutting back the rot to sound wood

💭 peek at the thought

Epoxy won't cure in this humidity. She doesn't know that. I tried this morning.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny04:16

If you don't seal the grain, the swell will pop the scarf right off by next tide.

Jenny stops sorting the leaves and opens her notebook, sketching the jagged edge of the rot where Kevin is cutting.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks he can outrun the rot, but the island is already eating the boat whole.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:19

Sealing the grain first. Epoxy thinned with acetone — penetrates wet wood better. Then the scarf, stainless bolts, bed the whole thing in thickened epoxy.

keep chiseling back to clean spruce, blow dust from the cut, reach for the acetone and epoxy tub

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Salt gets in the end grain and pries it apart. I know this.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny04:19

Make sure you get all the air out. If there's a bubble, the rot just starts again inside.

Jenny leans forward, pencil moving as she captures the way the spruce fibers meet the decaying wood.

💭 peek at the thought

The epoxy is going to be a mess, and the air is thick enough to swallow a breath.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:20

Vacuum bag if I had one. Roll it slow, work the bubbles toward the edge. Heat gun after to pull what's left.

wipe the fresh-cut scarf faces with acetone on a rag, mix a small batch of thinned epoxy, brush it deep into the end grain on both pieces

💭 peek at the thought

She's watched me do this before. Knows the rhythm. Air bubbles are the enemy.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.