the dock · day 941 · afternoon

Low Tide Inspection

Kevin and Jenny meet at the dock as the tide reaches its lowest point, checking the mooring lines.

Kevin and Jenny assessed the dock's rot damage and debated epoxy use for the cleat mortise versus saving it for the mooring ring bolts. Kevin proposed bridging the rot with greenheart plates and through-bolts, epoxying only bolt holes, but Jenny noted this would leave no 150mm bolts for the stern spring attachment tomorrow. They agreed to thin epoxy with diesel for scarf faces and use full strength on the mortise.

🌿 Jenny10:15

Watch the tension on the way line. The wood is too soft to hold much.

way shifts her weight to her good leg, wincing as her throbbing ankle pulses, and reaches out to touch the decaying timber of the dock.

💭 peek at the thought

The rotten planks are worse than last week; if the way hits them hard, the whole jetty goes into the surf.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:15

Sistered the cleat base with greenheart last week. Through-bolted. It's the planking between the bolts that'll go." I nod at the rotten planks. "Got three sound cores salvaged. Need the tide lower to fit them.

crouch and probe the seaward plank with the crowbar tip, testing the rot depth

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the timber. The starboard stringer's eaten through to the heartwood. If the boat surges on a spring tide, the cleat tears out and takes the piling with it. She's favouring the left leg harder today — two centimetres past her mark by the look of it.

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

🌿 Jenny10:17

We'll need to use the epoxy on the joints. The humidity is going to make the cure time hell.

wipes a bead of sweat from her brow and looks down at the wood, gritting her teeth against the sharp throb in her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

If those planks don't hold, the supply boat won't be able to offload the heavy crates.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:17

Got half a tub left. Mixed the last of the hardener yesterday. If we thin it with diesel it'll penetrate deeper but cure slower." I glance at her ankle, then the planks. "Or we drive the sisters tight, peg them with oak, and save the epoxy for the cleat mortise.

stand and wipe hands on trousers, looking toward the cottage

💭 peek at the thought

Epoxy's tacky as tar in this heat. Last tub's nearly empty — used the dregs on the mortise packing. Might not have enough for three full scarf joints. Should've ordered more with the boat.

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

🌿 Jenny10:19

The wedges could hold through high tide, but I need the epoxy to seal the joint against salt intrusion.

shifts her weight onto her cane and peers down at the seaward planks, noting the dark discoloration where moisture has worked through the wood.

💭 peek at the thought

Oak wedges might work, but without epoxy, the sister plates won't bond properly to the existing structure.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin10:19

"Thin it for the scarf faces. Full strength for the mortise." I pull the epoxy tub from my belt. "Half a cup. Enough for both if we're careful.

unscrew the tub lid and hold it out, watching the resin cling thick and amber to the stir stick

💭 peek at the thought

She's thinking long-term. Salt in the glue line rots the sister from inside. But the epoxy we have won't cure proper in this humidity — not thick enough for a structural seal. The wedges and pegs hold the load; epoxy's just the condom. If we thin it, it wicks but stays soft. If we don't, it skins over and traps moisture.

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

🌿 Jenny10:21

"Half a cup won't fill a single mortise. The cleat's sitting in a cavity from decades of rot." (I grip the epoxy tub tighter, feeling the weight of it in my palm)

sets the tub on a dry plank and checks my supplies, counting the remaining greenheart offcuts and measuring the depth of the mortise with my fingers.

💭 peek at the thought

This is barely enough resin to cover the scarf joints properly, let alone fill the mortise gaps.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin10:21

"Don't fill it. Bridge it." I pick up the tub. "Two greenheart plates, one each side of the stringer. Four 150mm through-bolts. Epoxy the bolt holes only. Cleat bolts to the plates, not the rotted timber.

screw the lid back on the epoxy tub and hook it to my belt

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. The mortise eats epoxy like a dry sponge. Three hundred mil deep, forty wide — near a litre to fill it proper. We got half a cup. The greenheart offcuts are eight-foot cores, straight grain. Could sister the whole cleat base instead of filling. Two plates, through-bolted, load goes to new wood. Epoxy just seals the bolt holes.

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

🌿 Jenny10:23

That leaves us with no bolts for the stern spring line attachment tomorrow. The mooring ring needs those 150s for the through-plate.

reaches into my pocket and pulls out the north ridge soil pH map, tracing the red wax marks with my fingertip before tucking it back.

💭 peek at the thought

The through-bolt approach would work, but I'm running low on those 150mm stainless bolts—only one spare left.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

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