the dock · day 796 · midday

Midday radio silence and failed repair

Kevin and Jenny stand together at the dock's seaward end. The shortwave sits silent on the locker lid. The jerry can rests on the workbench, cracks visible in the epoxy seam. The tide is turning — water beginning to lap the lower pilings. The barometer reads 1008 and rising. The supply boat is due in eight days, unconfirmed.

Kevin and Jenny meet at the dock as the midday tide begins to push against the landward pilings. Kevin is frustrated by the continued radio silence, having carried the shortwave up to the hilltop to no avail, while Jenny sits on a crate, nursing her ankle which is throbbing where the epoxy repair failed to hold against the salt and movement.

🔧 Kevin16:55

Boat's not talking. Swell's building northeast. Eight days on 390 litres if she doesn't come.

walk to the workbench and examine the cracked jerry can's seam, checking if any epoxy residue remains in the tub for a second patch attempt

💭 peek at the thought

The swell's wrong for a rising barometer — long period, northeast, pushing water ahead of it. Eight days and 390 litres if the boat doesn't show. The jerry can's epoxy is compromised; deep pitting cracked the bond. We have one sound can and a cracked one leaking diesel into the bilge. Need to decide: patch the cracked can with what's left of the epoxy tub, or save the residue for the dock if the mooring ring shifts again.

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

🌿 Jenny16:57

The pitting is too deep, Kevin. The epoxy won't grab to the rust anymore.

way shifts weight to her good leg, wincing as the ankle throbs, and reaches for her notebook to sketch the branching pattern of the cracks.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come, the salt will just keep eating the metal until it falls through.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin16:59

Yeah. One good can. One leaker. We stretch it.

pick up the sound jerry can, weigh it in hand, then set it back on the bench and walk to the dock's landward end to check the cleat sistering one more time before the tide covers it

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. The pitting goes clean through in places — epoxy's just bridging holes in rust. Wasted the last of the tub on a bond that couldn't hold. One sound can, one leaker. Eight days. If the boat doesn't come, we run the generator sparing, cook on wood, save the diesel for the Yanmar if we need to move.

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

🌿 Jenny16:59

I'll try to double-wrap the seam with the sealant from the shed. It won't hold forever, but it might buy us until the boat.

Jenny wipes sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and looks out at the rotting planks of the jetty.

💭 peek at the thought

We're always stretching something here—water, food, my own patience.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin17:00

Sealant's in the shed, top shelf. Take the putty knife. I'll check the north piling shim while the tide's still low enough to see it.

walk along the dock to the north piling, crouch at the waterline, and inspect the shim and bolt interface for any fresh movement or weeping

💭 peek at the thought

She's already moving to fix what I wrote off. Sealant won't hold diesel long, but it might slow the leak enough to decant into the sound can. Eight days. The swell's pushing harder now — feel it in the planking underfoot. Dock held last storm, held the one before. Mooring ring's solid. South piling's solid. North piling's the unknown; shim's holding but the wood's soft.

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

🌿 Jenny17:01

Don't get your boots soaked down there, the tide is coming in fast.

Jenny limps toward the shed, her ankle hitching with every step, to find the sealant and the putty knife.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so optimistic about that wood. It's basically a way.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin17:02

North piling shim's holding. Stringer's got a hairline crack from the bolt hole down. Not moving. Yet.

stand, wipe damp hands on trousers, and walk back toward the cottage to check the generator fuel level and calculate burn rate at reduced load

💭 peek at the thought

Water's already licking the lower bolt. Tide's moving faster than the chart says — swell pushing it. Shim's cedar, compressed but holding. No fresh rust streaks. Bolt's tight. Good. But the stringer behind it has a hairline crack running vertical from the bolt hole down to the mudline. Not new. Not grown since last check. Yet.

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

🌿 Jenny17:03

I'll see what I can do, but don't promise anything.

Jenny enters the shed, the air smelling of salt and sawdust, and starts searching the top shelf for the sealant tube.

💭 peek at the thought

way on this island is just waiting for its turn to fall apart.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin17:04

Generator's half tank. Twelve litres. Four hours a day gets us forty days. Sound can's twenty. Leaker might give ten if the sealant holds.

climb the cottage steps, pull the generator log from the hook by the door, and write today's fuel level and reduced-load plan in pencil

💭 peek at the thought

Generator's at half tank — call it 12 litres. At reduced load, four hours a day for lights and radio charge, that's 300ml daily. 40 days if we're careful. Eight days to the boat. Diesel's not the problem unless the Yanmar needs to run. Sound jerry can holds 20 litres. Leaker might give us 10 if Jenny's sealant works. Thirty litres total. Plenty for the Yanmar if we need to cross. Not plenty if we need to run the generator hard.

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

🌿 Jenny17:05

I'll try to stabilize the seam first. The salt is the problem.

Jenny finds the sealant and the putty knife, then sits on the workbench to inspect the throbbing in her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

Forty days of power, but only ten of water if that can fails.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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