Boat Life

It seemed simple enough. Scrub the rust off the old propane tank and paint it. Then I’ll have two tanks, including the new one I just bought, filled, and installed.

Phase one goes well. I lay a blue tarp on the dirt next to Casa Maria restaurant (now closed), spray vinegar on the rust-encrusted metal, and scrub off oxidation with a steel-bristled brush. Rinse. Let dry.

Next I pinch the lid off the spray can full of white rust-inhibiting paint. Hunh. No nozzle. Only a short skinny tube sticking up. Yep, need a nozzle.

Back to Walmart. Pinch the caps off multiple spray cans. Out of 20, only two have nozzles. Pink paint, for furniture. Not metal. Not rust-inhibiting. On to customer service. Where the friendly clerk pulls a tray of nozzles out from behind the counter. Oh! Problem solved, smiles all around.

Except, back at the boat, propane tank on the blue tarp again, (this time on the dock), I press down on the nozzle and paint erupts everywhere. Pigment pours down the sides of the can, although some of it makes it onto the tank. I try to adjust the nozzle, but that’s as good as it gets. This didn’t happen at the store. No. The friendly clerk sprayed a small circle on the inside of a cupboard door to prove that it worked. No mess. No fuss. 

Wow. White, rust-inhibited hands. Puddles on the tarp. Black Crocs splashed. Do I stop? No, I’m already a mess, so fingerpainting commences. I continue until the tank is mostly covered.

A passerby laughs congenially at the mess. “Boat life!” she says, and I smile. Totally worth it.