Teak Work Finished

Reggie finished the teak work yesterday when he tidied up and put a nice bead of caulking around the perimeter of most of the work.  Previously the water was allowed to collect between the teak and the fiberglass where it turned up, and this cannot happen now.

In the photo of the bow you can see where he beaded around the windlass.

I paid Reggie the equivalent of $2,000 USD in cash, in a plastic food back that contained an account specifying the exchange rate for the day, the number of bills and subtotal of each denomination, and the grand total.

I told him that he is an ethical and honest man who didn't cut any corners, and I greatly appreciated that.  His work was first rate and he had saved the boat for certain water damage in the near future.  Fine words, but I also put my money where my mouth was and pointed to four 500 peso bills folded separately in the bag, which was a bonus to show my appreciation.  He seemed surprised and thanked me very much.

He then went off to pick up with his wife his recovering daughter from the hospital.

This morning he dropped by for an hour to tidy up the work that he had done yesterday and thanked me again for the bonus.  I told him that he had earned it.

The entire job cost me about $4400 USD.  Most of that went for the teak.  There are various grades of teak.  Some of the fast grown teaks have very little oil in them.  Reggie uses top grade European standard teak that has plenty of oil in it.  And as I said earlier, he uses 5/8" thick planking instead of the usual 1/2".