I’d been working in Ohio for the better part of a couple weeks, which timed out well with some family stuff Alli had going on in Columbus. We’d made big plans to visit friends in Indy for the weekend, so I wasn’t too excited last Wednesday to find this image pop up on my screen…
You might be able to see our boat, sitting snuggly beside the black H marking potential ground zero. I’ve been through this a few times before, so you’d think I’d have the boat all ready to go before traveling, but alas, I booked a flight. I managed to squeeze a trip down to the boat so to double up some dock lines between work trips.
I pulled into the marina in my rental car around noon Saturday hauling a suitcase full of 3-strand. We’d been gone for several weeks, so when I opened the companionway, I wasn’t surprised by the return of a slight old boat smell.
Until I opened the freezer.
The stench punched me in the face before I knew what happened. The normally frost-lined walls of our drop-in freezer were now lined with the aftermath of a busted can of biscuit dough.
The normally 15* freezer had become a 105* slow cooker. Fish, chicken, beef–all marinating in a soggy wasteland.
My immediate reaction was to close the lid and just pretend it didn’t happen. I went back outside to begin adding more dock lines in an effort to avoid the crime scene.
But the fresh air was no longer. I think the smell got on me. It permeated my being. I may never smell right again. (Alli: “Maybe this’ll make you smell better…”)
Nowhere on the boat was safe–I could barely keep from gagging, even on the foredeck. So I put on a mask and snorkel, climbed downstairs, and went bandaid on the situation.
It was awful. A roll of paper towels, 4 garbage bags, 2 sponges, a gallon of vinegar, thousands of dollars of essential oils, and one wardrobe later, I think we may be back on the road to recovery.
Time will tell. If not, we may just have to sell the boat. #kidding #sortof #boatlife
Oh, and “Hurricane” Erika? She’d had enough fun by the time she got to Cuba and gave up. At least we’ll be ready for the next one.
That is pretty horrible. In fact, the only thing I can think of that could be worse is if it were a head eruption instead of a freezer eruption… Good call on the mask and snorkel.
We dealt with one of those earlier this summer. It was pretty bad.
After Hurricane Floyd, we came back to a fridge in the same condition. We expected to be gone for a couple of days and ended up gone for 2 weeks.
It was HORRIBLE. We had to strap shirts to our faces with dryer sheets underneath and my roommate threw up twice.
Sending love to you guys down there. Big brightside that there was no hurricane!
Oh that sucks! After Katrina so many of the fridges/freezers were ruined that you’d drive down the street and see freezers duct taped closed, sitting on the side of the road. Brutal.
Hope all’s well in the city Jenny!