I learned that during the torrential downpours we suffered over the weekend the only thing worse than not having a weatherproof car is not having a weatherproof house.
Driving the Méhari in the rain was a new experience for those of us who have previously looked at cars as places of refuge from the weather. The only place the Méhari does NOT leak is under the passenger side dashboard—but first you must plug the hole in the top of the passenger side dashboard with something waterproof, like chewing gum.
On a positive note, the amount of water coming into the Méhari did not visibly increase when the car was in motion. Perhaps this is because the Méhari does not move fast enough to create any actual change in air pressure?
After our refreshing outing in the Méhari we were excited to get home to dry off and have a nice steaming cup of tea.
There was a strong north wind that was driving the rain directly into the big window in our living room that has 16 panes of glass. 15 are cracked (suicidal parrots) and one is missing entirely and covered with cardboard. This is the same window that my wife said “will need replacing” to which I said “the previous owner made this window with his bare hands, it is a work of art and something that we cannot just toss aside like so much garbage.” Once the rain stops we will get double use of the garbage bags that are now covering the windows.
The wind shifted to the east. The quaint handmade kitchen windows with the lovely etched pulls did nothing at all to stop streams of water from running onto the kitchen counters. The windows are above the sink so with some creative damming using three cans of tuna, two cans of corn (whole, not creamed) and a banana the water could run right down the sink drain—a good thing because we had used all of our garbage bags on the living room window.
A quick peek upstairs revealed that while the center of the two rooms remained dry, every wall had discoloration from leaks on the roof’s perimeter. Wonderful. And the “handcrafted” French doors that opened to each of the balconies? Yep, leakin’ like sieves. Good thing we were planning to only use those rooms in the summer. Sh*t, it is summer.
So, with the money I saved NOT buying a waterproof car I can now spend on waterproofing my house. First purchase: more chewing gum.
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You guys are much braver than we are….our South America move needs to include a waterproof apartment in the middle of the city. Stay dry!!