Friday, January 6, 2012 Life in the Boat Yard....

What a delightfully picturesque morning.

Temperatures are in the mid-30s and there’s a fog covering the boatyard.

Brrrr… Climbing down the ladder, my hands registered shock at the cold metal and wet dew hanging from the ladder. Maybe I should head back up the ladder and climb back into my warm bed. Nah… My bladder is saying “look, I’m full; you’re subjecting me to icy water and cold metal on the body, not to mention the goose bumps crawling up your skin… When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, so quit being a baby and RUN to the bathroom. It’ll probably be warmer…”

My bladder and brain lied… the bathroom wasn’t any warmer and the toilet seat was a definite shock to the tush!

Brrrrr….. Walking back (at a brisk pace) I looked around the work yard and storage yard. Wow! It looked ghostly with fog shrouding the boats. I was wishing I’d brought my camera with me. Soooo I did what any person with a picture taking addiction does… Back up the ladder to find the camera, then back down the ladder (screw the cold, damp chill in the air).

Snap. Snap. Snap…

Even though my teeth were chattering, my body seemed to forget that I had goose bumps on goose bumps as I wandered the boatyard snapping pictures. Hope some of them came out. As a bonus, I found a rock by the barbwire fence. At first I thought it was a rhombohedra yellow calcite but on picking it up I discovered that what I thought was a rhomb was actually a lot of little bladed crystals. Pretty. Pocket that one and continue looking at the old boats by the fence. One was an old, wooden, double ender that had definitely seen better days. You could see through the slats that at one time were the rudder. It had to have been a fine vessel in its day but had succumbed to time and neglect.

When I got back to the boat, Wayne was up and drinking coffee in the salon. One eye focused on me and said good morning… Grin. Sometimes he’s so cute when he’s groggy. This was one of those times.

After the fog burned off and the dew dried from the boat, it was time to get to work.

Scrape, tape, varnish…

See about getting that survey…

Bottom paint… we need to have the jack stands moved to finish painting the bottom. Alec came by and moved the jack stands for me so I could paint under them and finish putting the bottom paint on. We decided that I should wait though until after the guy for the survey came out.

The guy for the survey came and checked out the hull around noon, so we have the outer portion that needs to be done (out of the water) and the remaining part will be once we get put in the water. One of the guys in the boatyard asked if we were selling the boat. NO…. Goodness… I may swear at her sometimes (like when we run aground and can’t get unstuck, during storms, and when our anchor drags) but sell her? I’m like a guy with his first car when it comes to my boat! Laughing… We need to have a survey so we can change insurance companies. Our current policy holder will only insure us to the Turks and Caicos. We’d like to go farther… ever farther… from horizon to horizon. I know, I know… next life.

After the surveyor left it was time to complete painting the bottom. One more gallon of Pettit’ Hydro Coat on. Finished! She’s starting to look pretty again from a distance (just don’t look inside or up close).