Painting The Bottom

While I've been painting the bottom, the Captain has been touching up some damage on the starboard side. 

And now it looks like this.

After we put a second coat of bottom paint on this afternoon, we can rub out the spots, finish waxing, and go back in Saturday.

Wax On, Wax Off

The Captain has polished one side of the hull today, and I will finish waxing it. Not bad for a couple of senior citizens in 99 degree heat.

Tomorrow we hope to polish the other side while the yard sands the bottom.

Haul Out

We arrived at the yard this morning at high tide, and by 10:00 we were set up in  the cradle. The specs say our boat should weigh 24,500 lbs, but the travelift operator said she weighs 31,000 lbs! We have taken lots of weight out (two air conditioners and the 220 converter), and the masts is out, so how can that be?

We plan to check the cutlass bearing, sand and paint the bottom, put on new zincs, and polish the topsides.

Then we can put her back together and finally go sailing again!

The Looooong Mast Project

We removed our mast on June 3rd and it seems like it's taking forever to make the changes, sand and paint it, get the new rods, tangs, and track, and put it all back together.

But yesterday morning we painted the second side and today we are prepping parts to re-assemble it. Our rigger said to use PVC pipe tape to protect the aluminum from the stainless steel. So today I applied it to cleats, tangs, and spreader mounts.

Here's a picture of one of our old tangs next to one of the new tangs. See that little crack? We didn't want to be beating to weather and thinking about that crack, so we had new ones made at Svendson's in Alameda.

And this is why every project takes so long. We find some safety issue that we're not happy with and we repair or replace it. Even though it adds time and expense, we will feel so much better when we head offshore.

Pacific Cup Race

I just realized this is the start of the Pacific Cup Race. (See the boats out there?) And what a beautiful day for it.