Saving the best jobs for last

Saturday was much more like summer and a perfect day to get a lot done.

Earlier in the week, we took down the entire bridge enclosure so yet another piece (the roof, this time) could also be repaired. One of the zippers on that section had also started to come loose so we decided to have that done while we were still in the shed.

When we got it home, we found that the outside of the top section was incredibly dirty so we cleaned it up as best we could so Frances could take it to the canvas guy.

Once we get it back, we'll hang it up, wash it down as thoroughly as possible and then waterproof it again before reinstalling it. We hope that all happens next week.

We got to the boat very early and continued to off-load tools, lights and a lot of other stuff that we used during the winter but could now go home. We also cleaned and polished the railings with Flitz to kill some time until Frances arrived.  When she did, we tackled the re-installation of the rub rails. What a circus that was!

We never know if there will be people around to give us a hand so we came up with a scheme for getting the biggest piece (17 ft. long and curved) that goes around the bow and halfway down each side, up off the ground and up in place so we could begin fastening it.  Our idea was to tie a line around the ends and at the center and then haul this big hunk of stainless up into position.

This actually looked like it was going to work until one of the lines slipped off and the whole thing came crashing back down onto the ground. That got the attention of some nearby boaters who helped us get the rub rail high enough to at least get a few screws in. One of them asked, "Are you folks taking that thing off of putting it back on?"  Guess that wasn't obvious.

We won't dwell on how much fun it was to climb up the extension ladder, drive two screws and then reposition the ladder a few feet and do it all over again.  There were 60 screws. The battery in our electric drill handled that task easily. Our personal batteries, however, did need recharging.

Painting the bottom

This is the last thing we do every year because it is nasty and difficult. We tackled it on Sunday. 

This year we bought some new bottom paint called AquaGard, and we did that on the recommendation of someone from Defender Marine. We've put on hundreds of gallons of bottom paint over the years and we weren't looking for anything great with this new stuff, but we were pleasantly surprised.

First, you don't need a screwdriver to pry the lid off the can. That was a new one on us. Next, it didn't need shaking or stirring. It was a nice even consistency when we dipped our stick into it. Finally, it's water-based so all the spots in our hair and on our face and arms washed off fairly easily in the shower.

AquaGard doesn't pay us anything to mention this product but we're open to receiving payment provided each one equals a tank of boat gas (210 gallons) or several cases of very fine Vodka. Make that at least a half dozen cases.

After opening the AquaGard container, it was time to get down and roll this stuff on. It covers well, but there is nothing fun about laying on one's back and rolling black paint on a 34 ft. boat's bottom that quickly feels like it is at least 65 ft. long.

When the last of the bottom paint was finally applied (and yes, we masked the boot top to make it neat), we Installed new Zincs. The old ones weren't that eroded but what the hell, we've gone this far.

We're due to go into the water on Wednesday but from the look of the boatyard, that won't happen. We're also due to get back the top of our bridge enclosure on Wednesday and that might actually happen.

It's this way every spring. We should be used to it.