Getting ready for Stanley Steamer

With the last of the interior painting and trim refinishing complete, Frances came up with the idea of having the carpeting and our furry walls cleaned professionally. That would mean, Stanley Steemer, a company that Frances has had good luck with in the past.

One call and we found that yes, they do boats and could begin after visiting the boat and giving us an estimate. We also found out, when we asked in the marina office, that Stanley has been there to clean boat carpets in the past and that we seemed to be the first this year. Good to know that they have never has a complaint. But, then again, they don't know Frances.

If we were to invite Stanley over next week, we needed to take everything out of the boat. These people will move furniture but we're not sure they have ever encountered anything like the inside of our boat. We have nick-knacks, people. We have good sized rocks collected from various beaches over the years. We have books... lots of them. Want a bird book? We have many. Want something on flowers? Just let us know.

So, on Saturday, we moved all nine chairs, the rock collection, the Henderson Library and lots of other things to the cockpit or to the fly bridge for temporary storage. If the boat were in the water right now, it would tip over and sink.

Everything is covered so all we have to do now is wait and meet Stanley.

On Sunday, Frances moved even more stuff out of the boat's interior while Bill masked and painted the boot top stripe.

Painting this stripe isn't something we do every year but it had become somewhat beaten-up from fenders rubbing on it. Time to make it look good again and when we left on Sunday afternoon, it looked good.

The boat looks funny with nothing in it.

Never fear, Frances will soon fill it up again.

Silly video follows but it is really run to do.