To Boat-Inital Preparations

This is a continuation of the boat story started here and continued here.

June 2011, and i now have a boat in my driveway. I realize i don't know very much and am a bit overwhelmed. Since the boat sat unused for so long, i cleaned her. And cleaned. And cleaned. There was quite a bit of mould in her cabin, and while i was waiting for others who knew more who'd said they'd help me, i figured i'd clean.

Himself was still away, and the people who said they'd help didn't. I don't think they meant to drop the ball or leave me hanging, but life happens, and each of them got very busy with other things. The cloud had a silver lining, as i got chance to become better aquainted with my up-the-street neighbours. The wife suggested that her husband do the wiring for me, since he's a marine electrician. (I had mentioned to her how i wanted to have the rewiring done.) The husband was glad to do it, charged me less than he should have as he helped me with some other repairs, too, and told me i could make up the difference in sailing time.

some before and after photos of the cleaning efforts:

 Above is the port (left) side after I've cleaned. Below is the starboard (right) side before i've cleaned.

 Above is the pointy part of the V berth, which is at the bow (front) of the boat. Below is after cleaning.

 Instead of fancy boat cleaners, i used good old dish soap and bleach.

Himself helped with using a wire brush on the keel to rough up the surface a bit so then we could apply bottom (anti-fouling) paint.

After that, we applied the anti-fouling paint. Himself did most of that. This is the finished result, which pleased us both very much.

My goal was to get her in the water before the end of that sailing season, and that did indeed occur. Launch Day deserves an entry all its own.