In the Yard

For a long time, we've known that Arione had probably 20 years worth of bottom paint on her bottom. This year, we finally decided to do something about it (actually, Art decided and I went along -- to be honest, I wasn't positive this was really something we had to deal with -- WRONG!). It was a good thing we did. Although the bottom had no very few blisters -- pretty amazing for a 20 year old boat -- it did have a pretty significant moisture content. It was time to peel the gel coat and put on epoxy. Oh joy!

The peel was done in December. However, the hull was still sort of wet. We had two options -- peel off some laminate (expensive -- think taking all of the stucco off of a house and replacing it with siding) or let it dry out on its own (somewhat less expensive -- think scraping and repainting a house). Being cheap (and planning not to have jobs for a while), we chose option 2. The boat's been on the hard in a shed at Seaview boatyard in Bellingham ever since.

This week, the bottom is finally dry enough that there's light at the end of the tunnel. Once she's back in the water, work can proceed on the installation of a watermaker and a new fridge compresser and holding plate. We should have a boat again by April! Whoopee! We can't wait to bring her down to Elliott Bay, which is about 4 miles from our apartment. That will be a lot more convenient than Anacortes (chosen for ease of access to the San Juans), where she's been for the past 5 years.

Since this has taken a lot longer than we'd anticipated, we've pushed our departure date back until June. We'd thought we'd get to the Broughton Islands before heading south, but given the amount of work we have yet to do when we get the boat down here, and our desire to shake down the new systems while we're near the people who installed them, that's seeming less and less realistic -- which is OK, the Broughton's aren't going anywhere, and they'll still be here when we get back.