Painting and cleaning and waxing, oh my!

Welcome to the first installment of the log of our boat, "Wendy Michelle." It's going to be a great adventure!!!!

Well, it's official. Bill quit his job at Benner's Woodworking and has been up at the boat working his hiney off. He had to rub down the entire bottom of the boat with bronze wool, then apply two coats of very expensive anti-fouling paint (cuts down on the amount of icky things that grow on your bottom [hey, get your mind out of the gutter]). Stooping over to do all that work wasn't exactly easy job on Bill's back. Then I came up last weekend and helped with the cleaning and waxing. It was a real challenge because we had to maneuver two ladders and a scaffolding board between a series of jackstands (the contraptions that hold the boat in place when it is "on the hard" land.)




Here's the drill: Bill climbs up on the scaffolding. I hand him a rag and the cleaner. He spreads it on the hull. I then hand him the buffer. He buffs it in. We wait a minute or two then we both work to rub it off. After we get done with a section, we have to move the ladders and board to get into position, then do it again. After we get done with the entire boat then we get to do it AGAIN with the wax. Oh, the joys of boat maintenance! But I have to tell you, it was bright and shiny when we got done. In fact, you can see Bill's reflection in the photo above.

Bill also removed the cover to the nav station since we are re-configuring some of the electronics. He's building a new one out of a beautiful piece of cherry wood. I'll post of photo when it's done, but for now, here's the mess of wires he has to untangle. Ugh!

The boats are stored within INCHES of each other. It's unbeliveable!

I'd forgotton my camera, so I experimented with our video conferencing camera to take these pics. In case you can't tell, I'm sitting UNDER the 10-1/4 ton boat, back by the propeller and rudder (trusting sort, eh?)

Well, that's this week's update. Please be patient as I learn how to do this blogging thing. And thanks so much for joining us on our great adventure. We can't wait to share every step of the way with you!!!! 66 days and counting!