Saturday, May 26, 2007

Cat is out of the bag

For those of you not currently in the know, consider yourself now duly informed and officially inside the loop.

We've bought a boat.

It's a nice little 16' sailboat with a jib and a main. We got it for a steal with trailer due to it needing some considerable repair as well as the fact that the guy simply had too many boats in his yard and I think his wife was starting to ask why.

We've got the whole crew out there working on it. Painting, sanding, epoxy, fiberglass, woodwork, math, physics, chemistry, biology, history. I had the boys out there scraping barnicles while Mia... well... Mia does whatever Mia does. So long as she does it with a happy heart, I'll consider it help.

Now when I say "considerable repair", I mean the boat is from 1959 and things break. The boat would probably have floated if we tossed it in the water, it just wouldn't have gone anywhere with any class nor assurance it would reach its destination. It had a few superficial cracks and blemishes (luckily, I've been reading for months on fiberglass repair and its going together much quicker in that department than I'd have ever thought and is about as strong as I'd imagine it could get.)

We've decided on a cafe mocha belly and a creme freche top with red accent lines to tie in the boat's red emblem and red signatures on the sail. We're torn though on the name (I say we, but I've placed that duty squarely on J's shoulders. "The wife ALWAYS names the boat" is the advice I've read repeatedly in boating circles.) I think we're currently inbetween RUDDER BLISS and COFFEE BREAK.

Here's some pics to let you see what we're looking at here. Quick note before viewing... these are not in order. Some show pre work, some show working, some show the boat's condidtion by end of working today. Pick out clues and put them in order yourself if you're up for a little challenge. (Clue: the boat is on the western face of our house in the most recent shots. Take THAT Mensa.)

No comments: