I'm not afraid of a haul out

What has seemed impossible is about to happen. I am of course speaking of our up coming haul out. For the non-boaters, a haul out is when you lift your boat out of the water and paint the bottom, before splashing back in. Ideally this should be done at least every other year, to prevent marine growth and to make sure the submerged bottom is in good shape. The last time our bottom was painted was in 2005, and really we have no idea what we are going to find there.

We are preparing for the worst, meaning we have wood on hand in case planks need to be replaced, our stock of speciality fasteners that hold the planks to the ribs has been replenished, and we will drill about a thousand bungs today to replace the ones that are no longer holding. We have the special (this means expensive) anti-fouling bottom paint, scrapers, tons of sandpaper and caulk. We have turned on the motors and generator, T changed the oil (13 gallons total) and our mechanic friend gave the two Detroit's Diesels two thumbs up. We studied the charts and plotted our course, made registration number boards, and today I will graffiti our boat name on the transom. The goal is to be finshed with the haul out in four days at the most, as we don't want Lucy M to dry out too much and cause us more problems. Her saving grace is that she has been in the water most of her 41 years, and her swollen planks make for tight seams, which is what you want on a woody.

All these preparations were done in addition to the work already started. T and I have both been in GO mode, working like machines to get the port side paint job finished. All told I spent roughly three weeks sanding from the raft, and it took us three days to get the final primer coat and two coats of paint on. Now she is floating with only one ugly side, as we indeed made our July 4th deadline and finished the port side paint job! I wish I could revel more in that accomplishement, but the whirl wind continues, and our celebration and mini-vacation has to wait until after the haul out. The good thing is I'm no longer terrified or mystified as to how this hauling out will happen, and only pray that we will be back in the water asap. Sorry for the lack of pics, just too busy right now to mess with them.