Spring Outfitting - Day Forty Through Forty-Three

Day Forty was Mother's Day and my Mom came to the shipyard to visit. That was the only way she was going to see her favorite daughter* and her favorite son-in-law* (and my Dad, too!) Mom brought cookies and also ran a bunch of errands for us through-out the day so we could keep working...including lunch. My brother even stopped by for a visit.

* Yes, I am her only daughter and Brian is her only son-in law!

Sunday and Monday were spent caulking and puttying the bottom as well as painting the topsides again, cutting the water line, and painting the bottom. I put the finishing touches on the jib boom (cutting the heel and shaping the tip) and Capt. Doug set it in place with the shipyard crane. It slipped into place perfectly!

We exhausted the local supply of brown seam cement and sent Capt. Bill (of M/V Rendezvous) to get more in Searsport. We used over 14 quarts!

We used 10 gallons of bottom paint.

Tuesday was spent hooking up all the head rigging, painting the keel, applying another coat around the waterline, replacing zincs, cleaning the bilge, removing the staging, and cleaning up in an effort to launch on the high tide at 2:00.

We launched, tied up at our summer berth, and went for lunch together....Chinese buffet. We were all starving...especially me because I had to fast the night before for a blood draw at the local hospital Tuesday morning!

We spent the afternoon sorting tools, cleaning paint brushes, bagging up the sawdust from the jib boom project, and doing an overall regroup. We celebrated with margaritas and Pepsi at a downtown restaurant. Another haul-out completed!

From the left, here's my Dad, John, Brian, Jackie, and Mark
celebrating just before launching the newly-painted Evans for the '09 season.
Those that worked hard to meet our Tuesday at 2:00 deadline but didn't make
the photo include Bob, Bill, and my Mom. Oh, and yours truly!

That's right. That's our new jib boom!

The crew spent day forty-three of spring outfitting attending a Small Passenger Vessel Emergency Preparedness Workshop. With over 50 participants, they learned about fires and fire fighting, life jackets, distress signals, man overboard procedures, bilge pumps, liferaft deployment and other safety procedures. We plan to have fun this summer while also being safe.

Whooo. Haul-out is a big hurdle to be over but we still have a lot of work to do to be ready for sailing on the 31st. Lots of painting and attention to systems lie ahead. Oh, and I guess we should think about rigging and bending sails!