Splash Day!

 Hurricane Zeta came and went. She left plenty of damage in her wake that will impact our future plans, but I will get to that later in this entry. We hauled SHIFT out of the water on October 21st. Due to many factors we ended up staying on the hard one day short of three weeks. Zeta certainly impacted the situation here in the marina. Only one boat was damaged by the high winds. A large houseboat was blown off of it's stands and onto the ground. All of the slips in the marina were occupied with boaters that were waiting in this very protected place before continuing south down the river. We took full advantage of the time in the yard. We completed all of the projects on my list and even added a few more. None of those projects was as big as the teak project.

The teak project included stripping all of the old varnish off of the boats teak bowsprit and rails, the eyebrows, the cockpit combing and hand rails on the foredeck. All of this teak was freshly varnished when we bought the boat in July of 2019, but a year of hot sunshine had left it blistered and peeling. We really wanted to do something different. I was reading one night and found another blogger that recommended a product called "Teak Guard". The advantage of this stuff is that you don't have to sand it off to refinish each year. You just reapply a new coat over the old. The stuff is guaranteed not to peel or blister. We ordered a kit and have since talked to some other boaters that swear by the stuff. 

This is what the rail looks like after just two coats. We will put on at least 5.

   

Here is a shot of just the bare wood and the rail forward of the drain with two coats on it.

Here is a shot of the bowsprit with two coats. I just did my 5th today. One nice thing about this Teak Guard is that it has a nice satin finish and it is not slick like varnish. I prefer the glossy finish of varnish, but it is looking better and better with each coat. It is also much easier to apply than varnish. 

On Monday, November 2, they came to put SHIFT into the slings. They let her hang for a night to give Rico some time to finish the painting on the bottom. He did an excellent job and we are very happy with the way it came out. Splash day was November 3 (Election Day).

Not a flattering shot of Rico, but this is SHIFT in the lift. 

Here is a short clip that I shot as we were leaving our home for the past three weeks. It actually turned out pretty cool. We met some very interesting people and we will always remember riding out the hurricane. 

Kim walking with her home. It was a bit nerve wracking for both of us, but they took good care of her.

Hanging 10 feet above the water.

Here we are back in our slip in the marina. The entire process took about a half hour. We were in our slip by 8 am. It feels great to be a boat again.

Now comes more work. We have to complete a number of tasks to be ready to start the 200+ mile trip down the river to Mobile, Alabama. We have to finish the rest of the coats of Teak Guard. We have to put on the head sails. We have to complete some mechanical checks and then we will take a short shake down cruise. Then we check the weather and pick a date. That was the plan until yesterday. I called the marina in Gulfport, MS, which was going to be our destination of the first leg of this trip, but found out they were badly damaged by Zeta. They are hoping to be back up in running in a couple of weeks, but we are now looking at alternatives. The problem is, most of the marinas in the area along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts have been impacted by one of the many hurricanes. And now there is another storm coming to Florida. It has been a crazy year.  For now, we will stay here and wait for the hurricane season to finally end and maybe we will know who the next president will be...Come back to see what happens next.