This is a belated Year End Wrap for 2009. The most important event of the year was the moving of the boat. I'm saying "the boat" now because I am in the midst of negotiating the renaming with myself.
Dad had been accompanying me to Bay City to do boatwork. After being driving all week, Dad and I drove 3.5 hours over to Saginaw Bay to work. It was difficult, at best, to get the gumption up to do anything significant. Dad was inspired, after speaking to Mom, to front me the funds to move the boat. The first quote I got, three years ago, was outrageous and I never considered moving the boat. With the backing, I searched anew and found a company out of Holland that was amazingly reasonable.
We got an early start last year. I had finished stripping the bottom paint and started sanding off the last blush of it. This was quite a job; a 28' foot hull to a depth of 4 feet with a palm sander.
The boat was loaded on to a very cool adjustable trailer and hauled from Bay City to Douglas, near Saugatuck. There she was dropped onto a cradle and began enjoying her new surroundings. The trip had turned out to be less than I imagined and the new marina actually charged a little less for yard storage!
Her new home is Tower Marine on Kalamazoo Lake
I was in paradise, the boat was now only 30 minutes away from home. If I forgot a tool or something, I can just run home and get it. Amazing. And the work began. The Hull Sanding was finished and work began to fix some issues on the hull itself.
There were typical dings and gouges that only needed filled, but there were also a few places where I wanted to grind out some major surface crazing and reglass. It had been quite a while since I had dipped my hands in polyester. The first patch was a little thick, but like the Tin Man, the rusty skills I had earned in the back of a boat plant in Florida, came back with a little oiling. I was quite happy with the results.
I worked into Late October until the weather began to threaten. With a new backbone built, I covered her up on the last weekend before the first snow flew.
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