The weather having turned decisively for the better, the crews hired to reassemble the docks bent them back into shape and tugged them back into position. A few boats are already back, and I think I saw a blossom on the apricot tree. It was promptly eaten by a voracious squirrel.
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| Mrs. Alchemy hard at work applying this years bottom paint. Note highly technical custom-fitting prop cover. |
It has been, as was seen in the last post, more or less warm enough to paint, and so paint we have. But other things are required or desired for launch, including the fitting of
Dri-Dek tiles cut to fit (partly, anyway, as I hate waste and don't step everywhere down in the engine bay) between the frames and stringers.
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| Needs more painting down there, evidently. |
All of the necessary hose clamps were tightened today, and I am always impressed that they loosen over the winterr without any more vibration than the wind hitting the boat. Anyway, for a boat with very few below-the-waterline holes, there's still a
lot of hose clamps.
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| Unclean, but not leprous, we will concentrate on paint touch-ups and waterline cleaning during the season. |
The bottom paint left over from last year was sufficient (and well-enough stored) to cover the bottom, so I will try to exchange the gallon of Pettit I picked up for something I planned to buy, like a nice grate for the standpipe. Prior to Saturday's launch, feeble attempts were made to stow all the paint supplies and tools liable to fly about should launch go pear-shaped.
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| Teardrops on my rudder... |
This is one of a pair of through-bolted zincs on the rudder. I'm curious to see how they fare over the season. At about 30 cm. below the waterline, I can inspect them through the season. The place to put zincs is on the hull proper, which involves scary hole-drilling, but really, this is to help out the prop zinc, the only other sacrificial anode in play. Next post will see boat or boats in the water!
