Driving my boat down a gravel road for a quick bottom job....

 

August 23: I had an opportunity (weather and time) to get my boat into a nice DIY-friendly boat yard in ME for a week. The fee they charge covers pulling, cleaning, launching, and two months in the yard.... And this was the morning we had arranged to pull the boat. 

Every time I've pulled the boat to date has used a travel lift, a big crane that lowers slings under the boat and lifts it. The only part of the machinery that gets wet is the tremendously strong cloth sling...but the machine requires a level surface. That changed today as they used a completely different sort of machine, one that can handle rather steep hills...

First, I climbed aboard the boat and motored it up to the submerged machine and gently nosed into place, then kept it in place with gentle forward propeller while they gripped it with the hydraulic arms. Then I turned off the engine as they pulled me out, a cable helping pull them and my 30.000 lbs up the ramp...

Once up off the ramp and on reasonable roads, they disconnected the cable and motored through the woods to the boat yard.

There, they installed jack stands, pressure washed the bottom, and left me to work. 

After my repairs in FL in early 2020, I had planned on pulling and painting in the next year, but one things leads to another and I forgot that I had only put on a single coat of bottom paint over a significant area, leading to some serious crusty growth on that area. Whoops! So, I was eager to take care of this and had two gallons of paint, figuring I would give the bare area at least three coats and the rest at least one, as well as spraying the propeller with zinc and giving it some other protection. 

I spent hours preparing the bottom, a job made harder by the fact that the yard well pump was failing and I had just a trickle of water to work with: OK for pressure washing, but not enough for hand washing the boat. Still, patience did the trick.

I planned to take days, but the sun was hot and the area I needed to paint most dried fast, so I painted it twice in a couple hours, then did a third coat over the whole boat, the whole thing still releasing fumes, but dry by nightfall. I walked Monty, then fell exhausted into my bed.

Morning came with heavy fog. I moved the jack stands (first boat yard where they allow this!), scrubbed those bits, dried them off, and painted them. The yard launch schedule was open, so they agreed to launch me! ONE day and splash! 

Anyway, a very satisfactory job, even if pricy on a per diem basis.

Observant folks may have noticed the nice bottom paint as the boat is being put into the yard. This is because those pics are actually the boat being launched since I was on board for the pulling and couldn't take those pics. Same views, just a nicer bottom...

Stress!

(Written Saturday 9/3/2022)

I hear many folks are having issues with stress these days and I have some words of advice from my own experience that help you, especially after misplacing my phone Friday evening and still being unable to get it, 12 hours later...

First of all, read or watch the news. This really helps with stress: I find I just can't build up that internal anxiety and tension without reading the latest news or at least thinking about it. Being cut off from it is highly destructive to my distress levels.

Avoid dogs! Especially playing free on the beach! After all, their joy and in-the-moment existence, let alone an affectionate smile at you as you scratch a back, takes one from thinking about future and past and puts one in the present. Here is a photo of Monty crashing a stranger's stress: 

Do NOT talk to strangers! Striking up a conversation with strangers, ESPECIALLY if it quickly degenerates to smiles or even laughter, has been shown to damage one's feelings of stress.

Avoid all physical contact, especially hugs. Even brief hugs can lead to damage to the stress edifice. Don't risk it!

Make sure to sit still and think about all your troubles, all the ways that things may go wrong, all the things that you have avoided on your lists. Do not sit still with your coffee and watch the glory of a sunrise. 

Anyway, I hope this advice is helpful. I'm afraid it may be too late for me, however. Monty just hopped into my lap and went belly-up for attention 

I've misplaced my phone and can't get the news, I NEED to go ashore for Monty's beach time and will undoubtedly watch dogs and meet strangers (although I'm getting to know them, so they aren't really strangers now). AND I even get occasional hugs, as I did when taking my friends Mike and Denise out sailing yesterday! My stress may be doomed (unless I find my phone soon): save yourselves from my fate!