There we go, she’s ready to get wet again! (us too, apparently)
And everyone got a sip of mousseux for the occasion Thanks Roger!

Here is Salsa Verde with all her coats… a grey bottom, a red-brown botto and a black bottom!

Third week-end at the boat, Ted did his magic and reinstalled the cutlass bearing (with 3 set screws!) and the prop.

I also volunteered him to drill a 3 inch hole in the deck!!! (Too hard for me…) But here’s now a nice solar vent that will pull some moisture and hot air out of the boat year round

JC worked on peeling the varnish off the toe rail

While I went around the hull for a second time to fill in the little blister holes with epoxy.

Hey! We’re ready to paint!!!!

Here is an update on Salsa Verde’s hull:
- The bottom is on the gelcoat, thanks to Bottom Dave’s great work!
- The Awlgrip is shining, thanks to Ted’s Poli Glow contribution!

Here are some photos of the haul out and beginning of the work…

Thanks to Cheetah (John and Bubba) for letting us use their lift while they were out sailing today!

On the way there, Nicole winched me up the mast so I could sand the sides of the sheeve box of the main halyard. It had been shaffing for a long time, and I should have done this before… Before the halyard was too scary to be hoisted on!!! Not smart…

We raised Salsa Verde out of the water to investigate the dirt situation… In brief, there was a lot of “gew”, algue, small blisters and some barnacles. Yes, some of them survived since last summer probably! How great! Nicole and I got really messy (especially me, I have to admit) scraping and scratching while practicing some adventurous climbing manuvers under the boat.

When we had covered most of what we could get to from the lift structure, I went and got an optimist to float under the prop, rudder and bow for some more yummy scraping. The ride along the dock in the optimist (standing up and pulling myself along the dock) was not as hard to do going than coming back in stronger wind and waves… A generous helper (Walter) came along to the rescue and pulled us all the way to the boat ramp. This unfortunately cost a few more scratches on the poor little boat each time a wave was just throwing us on the friendly barnacly pilings! But without Walter, we would still be there I think! Thank you

Salsa Verde seemed to sail much faster on the way back… Maybe the dark clouds behind us had to do with it?