Tuesday January 14: Making Headway ...

On a nice day, even the sunrises are wonderful down here. The weather has turned again and the days are warm and humid. Winds have calmed enough that it was finally time for Steve and Dave to try their hand at dinghy fishing. It was the last chance they had as Dave was leaving the next day.

First though we needed to get the dinghy down and the engine up and over the aft railing using the boom on the mast.

Last time we ran the engine was probably almost 9 months ago when we were down here - wonder if it will start?

Amazing - fired on the fourth pull! This has been the best little engine. But it does take care. Every time after we use it in salt water, it gets fresh water run through the engine and the fuel run out. The boom works great for that too as we can just stand the engine up on the aft deck hanging from the boom - attach a pair of water "muffs" to the water intake and let it run without being hooked up to the fuel tank until it stalls out.

Off they went armed with every kind of bait know to man. Live shrimp, shrimp packed in brine, plugs, squid .. well you get the idea.

Sadly no keepers for them though :-( But as they both said, it's still fun. It actually turned out to be pretty wavy so bouncing around in a dinghy for a few hours can actually be quite tiring. I think it must be the body's effort to remain upright as the dinghy works to topple it out!

We said our see you next time to Dave. They have their RV on a lake north of here - I think there will be more fishing for Dave for sure.

Yesterday, Steve got busy and decided to wash the outside of the boat down. It REALLY needed it - I think mostly from sitting in Bradenton for the 3 weeks we were up there.

Once that was done he just couldn't stop. All of the shade screen came off and scrubbed clean again.

And of course he still couldn't stop until the windows were washed ... and the snaps greased. Someone isn't going to be able to move tomorrow.

As he's outside working, I decided I had enough mental energy to tackle cutting the carpet we bought to cover the front deck. Finally, after 8 years of owning this boat, this project was at the top of the list!

What a difference. Can't believe we waited all this time to get it done. And only one "oops" cut so not bad considering the individual shaping and cutting each piece had to have.

Now to figure out what to do with all of the hats that typically are piled on the compass on the front deck.

I mean, really -- how many hats do two people need? Especially given that I wear one particular visor 99% of the time.

Something may need to be recycled to the thrift store .....










Today was the initial coat of the famous Ford Lehman Regal Red by rustoleum. The exhaust elbow and heat exchanger went in a couple of days ago so all was ready.

That engine is really lookin' good! Steve did the hard part of the job though, truthfully. You know - clean it up and apply the primer.

Of course he know me too well - is primer really needed? I would just kind of be tempted to start painting and hope it stuck .....

Tomorrow: looks like a great day for fishing. I see a dinghy ride in my future :-)