Sunday December 13: Progress

Florida folks certainly do love their flamingos! Almost all of the bridges we drive over in this housing development where we are staying have a cute flamingo to the side. It's festive even when it isn't the Christmas season!

Progress is being made on cleaning up the boat but what is nice is we aren't really pressed for time.

The condo we rented until next Saturday is very comfortable with all the conveniences of home - including a washer and dryer in the unit.

Makes it easy to wash anything that sat in the boat for the past 7 months.

Day 1: Steve worked on the outside. Flybridge, sides of the cabin and walk around decks.

I worked inside and started with the front cabin. It's kind of like spring cleaning - only it's in the winter!

All surfaces are wiped down, upholstery is cleaned with a spray cleaner and a good vacuuming.



I'm quite certain I had the better of the deal working inside instead of out. At least most of the boat is in the shade even though the sun is quite low on the winter horizon.

Day 2: Since the walk around deck was nice and clean, we decided to go ahead and get the deck painting done. Raptor truck bed liner is a two part paint that wears like iron and is pretty easy to paint on. A coat or two of Brightside paint will finish the deck.

It looks so nice when finished!!





Later that evening we drove to Port Charlotte to visit some friends from Banana Bay. George and Nancy had called and invited us over for dinner and a dinghy ride around the canals of Punta Gorda to see the Christmas lights.

Some of the homes had not only the house decorated but the boat as well!

Apparently it's quite the thing as there are 3 or 4 large tour boats that also traveled in and out of the canals. Really nice lights - but still weird to me without the snow :)

Day 3: Steve finished washing the outside of the boat. He said this boats gets bigger and bigger every year. I think perhaps we are just getting older and older every year :-)

So tomorrow: paint the first coat of paint on the hull. It's easy to tell when it needs repainted as the water stain (kind of a muddy brown) just won't come clean. The paint becomes porous and begins to adsorb the muddy color. Takes about two years for this to happen so we'll be good to go for a while!