Friday May 4: Getting Work Done

We arrived Saturday about eleven in the morning at the self-serve lock that will lift us a foot or so into the fresh-water canal that leads to Safe Cove. Even the name makes me feel good :-)

Running the boat in fresh water instead of salt water means we don't have to flush the engine or the air conditioner to rinse the salt out of the water cooling systems.

The self serve lock is interesting. Second time we've been through it so we knew what to do this time! Push the button to open the doors. Once in the lock, push the second button to open the front gates to let the water in. Once the lock is filled the doors open automatically. Only another hour and we'll be at the marina in plenty of time for our scheduled 2 pm haul out.

We remembered to lower the antennas this time so no more "oops"!

It wasn't too long before the bottom had been power washed and Yesterday's Dream was being backed into her summer home.


Having the boat stored in a covered area really helps when trying to work on the boat. We have power, water and shade. It's still in the high 80's and getting warmer here so the cooler working conditions make it nice.

The downside is we had to go to extremes in order to have the satellite dish be able to see the SW skies but we found if the dish sat on the edge of the dingy the satellite needed was visible :-)

Love You More

We spent 2 nights on the boat (Sat and Sun) before we were able to move into the condo we had rented for the next week. I'm definitely hooked on American Idol again so Sunday TV is imperative :-)

We did spot Love You More, Randy and Cindy's boat, stored just a unit away from us. They had left a few weeks ago while we were in Punta Gorda.

And so the work began. Our thought was that if we could complete the work now that we could return to the boat in the fall and not have too much to do in order to start traveling south to Banana Bay again.

Painting the flybridge was one of the biggest to be done. Steve had painted both sides of the boat while in Banana Bay but didn't have time for the upper flybridge.

It needed: sanded, wiped down, primed, sanded, wiped down, three coats of paint with wipe down in between each coat. So that's four days of work. It's looking REALLY good though! Well worth it as it was beaten up pretty badly by Irma. Stuff blown by the hurricane we assume.

Second major job was to recoat all of the decks with Raptor bedliner. This stuff works great and holds up well but it's definitely time.












This takes a couple of days to harden enough to walk on so it was also a priority. Note the use of the breathing mask in deference to Safety Matt :-)

The boom (of the mast) also needed primer and two coats of paint so that was an ongoing project as well.



The underside of the flybridge was a mess and although it wasn't on the list, it just really had to be done. It looks GREAT!!!


Today we finally started on part of the main walkaround deck. What a difference the new coat of raptor makes!

Not sure both the front and aft cabin decks will get finished being recoated but then there's always time in the fall if need be.

Some small jobs have been accomplished as well. I mean, really. How many of these bags do we need on the boat? I counted 11. Definitely too many!







In the meantime, we been staying in a nice condo we found on airbnb. It's so much easier and nicer to not have to stay on the boat when trying to work on it. We come back to comfortable couches, a bathtub (yeah!!) and a nice screened in porch with a view of the Myakka River. Only about 10 minutes from Safe Cove.




It has a fully equipped kitchen which makes Steve happy.

Including a stove that heats to 500 degrees that lets him make bread!






It has been a very productive week for us but also a very sad one. We are again and again reminded of how fortunate we are.

Last week we received word that my cousin's daughter, a 17-year old high school junior, was killed in a car accident. Shortly after was the news that my uncle was not doing well and was not expected to live much longer. The topper was news of one of our Banana Bay friends who had a heart attack and died on his boat - a one hour travel from their home in Virginia. He was in his 50's. Prayers for all.