Thursday, 7 November 2019 - Cris sanded and filled screw holes for the stern rail, then replaced the floor of the microwave cubby hole that we had previously ripped out to inspect that area's insulation. He had mentioned that the boat would be lifted in order to move the support blocks so where they were holding the boat's keel up could be painted, allowing the paint to dry overnight. That hadn't happened by 4:45 so I went and reminded them. If I hadn't, I'm sure they would have simply lifted the boat tomorrow, slapped some paint on, and put the boat in the water with the wet paint. It's supposed to dry for 24 hours before being put in the water, but 16 hours is better than nothing.

Friday, 8 November - I was to be put back in the water at 8 AM today, so I got up at 6:30 to unplug the electrical cord and get bow and stern lines ready to launch the boat, but the lift operators didn't show up until 8:40. At 8:42, it started raining lightly, so they postponed until about 10:30. By about 11 o'clock, Island Time was back in the water. I readjusted the lines to bring the stern right up to the concrete quay so the welder could repair the eyes on the davits that support the blocks for the dinghy. The welder showed up about 1 o'clock and was finished in about an hour. When they finished, I replaced the shackles on the davits with new ones and remounted the blocks, then moved the boat forward to get away from the quay at the stern. Later, I decided to celebrate getting back into the water by having dinner and a margarita at the Mexican restaurant just up the street. Earlier this week I had hoped to get out of here today, but they still haven't replaced the furling extrusion on my genoa stay yet.

Saturday, 9 November - I got up at 6:30 this morning, had scrambled eggs ala Ro-Tel for breakfast, the immediately started rebedding and installing lock washers and nuts on the three studs in the legs of the stern pulpit. Applying butyl tape on the feet of the pulpit took about an hour, then I listened to the Cruiser's Net for about 45 minutes. After that, I started installing the lock washer, flat washer and nut on the middle of the three legs. The stud sits so close to a bulkhead that I couldn't get the washer on, so I tried to get another washer next door at West Marine. They didn't have any large enough, so I came back to the boat yard and asked one of the yard workers if they had any large washers. No, but they did have a vise and a high speed grinder. I ground about a quarter inch off one side of the washer so it would fit, then proceeded with the installation. As I mentioned, it's a tight fit. In fact, it was so close that I couldn't get the 1 1/4" socket onto the nut. Getting it on took me from about 11:30 to 6:00 in the evening. The second leg took about 20 minutes because I had to remove everything from the aft anchor locker, install the nuts and washers, then put everything back in. The third leg took about 5 minutes. After that, I reinstalled anti-abrasion plates for stern lines on the toe rail, which took about an hour because I couldn't find the screws that the yard workers removed when they took the plates off, plus I had to re-drill one of the holes because it had been filled.

Sunday, 10 November - I tried to sleep in this morning because we're having a pot luck brunch at the marina today and there's no sense eating before I go to that. I'll get plenty there. I got there early to help with set-up and, although the turn out wasn't as large as I expected, there was plenty of, and variety of, food. Snow birds coming south for the winter are starting to show up, but I think the harbor is probably only about 75 to 85 percent full so far. I'm sure the harbor will fill up soon and there will be a waiting list for mooring balls, then we'll have lots of Sunday brunchers. They are planning on having Sunday brunch each second Sunday of the month and that's always a great time to meet newcomers to the harbor.
                    I arrived back at the boat yard around three o'clock and since I have a dockside water supply, I rinsed the boat off, then topped off the 200 gallon water tank with about 80 gallons of water. I'm headed to the Hurricane around 7:15 for dinner and music appreciation. It's been very windy the last couple of days, so I'll be bucking a headwind getting to the Hurricane, but have a great tailwind coming home. By the way, it gets dark WAY too early already. By eight o'clock, it's been dark so long that it seems like it ought to be about eleven.

Monday, 11 November - I spent the morning removing the excess butyl sealant from the feet of the stanchions that had squeeze out and much of the afternoon sanding the woodwork again in preparation for adding a second coat of Alexseal clear gloss top coat to it. At about 5:30, I headed over to the much anticipated re-opening of the Dockside Bar, the only restaurant here that is on the water and that will consistently have a dance floor with live music several nights a week. They've been predicting it would re-open "soon" for well over a year. Today it actually did. Dockside was destroyed by Irma, and they are just now, finally, getting it re-opened. In its previous incarnation they didn't serve food and although it is a limited menu, I'm sure it will help keep their patrons on site and generate considerably more money for them. They had a great turnout and some good, local musicians, all of whom I've seen perform before, to entertain the crowd.

Tuesday, 12 November - I added a second coat to most of the woodwork on the toe rail and cap rail on the boat, but there is more that needs to be done that I can't reach because the side of the boat is against the dock. In the evening, I got invited to go to the last dress rehearsal of the upcoming play at the Marathon Community Theater. The play is called "Greater Tuna", about a small Texas town and about 12 of its inhabitants, all portrayed by just two actors. Need I say there were lots of costume changes and plenty of laughs?

Wednesday, 13 November - Since I will soon lose my clothes washer rights by leaving the boat yard, I took the opportunity to wash clothes, bed covers, and some of the settee covers today and started getting the boat back in order. So many things have had to be moved to do the woodwork, painting, and stern rail that it's going to take several days to get it back to normal.

Thursday, 14 November - While waiting for Keys Rigging to show up to switch out one of the sections of the roller furling extrusion that got bent while lifting the boat out of the water, I re-installed the BBQ on the stern pulpit and cleaned most of the mildew off the ceiling in the boat and bimini top. The riggers arrived about 1 o'clock and the three of them spent about 4 hours exchanging that extrusion.
                    Yahoo! Tomorrow I leave the boat yard and return to the mooring field, but there's still work to do on the boat.

Friday, 15 November - The boatyard workers pushed my bow out and tossed my lines aboard my boat at about 10:30 this morning and I headed out the channel and into the harbor once again. About 20 minutes later, I put the transmission in neutral and glided up to mooring ball L-8 and reattached my lines to it. I made sure everything was safe to go to shore, then headed to the marina office to sign in. This afternoon was spent putting things aboard back to normal, but I still can't put everything away because I need to put one more coat of Alexseal on some of the woodwork and I can't put the painting tools and supplies away until I do. I did get most of the lines coiled and put back, the shore electrical cord put back into the lower compartment of the lazerette, and the 1/2" sockets and ratchet stowed away, and the generator moved back to the foredeck and covered up.

Saturday, 16 November - I defrosted the freezer this morning. I'm low on food and needed to get that done before I go grocery shopping. The ice in there was taking up the space. It was about 3 inches thick.
                    With Marcus, my friend from Regatta Point in Palmetto, where we bought our boats, arriving tomorrow, this was the last chance to get one more coat of Alexseal applied to the toe and cap rails, so I spent all afternoon doing so. Boy, my timing was impeccable. Had I needed to paint for five more minutes, it would have been too dark to see at all. The sun set today at 5:37 behind clouds and I finished at 6:04. I could have finished quicker, but it was pretty windy today and I was having to fight wind and waves for the last part, for which I had to paint the outer edges from the bouncing dinghy. I may find out tomorrow that my paint job isn't nearly as good as it looked in the dim evening light.

                    I guess I'd better send this update on its way. Even though I don't expect Marcus and his crew to arrive until well after noon, I doubt that I'll make time to send it tomorrow and I want to get it out before he arrives.

            Until next time.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick