Ahoy all from Lemon Bay! Well it was a perfect "winter" morning when Dave captained Tortuga to the launch area at Royal Palm Marina for the beginning of a work week like no other! It's hard to see, but Darbi & I are on the bow providing our usual "direction".
It's amazing how they just lifted her out of the water like she was a toy boat. The boat was coming out of the water for a bottom paint job to be done by RPM ~ as you know we are "do it yourselfers" but we weren't ready to tackle this paint job on our own, at least not this time! We had a list of things to do while she was out of the water, with the biggest task being compounding the hull. Over time, from the sun fiberglass becomes "chalky", which made the boat look dull and white in color. Dave got an estimate of $5,000 to have it professionally done, so of course . . . . .
. . . we bought the tool and did it ourselves!! It is a 12 pound power buffer that is basically like a self propelled lawn mower when you get it going. All I can say is that I got the greatest arm and leg workout of my life.
Dave will doing anything to get a new tool, but after the combined 90 hours that we put into the job in 4 days, we decided that we wouldn't do it again even if we were offered $5,000 to do it!! You can't believe the people that did stop by and ask us for our card to hire us to do their boat.
If you look closely, you can see where we hadn't buffed yet. It was a back-breaking 4 step process to remove all the chalk and return the hull to it's original luster and surprising IVORY color. And I mean back-breaking as Dave wound up in the emergency room with a severe back strain early on in the week. Needless to say, with some super duper drugs, Dave got back on that horse (or I should say boat) and got the job done!
Here's the before . . .
And here's the after. This is probably one of those times when pictures just don't do it justice! The after you can actually see your reflection.
As usual, Dad came to lend a helping hand, seen here with a power drill. And many thanks to Mom for having dinner on the table when we got back to Sarasota after 10-12 hour days. (The blue skies are as amazing as they look in pictures! That, the constant sunshine and passing out in Sarasota kept us going!)
The RPM guys were great all week as well. (Brother Jimmy, the guy on the left is your double!)
And back in the water she went as Phase II.
Looking brand new and ready to cruise!!
And crusing we did two days later thanks to our buddy George and his beautiful Albin. We spent about 2 1/2 hours cruising down the Intercoastal to Cabbage Key for the real cheeseburger in paradise. The tropical restuarant is where Jimmy Buffet wrote "Cheeseburger In Paradise" and we totally agree, it was paradise.
The dolphins entertained us the whole ride down and back. They love to play in the wake of the boat. At one point, there were 3 dolphins jumping in and out of the water. It's so cool to see them that close.
We finally took Phase II for a short cruise this week after allowing Dave's back to heal and the crazy winds to die down. A few of the Y-guys - Cloyd, Doc Martuccio, Rocky and Frankie - stopped by for some sunshine, blue waters, cocktails, . . .
dried sausage, wine, Crown Royal and . . .
. . . shrimp. It was a great trip . . .
. . . that ended with a beautiful sunset!
It's always Cocktail Hour on the back deck, as enjoyed here by Tom and Pat back in January.
And beautiful beaches like Siesta Key are just up the road. Just ask Pat, Jeanne or Joan what the sand feels like ~ it's amazing silky, cool sand! Needless say, we love visitors so come on down!
We will be leaving Royal Palm Marina the end of the month to begin our cruising adventure across the state to the east coast and then up the coast all the way to the Chesapeake Bay. I plan to update the blog weekly with interesting pictures of our adventure. Our plan is to be back up north by the beginning of May ~ if it quits snowing up there!!!
TAKE CARE . . .
