We finally got the Pretty Gee de-trailered on Friday, in preparation for the soda blasting and bottom painting. This was a bit more complicated than I had hoped.
We placed the two beams under the boat, and soon it was clear that the two beams that Arion had made up to do the de-trailering weren’t going to be able to handle it. The Pretty Gee is a bit heavier than either of has expected, and we had to go with Plan B. The beams were making very ominous creaking, cracking, noises, as well as bowing a lot further than we were comfortable with seeing.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have a Plan B initially. With some changes in tactics, some creative thinking and hard work, Arion, John, some others and I were finally able to get the Pretty Gee de-trailered. She is sitting on two cradles and three boat stands—looking much like a large bird of prey.
Since the boat is usually seen with the amas retracted—either on the trailer or in the slip—it was a bit of a surprise for me to see how large the boat really is. I don’t generally get much of a chance to see her with the amas extended.
On Sunday, Dave and I applied taped off the three sides that were missing tape. The taping job went much smoother than the first session did. I think having the experience from doing the same task a month or so ago, and having the boat outside, with the better light, and with the amas extended made the taping job much simpler. It looks very good. I know from the daysail with Mike and MyLien last week, that the new water line is perfect. My friend Rick has suggested adding a boot stripe to the boat’s paint scheme. I am thinking a royal blue stripe might be nice.
Right now, the boat is sitting on stands, over two large sheets of plastic. The plastic will be used as the drop cloth for the soda blasting. Greg, of South Coast Soda Blasting, will be coming over tomorrow to tent the boat. His plan is to essentially treat each hull as a separate boat. On Wednesday, Greg and two of his crew will come over and do the actual soda blasting.
The next step would be applying the barrier coat. Originally, I was debating whether to barrier coat the Pretty Gee’s hull, while I have her out of the water. I decided to order the materials to do a full barrier coat job, since I plan on keeping her for a long-time, and I may not get such an ideal chance to do it in the future. I will be ordering barrier coat supplies either tomorrow or Wednesday.
Finally, after the barrier coat, we will put the new bottom paint on. The bottom paint I am using is a hard-epoxy-based anti-fouling paint called CopperCoat. I imported this paint from England last spring, and hope it lives up to its expectations. It is sold as a “ten-year” anti-fouling solution. Switching from the current ablative paint to a hard epoxy is the main reason I decided to have the boat soda blasted, to provide the best base for the new bottom paint. I hope to get the barrier coating on this weekend, and the bottom paint early next week, weather permitting.
I can’t say enough good about Arion and John, the two co-owners of Moby Dick Marina, and how much help they were in getting the boat de-trailered. These are two of the nicest and hardest working guys I’ve ever met. They’ve only owned the marina about three years, but the changes they’ve been making have been very noticeable. A good example are the new finger piers along the outer dock that were installed this year. Each has 2,800 lbs. of floatation, composite decking for the surface and very heavy cleats. The new finger piers are a good example of the pride and first class work the two of them do with everything at the marina.
In many ways, a marina is like a neighborhood, and in the case of Moby Dick Marina, a very nice neighborhood. It isn’t so much that the boats are all really expensive—they’re not. The boats range in size and cost, from tiny 16′ fishing boats to 60′ trawlers. It is the people that make the marina a nice neighborhood. Almost all of the people I’ve met during my time at this marina have been good people. There are sailors and power-boaters, as well as a pretty diverse mix of race, religion, class and age.
It is also one of the few marinas that allows boaters to work on their boats. Being able to work on your own boat really drops the cost of boat ownership quite a bit. I know that having someone build and install my bridgedeck would have set me back at least a thousand dollars, instead of the couple hundred the materials cost me. There is one local marina