Prep done, boat launched!

I've been just a bit busy since my last post.  First order of business last weekend (April 28/29) was getting the tarp off and starting to clean up the outside of the boat.  But wait, first I had to go to Sears, Home Depot, Western Tool, Knechts, and finally CarQuest to find a power sander/polisher, polishing compound, etc.  That set me back almost $200! 

Once the tarp was off I started cleaning the hull.  First a good scrubbing with an Oxalic Acid based cleaner which did a great job on the tannin/algae stains.  Then I spent some quality time with the buffer and polish.  It took me a while to get it right, as I was applying it too thickly, but I eventually got the oxidation pretty well cleaned up.  Next I went over it again with StarBrite polish with PETN (Teflon) and it came out awesome.

  
The next day was bottom painting day.  Two quarts of VC17-m in Blue.  I got 2 good coats and I've got just a bit left for touchups.  I also went with a different kind of roller this year.  They're thicker foam but only about an inch in diameter.  Much better than the ones I used last time, plus they get into the joint between the keel & hull.

The blue based paint goes on much darker than the penny bright red did last time. 

This weekend (May 5/6) was all about getting the boat ready to launch.  I cleaned the deck with a mixture of Dawn (blue), white vinegar, and water.  It worked pretty well but the @#$@#$@ marks from the leaf pods that blew in did not come clean.  The Oxalic acid didn't help either.  Grrr.

After the cleaning I decided I needed to go over the hull one more time with the StarBrite.  What a job that turned out to be.  For some reason it doesn't seem to dry very well on the vinyl stripe.  It took forever and I went through about a dozen microfiber towels trying to wipe it clean.  Finally got done around dinner time, gassed the truck and the boat up, inflated the tires, and called it a day.

Sunday was launch day.  I drove up to get Zach (Krista had the car) and we towed the boat down to Orchard Point.  Set up went ok.  We did have to drop the mast after I realized that I had the forestay inside the sling.  Oops.

Strap launching at Orchard is a bit more intense than at Richardson.  The ramps are narrow and there's about 10,000 power boats trying to launch/retreive.  Still, we got in ok and the motor actually started on the 2nd pull.  Yay!




Put the boat in the temporary slip without too much trouble.  Not sure I like sharing with a bigger, dirtier boat, but oh well.  Wind was blowing hard off the stern so we didn't put the sail on, but everything else is pretty much ready.  Hooray!