39. Paint Job

The new paint is on, and Sonic Boom, surrounded by white boats, looks very blue. I played it safe this time, and paid over $300 per gallon for Sea Hawk, but there is a black market here for cheaper anti-fouling; better commercial paint that fell off the back of a tanker, or from a friend of a friend who knows a captain that bought too much…

2 gallons of Sea Hawk Island 44 plus blue later

[The boat on the right has a concrete hull – I’ve never seen one before. Tom told me they were popular in the 70s, especially for self builds]

So busy in the yard. The white stripe around my hull is peeling badly, so I scraped, sanded and painted it, twice. I put on new letters, but I had to also paint the stern first. The dinghy is cleaned, lightly sanded, glued and pumped. I cleaned the old outboard and sold it for a hundred bucks – about what it cost to fix up the new one. It’s non-stop boat maintenance until re launch on Friday.

New letters - thanks Chris 

I cleaned my propeller with muriatic acid – a trick I learned in St. Martin. Before I go back in the water I will smear it with grease. Tom’s going to cover his with Sharpie magic marker ink, Pim put Propspeed on his, but it’s very expensive, Trinity put hot sauce on most things. Robert and Kerstin will be back in less than two weeks, it’s so exciting, I can’t wait to see them. They will head to the Panama Canal so hopefully we can sail together until Curacao.

PS

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