I love cruising. I love being a commuter cruiser. We hauled out expecting a quick 7-10 day bottom paint job ... the moisture meter showed way too much moisture in the bottom of the boat today. After we had a complete blister job in Honduras and 3 barrier coatsin 2007... and no blisters at all last time we hauled in Panama...
We've decided the key to this situation is that we are COMMUTER CRUISERS. We only get to experience cruising for six months at a time -- October to May. The rest of the time the poor boat boat sits lonely and we go back to the lake in Illinois to race one design Y Flyers and ski and play on the lake.....
So, if we need to get work done on the boat, let the bottom dry out, whatever, why would we do it during the six months we have allocated to ENJOY CRUISING! Hmmmm.....
Monday Paul is coming to sodablast the bottom of the boat. Then it needs to sit and dry for months ... we're giving it six weeks... while we were planning to go back for Thanksgiving with my 91 year old Dad and then two grandbabies -- one in Atlanta in early December and one in central Illinois in late December. Then when we return to the boat, it will be as dry as it gets, primed, two coats of white bottom paint and SPLASH!
January we'll go cruise wherever the wind blows us just as we had planned originally. We'll miss two weeks of November/early December cruising just around here, but the bottom will have a chance to dry a bit.
And two years from now when we haul for bottom paint, we'll haul at the END of the commuter cruising season, not at the beginning! So haul in May, do whatever needs to be done to the bottom to make it right, then let it sit and dry all summer, months and months if need be, before re-barrier coating and adding more bottom paint. That way if we get hit by a truck tomorrow, we didn't miss our commuter cruising season.
This is a tough call. It may not be the fiscally least expensive solution, but we want to go sailing and we can't do that with the boat sitting on the hard drying out for months...
This is a tough call. It may not be the fiscally least expensive solution, but we want to go sailing and we can't do that with the boat sitting on the hard drying out for months...
How would I get my cruising fix???? Cheers! J&D
RSS Feed
