Weepy Baby Swiss Cheese is a GOOD Thing!

GOOD MORNING Monday!  It's time for our soda-blasting (which turned out to be fine sand blasting) date with noise!  WooHoo!  We're looking forward to getting on with this process ... every day behind us is one less day until we're out cruising again!  :)  The day started with the sandblasting guys showing up right on time at 7:30 AM ....

Since when does a contractor show up on time?  I'd only had one cup of coffee... before the NOISE started.  They insist that we wear hearing protection, and I totally understand.  The noise is deafening and inside the boat, it's even more interesting!  The boat sort of vibrates and hums in rhythym with the blasting cadence going on outside.  It was time to take my computer and go to the screened in porch to use the boatyard wifi! 

Paul and his assistant blasted away for hours - they have this refined to a science literally.  They can sandblast away as little as a coat of paint or all the way down to the barrier coat as we requested.  They've literally invented this system, figuring out the exact pressure and all the mechanics necessary for one coat of paint at a time....  I think they must be geniuses and if you need someone who does this in the Charlotte Harbor Florida area, e-mail and I'll give you Paul's name and telephone number. 

Unfortunately the boat was not cooperating and the bottom ended up looking like weepy baby swiss cheese... but that's not these guys fault. At least now it can start the six weeks we've allocated drying process (which by the way will only touch the tip of the iceberg, but we're cruisers and can't waste an entire cruising season "drying" our bottoms!)

Here's the before shot.... sad.....

And here's the after shot ... David is busy bursting blisters under the barrier coat with the drill while I used the knife for the small grubbers and the dremel for the larger versions....

David and his drill bursting larger blisters -- keep in mind, these babies were FILLED with whatever toxic sappy substance resin makes as it ruins the bottom of boats.... and every time you drill into one of the big blisters, big sappy stuff tends to explode everywhere.  David was smart and changed to a crappy, already ruined t-shirt...

I, on the other hand, was even smarter and just put the same white shirt I ruined the first day I was popping blisters with the knife back on and it absorbed more punishment with the dremel this afternoon... but the good news is all the blisters are punctured ... well, all those except the crop that will inevitably show up tomorrow...

So we spent much more money today than was allocated in the bottom budget, but the good news was that cruising yard compatriots took pity on us and invited us along to JB's Conch Cafe -- Killer Food for $5.55 -- that's FIVE DOLLARS AND FIFTY FIVE CENTS!  I can't cook on the boat this cheap!    We both had blackened fish, rice, waxed beans, peas and carrots for $5.55 each.  I'm starting to feel like a Florida OLD person -- seeking out the designated restaurant each night where you can eat cheaper than you can cook!   If you're looking for JB's Conch Cafe it's in Englewood, out along 776/McCall Road, short on atmosphere but the food was really tasty!  

And on the way back to the boatyard and "home", there's a Home Depot, so we stopped, bought some grinders for the Dremel to grind all those spots and smooth the edges in preparation for sanding AND some paint to adhere to the aluminum brackets holding the solar panels ... we took the big brackets to be powdercoated, but the smaller framing, we're wirebrushing, sanding and painting ourselves, hopefully tomorrow morning! 

Ah well... life is good, the bottom is seeping sap and weeping uncontrollably which will ultimately result in being able to grind, sand, fill the spots, prime, paint and GO CRUISING!