Wet

And just like that, the tides have figuratively turned. On the one hand, I was still annoyed to watch a half dozen boats splashed before mine, seeing as the e-mail they sent out alluded to only having three boats on the wait list, one of which would've been me. On the other hand, I wouldn't have been up there until this weekend anyway, so should it really matter if it took them all week to get it in? Jury is still out on that one.


As I have all week, I started my work day on the monitors to my left, and on my personal computer, opened up the marina webcam page (located HERE if you wish to see it). I noticed right away that there was a boat in the launch pit, and one on the travel lift lined right up behind it. They were trying to get things moving as quickly as they could, it seemed. Drop one boat in the water and as soon as it was verified that it wasn't sinking, they would move the lift to the next on the list while getting the mast stepped via crane. Quite the assembly line, to which I was, I believe, third. There was a brief pause while watching a few guys combing the weeds where the prior boat was stored, possibly a dropped clevis pin or something in the shuffle. Of course it was right after the lift had made the turn towards my spot.

Eventually though, she was loaded and placed into the wet stuff, and soon floated on her own. There are only two current thru-hulls in the boat now, one for the sink drain that never gets used, and one that's an old paddle wheel boat speed sensor, long since disconnected but left in place. The others have been glassed over, leaving less worry for water ingress. Still, there's that tiny bit of apprehension to be had, especially being three hours, and three more days away from even getting up there. She hasn't leaked since the first time she was launched - that was just a tightening needed and that has since been glassed over - so there's no reason to believe there would be any to worry about this round either. Still, it's always there in your mind.

The next time I looked, she was floating in the slip with the mast stepped. It's a little weird seeing her parked stern in, especially since it puts the outboard perilously close to the dock. My guess is that it wouldn't start, even with the spray bottle instructions, maybe they figured it would just be easier for me to deal with it than them. Perhaps they thought that I might need to work on it, and it would be easier access if it was next to the dock. Maybe trying to maneuver it into place with an outboard on a heavy-ish 28-footer was too much hassle, and was easier to just swing her over there with lines. Whatever the case, I'm pretty sure that's not my assigned slip, really, but I have no doubt I'll get the outboard fired up in short order again when I get there this weekend. Well, unless it's bashed to bits by then.

So now it's a two day wait for time off, when I can pick up a couple aluminum bars to fashion a new solar mounting bracket for the larger panel, and then start to get into this years projects. Finally, even though it's still a month earlier than last year, it's felt like forever.