Make Bottom Painting Fun!

Definitely my #1 - Favorite Boat Yard Thing!!

It was all GR's idea. We began this tradition years ago with our first boat, a  1981 42' Pearson in Daytona Beach, after we painted the bottom a royal blue he suggested we grab a can of white paint to decorate the keel so that when we were snorkeling and swimming in the amazingly clear waters of the Bahamas we could reflect on the fun we had working on our boat. It was a great project that we all had fun doing, we put paint on our hands and made hand prints, we wrote our names and drew little fishes.  These memories  allows those "blood, sweat and tears" moments associated with many bottom jobs fall by the wayside and replaces them with these magical memories of creating artwork with your family. It's like a visible time capsule!

So of course, this boat was no different. The more practical side this project is that we cover every thru hull and highlight every transducer and/or grounding plate and zinc, that way they are easy for a diver (or us) to locate. Tide and time dictated our splash time so I wasn't sure if Gia wanted to participate in this tradition since she was technically supposed to be in school. "Of course, I want to Mom!! It's a family tradition!!" She said and my heart welled up with joy because maybe, just maybe she still loved all this boating stuff after all!!

So with dirt under our nails and paint on our hands and knees we hunched under the belly of this beast and painted our little hearts out! We had a blast and we can't wait to swim under Felicity in the Bahamas sometime soon!!

The End. Thank you!!

Felicity's First Haul Out in Photos

Here's a brief photo tour of Felicity's haul out, August 2013. Haul out projects included up sizing generator water intake and air conditioning raw water intake, removal of three (yes 3!) non-functional transducers and addition of new transducer, trim tab actuators, bottom paint and of course our artwork!!

This was the first time we have seen Felicity out of the water AND the first time we've hauled out a power boat making it very exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. I held my hand on my heart the whole time they lifted her and carried her a short distance before she was on the stands. I mean, this is our whole life, our home.

All in all it was a smooth yard period with no errors or interruptions, which is really all we could hope for in this situation.

Enjoy the show.

Five Ways to Make it Through a Re-fit!

Taking a break is definitely on the list but what other ways do we stay sane during what has become the biggest re-fit of our cruising "career?"

Sundowners at sunset are absolutely THE best part of life on the water. (Miami, 2012)

I'm not sure who came up with the idea of a "Gratitude Journal" (Oprah, right?ha.) but I've got to tell you, it's magical. The theory is, of course, to write down at least one thing you are thankful for each day. The act of physically writing it down is probably the hardest part for me, I'm the type of person who is constantly in motion. I rarely keep a routine, unless otherwise forced, for example, work, library returns, showering daily. Whatever, routines are over rated. I'm a Gemini, remember, we hate monotony.


NEWSFLASH: Felicity is currently docked in a boat yard (her first time since we purchased) we've got to finish these decks and the paint job. While I try very hard to put on a good show (SMILE) inside I sometimes wonder if maybe we bit off more than we could chew. She misses resort style living very much, so does the rest of the crew, but in an attempt to keep up moral I've pledged to create a list of my  favorite boatyard things. (#favoriteboatyardthings) On Facebook, I've made it a point to share my thoughts with my friends and family so as to be held accountable by them not to forget my obligation. I'd like to share my list as it stands to date.

Day 1 - 1.) Looking At Boats! 
              2.) Meeting Incredible People 
              3.) Yard Days are Always Long (sh*t gets done!) 

Day 2 - 1.) Everyone has a story to tell.
              2.) We are all in the Redneck Yacht Club (like it or not!)
              3.) Every puddle of liquid on the ground is liquid death - One learns to be very nimble.

Day 3 - There's a bunch of boatyard kitties here, and one is so sweet.

Day 4 - I helped a boat limp in that lost it's steering, three guys struggled to help but I was able to pull them in and was cheered, " See it takes a woman!" by all the people on board!

Day 5 - Gia has made friends with a pair of sisters and they are serious fishergirls!

Day 6 - Did I mention we have a fully, functional, brand new ELECTRIC head!!!!! Swoon!

Day 7 - Coming home from work and always finding a parking spot in front (not many others here overnight)


I know many of our friends are in transition at the moment, in boat yards, awaiting parts in exotic locations, underway and even waiting on a potential buyer.

My question to you is, "How are you making it through?" Please share your thoughts, comments, suggestions and questions below.

Deck Work: Re-Coring

Here is a glimpse of what our entire deck looked like piece by piece over the course of 10 weeks.

Microscopic flakes of opalescent dust dance threw the air to the unpleasant screech and squeal of a grinder. Magical and toxic; exhilarating and exhausting. Quite easily the most difficult process of Felicity's facelift. Encompassing just over 10 weeks we were riddled with itchiness, played musical rooms, we struggled to create space for an amazing amount of supplies and we mentally limped along hoping to see an end in sight.  Financially, this project commanded our attention and we had no choice but to suffer boredom as we couldn't afford to do much else.

In reality, we did manage to get a few things done but none of that came to mind until just this moment, as I am now able to stand up from the rubble and smile at our accomplishments. If you are into numbers, I'll follow up with a post of just how much product we consumed. If you are into wallowing in sorrow, you won't find that here 'cause at the moment, I'm freaking ecstatic!

As I've had time to think about why this project seemed so difficult for us there is only one answer I can come up with.

We had to pay for someone else to do the job.

Typically, we do ALL our own work. (I use the term "we" lightly, mostly GR does the hard stuff.) I mean on previous boats, we painted our bottom, painted our decks and installed our on engine even, BUT this time around we had to (4 letter word) work. (Ahhhhh) The work we get paid to do, so we could afford all the products and the dockage and well the list goes on. With our last boats we were able to stop working, focus solely on our boat and seemed a whole lot happier to go to sleep with bits of wood and paint in our hair. This time, we were just going to work all day and spending our nights buying supplies. "What's he doing drinking the lacquer thinner?" I asked G one day after a particularly crappy day of driving South Florida's deadliest stretch of I-95. I mean we were buying 5 Gallon containers of it?! While I am sooo thankful that we didn't actually have to crawl around on our hands and knees in paper suits grinding fiberglass and pouring epoxy in between spells of torrential downpours and 92 degree scorchers there is a large portion of me that thinks we were cranky that we weren't working on our boat.

Satisfaction comes rolling in when you are able to touch and feel the progress being made on your floating home. That's what we'd been missing.


I'm happy to report the "worst" of it is over. We can now resume painting which is nothing compared to  fiberglass work.