Defender Annual Spring Sale

I drove down to Waterford today to Defender Marine's annual spring sale. It was my first time there and it was really busy. At times the check out lines were snaking around inside of the building, fortunately that cleared up before I got to the check out. I threw lots of dough into the hole in the water. I bought a bunch of maintenance items and safety equipment that needed to be updated. I also got a bunch of little stuff that we needed for the new dingy and a GPS Chartplotter. I ended up spreading the wealth around a little though the GPS was out of stock at Defender. They said I could order it online. I stopped at my local West Marine store on my way home, and they matched Defender's price. That put a good sized dent in the credit card. I'm doing my part to shore up the economy.

Heart of Gold - Stripping peeling paint off the boom

I started today stripping paint off the boom. It was a beautiful first day of spring today hitting the low 70's with clear blue sky. It's coming out so nice that I'm considering leaving it un-painted.

I got about 1/3 of the way through it today. I bought a variable speed Dewalt Random Orbital sander with a vacuum hook up. It took me three trips to the store to get the right vacuum attachment and sanding disks with the proper vent holes to line up with the 8 hole pattern. Once I got going, I made progress faster than I was expecting.


Also last week, I cleaned up the propeller, which was crusted with many years of paint and barnacles.
before:
after:

Ralph W. Stanley, fine wooden boats Southwest Harbor, ME

Arial views of Narragansett bay

I had a chance to take a few photos over Narragansett bay while flying out of Green last week.

Adams Point and Barrington River (bottom right), Providence River (top left)

Prudence Island (extending from bottom left), Potters Cove, Patience Island (top center) , and Warwick Neck (top right)

Newport Harbor, Goat Island, Rose Island, Coasters Island, Gould Island, and the south end of Prudence Island

Point Judith Harbor of Refuges and Great Salt Pond

Heart of Gold - spring preparations underway

Finished stripping the hardware off the boom today. Need to decide what to do about the finish. Got a quote for powder coating ~ $480 includes sandblasting, phosphate wash, primer, and two coats of white. That seems like a lot of money to make it look good. I'm exploring other options.


Also cleaned the barnacles and old paint of the prop. It looks much nicer now.

Speed Sailing