Friday, April 27th, 2012

Hello good friends and happy Friday to all of you. A short day for us as we only had a few minor jobs to wrap up. We completed the final sanding of the hull and with a slight change of plans to the inside bulwarks, we had to sand the entire inside of the boat but only the stern section from gate to gate. So now the entire outside of the hull, the inside of the bulwarks from the boarding gates aft, and spots forward of the gates are ready to go for the gloss coat. It only took us a couple of hours to square everything away and with a much needed freshwater rinse and cleaning up, our day was complete and we started the weekend off early. Also this morning, the propellers, shafts, and rudders were put back in and on Monday, the painters will be suiting up and applying the gloss coat. Man, what a fantastic day that will be. Not only for the boat but for us as well. Painting days mean very short days for the crew, so it's pretty much a three-day weekend for us and with the NBA Playoffs starting on Saturday, the weekend is going to be a good one. With that said, it's pretty much all downhill from here (knock on wood).

Our haul-out will be about half-complete with the major sanding and painting being finished on Monday. After that, it's on to the bait tank for our next painting project. We still have to sand our mahogany rails, drill and replace the zincs, and a few other jobs to complete and hopefully, we'll be back in the water sometime next week. It's a good thing we got into the boatyard early this year as it's starting to get a little bit crowded down there. Along with a couple of naval vessels, tug boats, commercial fishing boats and some private yachts, the long-range fleet is starting to make their way onto the blocks. With the Red Rooster III splashing down this morning after their stay at Knight & Carver, the Spirit of Adventure and Qualifier 105 were hauled out as well and the Searcher expected to be with us sometime in the next few days, it'll be nice to get back home and finish things up back at the docks. Just like our longer trips in the fall/winter, it's always a relief to arrive back to our slip at Fisherman's Landing. It's also special to tie back up to the docks because that means Mitch's Seafood for lunch a few days a week. Can't beat that.

Alrighty. Well, I hope all of you enjoyed this weeks reports and we'll be back at it on Monday with some photos our freshly painted boat. She's going to look really, really good. You'll see. Enjoy your weekend and we'll chat with you on Monday.

-Richie & Team Supreme-