38 days and counting....

Crane day is now march 19th, which granted us 7 more days to get boat work done. That's nice.

Friday we picked up the last 6 yards of upholstery fabric for the cushions. Hooray for $2 a yard 70" width bolts of extra-durable orange nylon!

This Saturday was sunny and gorgeous, and we finally had worker bees show up, so we were able to get quite a bit done. The keel has had an initial grinding and a coat of sealant, the entire port side has been sanded once (see below re: small boys), and I pulled off the port winch. One would think that backing plates or at least nuts/washers/ bolts would be the appropriate way to attach items like winches, but no... the PO just used screws through the deck. eek! I also started stripping the busted standing rigging off of the mast, and we learned many interesting facts about 8-year-old boys:

- They are the perfect height to sand the bottom.
- Sanding blocks are entertaining for nearly 45 minutes.
- They think it's fun to get all goggled and masked up and then turn blue.
- They enjoy playing fort in the lazarette.
- They would like me to replace the tiller with a missile launcher.
- Three of them yarding on the tiller and making booming noises is an effective way to get it un-stuck. No more squeaking!

Dawn was amazing - she has earned the title of First Mate and all-around-awesome-mom.

When we got home it was raining.

Now it's snowing.

More pictures soon, I promise.