October 12, 2007:

Finally, we've been re-lauched after 15 days out on land--Spa Fortnight!  It was a blur of dust clouds, makeshift caulking guns, endless sanding and ladder-climbing, but the boat is better for it!  

SARABANDE gets lowered back in the water and SPA WEEK comes to a close.

We originally intended to replace only the seacock in the head and just inspect and lubricate the others, but the galley seacock unexpectedly fell apart under our grease ministrations.  Therefore, we replaced this one as well--Brian was on a hot streak after replacing the first one, we already had all the parts, and this time there was the bonus of nobody's poop being involved.

The big scratches on the port bow have been painted over, but the job doesn't really satisfy.  We learned too late the Awlgrip paint is notoriously difficult to patch, particularly light colors.  We got some helpful tips from a couple of other boat owners that made it look much better, but the repaired spots still stick out against the old paint.  Oh, well--it's definitely better than it was!  We'll spend the winter looking at it and see if it stops bothering us. If it doesn't, maybe we can repaint the entire hull in the spring.

While delirious from our respective projects, we added some graffiti below the waterline during a break using some paint leftover from the new gold letters.  And why not?  We were bored, and now only the crabs and minnows can see it.  Click for more SPA WEEK PICTURES.


The chill is defintely setting in now, and we're keeping very cozy with soup-making and the reverse-cycle heater.  Our ever-fickle old Webasto heater is on the fritz again, but Brian has vowed to have a heart-to-heart with it soon to stop the nonsense once and for all. When working,  Monsieur Webasto is a powerful ally in our war against cold, so we hope to have it back up and running before it gets much colder.

Louie and Sheba went to the vet's for checkups and some disheartening news about Sheba's health was handed down from her doctor. If any faith-healers, witchdoctors, or cats willing to spare a working kidney happen to be reading, please direct your attention to our poor little 5 pound fury-- we need you!

Ta Ta for now!