So Close

I know it's been a while since I've written anything about the life on the S/V Exposure. I guess the problem is that life is still not taking place on the boat but in yet one more of a string of temporary land dwellings. We just moved in to our third "apartment"...I hesitate to use that term to describe our newest residence. The landlord calls it a "Cottage." It's really just a room with a frig, oven, sink, bed, and a bathroom. It's located right next to the roar of US1 with a stunning view of the airport. To call it a cottage leaves much to the imagination.

I am hoping we won't be here for long.

In the meantime, in between the torrential rains and high winds - both a deterrent for getting work done in a boatyard - the S/V Exposure is starting to come together. We've completed the interior painting of the ceilings and walls and the floor has been sanded and refinished as well as all the inside woodwork.
All the wood on the doors and drawers has been newly varnished and all the Formica inserts have a new faux finish.
It's a brand new boat on the inside...we're just waiting now on the outside.

The exterior of the hull has been sanded, primered, washed, and prepped and this past Wednesday actually sprayed with 3 shiny, new coats of paint.
The new color is a creamy, off-white a few shades brighter than the previous color. Once that has time to cure a bit, they'll tape her off and spray the burgundy colored strip. Weather pending, the decks and cockpit will get painted next. The prop still needs to be sent for reconditioning and the cutlass bearing needs replacing. Then the very last thing before splashing will be a coat of black bottom paint.

Jeff and I still have a few projects of our own to complete such as reinstalling the sink and all the lights and electrical outlets. Its my plan to gold leaf the scroll-work on the front faceboards just as soon as they get sprayed black and then I'll send them back for clear-coating before they get reattached to the front of the boat. Then it's just a matter of getting everything put back together.

But it hasn't been all work and no play since the boat came out of the water on August 12th.

There was a Girl's Brunch that lasted all day- one of our many gatherings to say "Bon Voyage!" to Megan [& Bob]; a couple of parties at the tiki hut; a birthday dinner for Matt, our friend and newest Marina employee [rotisserie ribs and chocolate pie]; and we spent the day in Key West with our good friends from Kentucky, Donnie and Janet, who arrived by cruise ship.

And with the inclement weather, being off the boat has had a few advantages. The air-conditioning has kept us nice and cool and the roof has kept us nice and dry while we spent a couple of lazy, rainy days reading books and watching movies on the big screen. The last place even had a washer and dryer...very exciting.

We've been warned that this new place has a tendency to take on water [i.e. it floods] when it rains real hard...so that's almost like being on a boat right?

We're close. We're just not there yet.