And he did. He's a man of his word. And then some.
This is the boat now, exactly 2 months since my last post when it was hauled up to Tim's. It was a fantastic experience to work with him. I could go on and on about his professionalism, work ethic, communication, fairness, generosity, etc. ... I'm an even bigger fan of his now after this project. (So if you ever read this Tim, I'm sure you're sick of hearing it, but "many many many thanks"!)And, as Tim pointed out, look where I was a year ago (see the June 2006 Archive). "It's good for the soul" indeed!
The last couple of days in the shop, before the launch, were really frantic and busy. Tim and the budget were done (though he was always there with helpful advice or a helping hand when needed). And once again, Scott came to the rescue and toiled away with me. I paid him with beer and food, and of course a reserved spot in the cockpit! We repainted my "purple" window frames (long story), installed the portlights, painted the bottom, redid the boot stripe and applied the new name. I failed to come up with the paint for the boot stripe, and Tim generously offered some up he had on hand as well as other miscellaneous supplies.The next day, Scott even joined me for a wet and messy launch! It started earlier than expected since Tim scrubbed his launch that same morning because it was so snotty in Rockland. In desperation, I drove by Scott's house on the way to launching to see if he was there - and thank god he was! To put it briefly - the launch totally sucked. It was stormy and pouring rain. Scott showed up with his gortex and climbed right aboard! So, if I haven't said it enough to you Scott, a hearty "thank you" goes out to you too! I'd probably bobbing around somewhere in the North Atlantic if it weren't for your timely assistance!
But I digress. My whole point, at least when I started this post was: WE WENT SAILING SUNDAY! (June 24, 2007) I installed the minimal hardware needed to get out sailing, and we did! Woo hoo!It was also a busy 2 months since the boat went to Tim's. I had plenty to do myself. I worked on the coamings
and interior trim, serviced the winches, cleaned up and painted the window frames, bought engine parts, handrails, and many other things. After we launched, Dina and the kids gave me bronze stern cleats and coaming cleats for Father's Day which have since been installed (you can see them in the first picture above).I still have a huge list of "to do's", but they'll get done in time. The remaining jobs seem so much more manageable and enjoyable now that the boat is back in the water and we can go sailing again. It was especially rewarding to install the coamings - they really show off Tim's excellent paint job. And it's really cool too, every time I'm at the boat now, I get compliments on how nice it looks...
So anyway, I put a link to the right for the latest web album. I'll probably add pictures to that more than update this Blog. It's been fun, but it's also very time consuming (whenever I DO get around to updating it!), and the season is waaaaaay too short!
Fair winds and thanks for reading!
