I woke up this morning to find a white boat sitting in my driveway. It actually hurt to look directly at it because it was SO WHITE!
Honestly, who would have thought that you could paint a boat while a tropical storm passed by in the Atlantic ocean? We hadn't planned on doing this Friday but after checking radar, all the storms were staying offshore. We had mostly sunny skies with beautiful white puffy clouds, no humidity, temps in the low 80's. PERFECTO! (oops, I forgot to think about wind......)
It took over an hour to build our tent. We had some pretty good gusts inspite of our prayers for none. Sometimes God doesn't take away the storm, He just takes you through it, right? This time, we came with more supplies, having learned from our mistakes last week. Home Depot loves me. Four 1x1 poles, 4 paint can lids, 18 camping stakes, 2 bags of rope, dozen paint stirs & screws (inside the boat) and a good portion of 100 x 20 yds of 6mm plastic sheeting.
Jack painting the first of two tack coats. On the third coat, he laid it on heavy and the gloss popped out at you. The science behind it is that if you laid the first tacky coats down and make it perfectly sticky in 30 min, you won't have runs when you want to lay the heavier coat. It worked. We had so many runs last week and this week, not a single one. This suit protects the skin from the poisonous liquid paint. Unfortunately, it almost killed him from heat exhaustion so about an hour into the project, it was pulled off. Masks are a must for both of us!
We left the tent up for 5 hrs. We went to dinner, as we had skipped lunch and didn't have any arm strength or energy left to make a meal. In the dark, we went ahead and cut away the tent, which fell perfectly to an outward position. All plastic was wrapped & tied. We couldn't stop staring at her. She was done. Over six weeks of preparation and headaches, we were finally done. 
Next week, we will actually finish up on the trailer. We have all the supplies but were heavily rained out on Thursday. Jack will bring manpower to help with placing them. I do not have manpower. By the end of Friday, we hope to have the boat loaded back onto the trailer. Yeah!
Jack ended up working on his engine in the garage. He cleaned out corrosion and replaced a large gasket that sat between the powerhead and the lower body. I only had to help a little, which was fine by me since I was still recovering from Halloween. In the following weeks, we will do a few more fiberglas repairs to the cuddy top, fix the helm & whatever else needs working. Then, before Thankgiving, paint the interior of the boat.
The best surprise of the day on Friday was to find out that my wonderful friend Renee got news that in Ghana court, she and Jim were awarded custody of their boys!!! I'm an Auntie again!!! Please feel free to read her testimony on her Steppin' Heavenward blog in my side-bar. If you have a heart for adoption, you will need some kleenex.
Happy Fishing!
Robin
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