Robin's Reports

FISHING TOMORROW!!

We are going Mahi Mahi fishing tomorrow with our friend, Mike, and his family.

Here is Mike and Helen's new boat. Jack is standing in front of it (full view) back when they brought it around the FL peninsula at the end of February.

Secondly, we finished the floors!! Happy Dance!! Oh they look so gorgeous, I could just eat right off of them.

Pic on the left is of me waving as I take a pic of the new floors in the walk-around area. That was done Thursday morning. I did all the taping but Jack did the non-skid painting. I love the color. It was important to break this up into 2 tasks, coat the non-skid heavily and have an exit plan out of the boat. LOL.

Here is a before picture of the cockpit (fishing) area. All hatches were removed and they got a makeover too. Some previous holes from last year's fuel tank repairs were sealed up and sanded. All screws were removed.

Here is another view from the back corner looking up towards the cuddy. Here it is with new white paint. This was also done Thursday but had to sit overnight to dry.

Friday morning, I did a lot of the taping of the floors and cleaning it up with acetone. Jack helped me towards the back end of the boat. The tape covered the new white areas we painted the day before.

Still not so attractive yet.

Here is the new paint applied but blue tape is still down. These photos do it no justice. It truly is a beautiful finish and it has non-skid to keep us from sliding when the floors get wet and bloody.

While that was drying, we turned our attention to the livewell topside & lid.

I just love all the little details. This was my idea.

But wait....... it gets better.

Jack painted the top and then I ever-so-carefully removed the black shark. Cool, eh?

After all the tape was pulled, Jack finished up installing the newly painted back hatches, & put all the screws back into the fuel tank lid (big center square), we threw the livewell up here for looks. It's not installed. It's not even sitting on the teak wood yet, but we just had to see it nearly done for inspiration.

Here is the final look at the cockpit area. It looks so much more formal than before. Those back 3 hatches look so different in color with the flash in this photo; but in real life, the difference is almost so little the eye can't detect it in bright sun.

(Most of that back area gets covered up with coolers when fishing offshore anyhow.) This new 2-color scheme in the boat flooring seems to be the norm now-a-days. Jack's acquaintance, also doing a Mako restoration in LA, had his floors done white and powder blue. It is gorgeous with the dark navy hull (outside) paint.

Here is the final look back at the helm area. My chair attaches to the top of the livewell, which is why we put non-skid there. It serves as a step for me and guests. It can be quite dangerous to get up with wet feet and big rolling seas. I'm also very bad about doing barefeet while fishing, so this keeps me from wiping out. (Bare feet are bad when everything you catch has teeth or serious spiny fins.)

The goal is to attach the livewell, chairs, any remaining electronics and fasten any finished teak back on the boat next weekend. THEN, we will be ready for its maiden voyage as our restored Mako 248!!!

The teak on Jack's storage shelves is done but just not in place yet. Too much other stuff to do and now........ fishing tomorrow. It is a welcomed break.

We hear the cobia & mahi were quite thick out there in the ocean today. Lots of good catches today.

I must run to bed and get my 6 hrs of beauty sleep.

Happy Fishing,

Robin