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Update: January
– March 2007 We were happy that the past year had come to an end and
were looking forward to an exciting year. Toward the end of 2006 I had started removing the old
treadmaster non-skid surface off of our decks.
With a plan to install a new surface called Durabak.
I had purchace all of the supplies and had them stored onboard planning
on doing the work while in the Bahamas’.
Right after the first of the year the cold fronts started moving through
Florida every couple of days. This
caused boats heading to the Bahamas to wait several weeks before a weather
window would open to allow a crossing to the Bahamas.
So we were delayed on getting across.
We also had to be back in the states in may because we had a commitment
to captain a charter in the BVI’s in May.
With this commitment and the weather delay we finally decided to stay put
in Harbortown and complete the work on the deck.
As it turned out we should have headed to the Bahamas as the charter was
cancelled. So we stayed put and I went about removing the old
treadmaster. What a job!
The best method for removal, and I tried many methods, was to hand scrap
the treadmaster from the decks in 3 foot sections working on my hands &
knees, then coming back with a sander and removing the tenacious glue that had
held the treadmaster to the deck. It
took well over a month to complete the task.
Applying the Durabak after removing the treadmaster was a piece of cake.
Once I had the deck taped I applied the Durabak in 3 foot sections
waiting an hour then applying the second coat, removed the tape and moved onto
the next section. A week later the
job was complete. What a
difference, it looks better and is a lot cooler than the treadmaster.
Vilkas with New Deck Surface The rest of the period was spent doing other boat projects. We did have time to play between projects. Twice a month the marina hosted a Saturday night get together with a small musical group providing the music for the event. Each party had a different theme so we usually dressed up for the event. (Pictures attached)
During this time we decided that we would head north to the Chesapeake Bay on April 1. We still had the 1994 sable that we had bought while Vilkas
was on the hard. I put it up for
sale and it sold within a week. So
we were back to being boat people. In telling our friends Richard and Judy on Partners in Paradise, a 47 ft trawler, what our plans were they asked if they could join us on the trip. The plan was for Ugne and I to drive down to Marathon and help them bring their boat up to Fort Pierce then we would take off north on April 1. |
