Despina goes to Florida (again)

There is a bit of catching up going on here, yours truely having been away and all...
Hauling a 27' Shepherd to Florida is an automatic adventure and I may divide this story up into sections. Last fall the decision was made that some of us would be participating in the ACBS Sunnyland Chapter's St John River Cruise 2013 and boat show. As there had been some deterioration to the decks last year it was necessary to do some repairs before we left on March 11. Two weeks before leaving we hauled her out of storage at John's to get this done...

after removing two other boats....

Out she comes into the snow!

Part of foredeck & kingplank stripped

and rear deck mostly stripped and stained.

But this is not the only thing going on in the shop - work is proceeding on Gas-Hopper and the Lightning as well! Trailer bearings all checked out OK with a greasing - lights made good as well.

Trevor is under the deck scraping...

George is fitting the CB bolts and seat risers

Anton is the master of taping and caulking...

and Jim takes on the foredeck hatch.

After all this effort there is time for 5 coats of Epifanes Woodgloss Finish with 2 days to harden before reinstalling the hardware and loading seats, safety equipment and on Sunday March 10th, our luggage! into the boat. The truck (courtesy of Grant) has no cap so the luggage has to go in the boat as the forecast is damp.

Ron Patey is one of our supporting Gatsby members and he is going to share the driving with me - Gretchen has decided to join us and find out why we are all so keen to do this outing every year!

By late on March 10th, everything is ready for liftoff tomorrow morning....