That's a BIG Mast

Well, well, well......... I didn't think this day would come. The boat is now launched and today, with the help of a lot of friends we got the mast stepped and later the boom on.

We started around noon putting the mast together on saw horses and later gathered up a few friends to move the mast on a dolly over to the DYC mast crane so we could hoist her up. At 60 feet and weighing in at about 500 lbs it was quite a chore to get everything together. After about half an hour she was up and standing on her own......... AND NOTHING GOT BROKEN !!

So now she's back at her dock and looking great.

Tomorrow, we tune the rig and get some sails on her.

Bottoms Done

Well, Here she is after 2 1/2 weeks of crawling around on the ground, slogging about in three inches of water while we blasted the old paint off....... followed by a heavy grinding to remove what was left, and finish everything off with a finer sanding to remove everything down to the bare gelcoat. Now she's all set with 3 coats of epoxy barrier coat followed with 3 coats of antifouling. Jan was a great help in all the repainting. Everybody is asking if she's a new boat. WIND WARRIOR looks fantastic ... and we're both proud of her !

Today I removed the winter cover from the cockpit. All that's left now is to replace the rudder, hook up the propellor shaft and get set for launching later this week.

HOOOOOOORRRRRAAAAYYYY !!!!!!

WOW !! What a Difference

WOW !! What a difference a couple weeks of hard work makes. The bottom is now completely stripped and ready for the bottom paint. GREAT BOTTOM !!.... 25 year old hull and not a blister..... a few war wounds in the form of scratches but otherwise unscathed. I took these pics from different angles. For those of you who have NOT had a chance to remember where all this work on the boat began, I've included the first picture of the original bulkhead that was removed and replaced. There's no saying that we don't know every inch of her by now. We're still on schedule for our Wednesday launch for the 2011 season.