A Not So Quiet Sunday in the Boatyard

The boatyard being closed because it was a Sunday, I expected it to be a quiet day. However, the yard is quite full of boats in winter storage and a lot of people were working on their boats to get them ready for the summer season.

We saw two commercial schooners getting rigged for the tourist season, which starts over Memorial Day weekend. Lots to do. We helped a fellow step his mizzen mast on a steel hulled yawl. We watched crews dance around with rigging and sails, and work on hulls for painting. We watched three children take turns running each other, then their father, up the mast on the bosun's chair. Interesting process, not quick. I look at that and mark it down as another reason to be sure everything up the mast is in as good a shape as possible. I have no interest in playing human tetherball.

Since it was a nice sunny day between spring rains, we also took advantage of the day. A walk to the other end of main street for our daily visit to the boat parts store, and back to the yard with a snake of rub rail to attach to the dinghy, along with a one pound box of bronze boat nails to do the attaching with. It took us most of the day, but we now have a nice canvas covered rub rail around the top edges of the Jack G. Jackson, which looks a great deal better than the hot pink and bright yellow swim float noodles we had been using.

About the time I began to wonder about lunch, a woman came by with a tray of sandwiches left over from a wedding to give away. Her timing was perfect. We were just taking a break to go look at some of the wood work on the schooners.

We met the current owner of the Sea Dog. Her previous owners, whom we met in 2004, sold her when they went to China. The people in the boat yard are as varied and interesting as the vessels they operate.

Today's plan: Repair the bottom of the dinghy where it got gouged last year, then repaint.