Into the early morning...

Oh my God! It's July 1st tomorrow and the Regatta is days away! I'm still at work downloading a wedding I shot Saturday, Libby is at the Sailboat Shop working on sails and I'm sure Schyler is going to be heading home in just a few to hopefully step the mast. My job tonight is cleaning the sails and removing numbers so that we can put on No.39. Not so bad.

Apparently everyone and their uncle stopped by yesterday as Rob was painting the name of the boat on. We were hoping to keep it secret until the boat was launched, but we do live in too small of a town! However, Chris Moore who did stop by, kept his promise not to tell because my daughter Kinsey asked him what it was and he would not tell her. Gotta love it. And Chris, I'm working on getting that little GTI!

A quick photo of Schyler around midnight sitting on a seat IN THE BOAT! She's coming together!!!

PS-I photoshopped the name the boat off. You wanna know what it is, stop by and say hello!

Well, it's 10pm and Schyler is still out in the little barn working on the boat. Our friend Rob Hazard stopped by today and painted the name of the boat on in gold leaf. It is so beautiful and will really shine once we varnish the transom again. Thank you sooo much Rob! While Rob was painting, Schyler put in the winch pully and mast step and is now putting in all the floor boards. We took photos today and will post them tomorrow when I have a chance to download them. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos to show the difference from when we started and where we were at a couple of weeks ago. I will have to admit the longest and hardest part of this whole restoration, at least for me, was the stripping and sanding. We used all kinds of strippers from the environmentally friendly and very expensive products ($75. a gallon) to the cheap basic stripper from Lowes ($25. a gallon) and to be honest the cheaper ones worked far better and faster. The environmentally friendly version worked best if you slapped on gobs of it and let it sit in a dark, damp garage for a few days and then pull the paint off only to have to reapply in the tough spots.

That's enough for tonight!

More up to date photos tomorrow!

Sails, Jibs & Mains

Today Libby, Owen and Schyler got the mast out of the barn to make sure all was in order. Hopefully we will be able to step the mast Monday. We also looked through the barn for jibs and mains and found some cotton sails from 1946 that are in incredible shape. The one sail we all decided to use has all these stamps on it from previous Regattas in the 1950's. All they need is some cleaning and soaking in the sun. We were so excited to find these beautiful sails.

We still have a million little things to do.....

Brushes, Primer and Varnish

Things are getting close, but we are still working toward to the goal of getting the boat in the water for the Regatta! Last night we had quite the crew working. Libby and I were given little itty bitty brushes to paint primer on the hull. I didn't think anything of the size of the brush, however once Libby got there and was given her brush, a comment was made. Apparently we could have used bigger brushes, but we used what we had and giggled all the way. Actually, once we got started and began talking about the Jeep

Libby would like to buy and the VW GTI I test drove that
afternoon, the size of the brushes no longer mattered and the
boat began to take on a whole new look. Jack stopped by and
helped us finish priming and Libby fastened the deck to the
hull.

Curtis, a friend and co-worker from the Sailboat Shop came by and helped Schyler put a second coat of varnish on 75 pieces. It was a busy scene here at the house.

What's next? A million little things....

On another subject....here's the little turbo charged GTI I zipped around in this afternoon. Just LOVE the color! Tornado Red!!!

When's the Regatta??

Well, the paint stripper/sanding wench has been sent below to update the Blog! I am sure everyone has been curious as to how we are doing with our Lightning No. 39. Well, after an unexpected trip to Colorado for a week, the beginning of Schyler's busy season at the Sailboat Shop, the beginning of my crazy wedding season, a move to a new studio, and the unfortunate ACUTE and extremely painful tendonitis of my right shoulder, (the money arm as Schyler puts it) all progress STALLED. The poor thing sat there all by herself screaming for attention. Scream, baby, scream....my arm is killing me, boats need to be launched, gear needs to be moved, and weddings shot.

After everything calmed down, we got going again. With all the layers of paint dating from 1939 were stripped and sanded, which took FOREVER, we varnished the inside of the hull. We, with the help of Libby, who has been here working under thunderstorms and golf ball size hail sanded and stained all the floor boards and everything not attached to the hull. The framing is all back on, old and new. Libby even admitted last night she saw the a light at the end of the tunnel. We have been working every night until dark, Schyler even later under the lights from The Yacht Club, to get as much as possible done. I love watching him. I've never seen someone so motivated. It's very cool for me. However, as I look out the window I'm not quite sure what he is doing, only to say he has latex gloves on. Perhaps I should supervise.

So, what needs to be done in the last few days? Varnish all the floor boards and miscellaneous parts, which Schyler apparently is doing right now, (I had to check). Put on the deck, place all the floor boards and seats back in, fill in all the dings and screw holes with the fairing mixture, paint the outside of the hull and all the other little things like sails and so forth. Oh yeah, and have the name of the boat painted on by Rob Hazard. Sweet.

I would put up new photos, but I forgot to download them at work and bring them home. Until the next post which will be tomorrow.

The Galley Wench