For the past couple of weeks I’ve felt like I’m living inside a car wash. Even for Seattle, it’s been relentlessly soggy. 

Saturday’s rain foiled our plans to paint the boat, so we instead spent the day emptying out the aft cabin of sails, lines, cockpit cushions, a barbecue, solar panels and myriad other items we’d stored there for the boat’s trip to Seattle. We took home everything we wouldn’t immediately need in order to make space for any interior boat work. Our garage now looks like a hurricane blew through, depositing marine detritus in its wake. We’d be lucky to squeeze a bike in there, let alone a car. Needless to say, we’ll have plenty of items to bring to the spring marine swap meet outside Fisheries. 

But when we got up on Monday, the biblical downpour had finally stopped. We hustled off to the boatyard early, planning to get as much work done on Three Sheets as possible.

Arriving at the yard, I put on my disposable white painting jumpsuit. The zipper immediately broke. I taped it shut with some blue masking tape. Within minutes, as I kneeled down to paint along the bottom of the hull, the crotch ripped, leaving a gaping hole. It was an attractive look. 

Marty finishing the first layer of bottom paint.

Despite the faulty protective gear, it was a productive day. We finished putting on one coat of the bottom paint and did a first round of waxing the hull, finishing at around 4 p.m. as the sun was starting to dip. There was still enough light to see the newly buffed, shining hull reflecting back at us.

 Between that and the instant gratification of seeing a freshly painted bottom, we wrapped up the day happy and satisfied, and headed to the Lockspot Café in Ballard for a few well-earned libations.

If the weather cooperates next weekend, we plan to put on a second coat of bottom paint and wax, and if we can squeeze it in, install our new shaft seal and raw water strainer, and re-rig the mast. Ambitious? Yes, but we’re anxious to relaunch our new baby. And we’re not above bribing a few friends with beer to come out and help us next weekend. Waxing party, anyone?

If all goes as planned, we could splash Three Sheets as early as the end of the month. Our homeport will be Elliott Bay Marina, where we also moored our previous boat, Camelot. We’re excited about being back there. It’s a beautiful, well-run facility with a friendly and helpful staff, nicely renovated bathrooms (high on my list) and a stunning view of downtown Seattle and the mountains. It hosts the Downtown Sailing Series each summer and there are even two restaurants/bars on site; happy hour people-watching at upscale Palisades is always fun. What more could a boater ask for?

Cushion update: the upholsterer agreed there was too much fabric and fixed the problem by adding extra foam and Dacron. They should arrive back in Seattle in the next week. The boat is slowly, ever so slowly, coming back together.