was thrilling as I observed the bottom of our boat slowly appear, yet terrifying to see our 40 ton vessel just hanging there by a few straps. I also never knew I could be so excited at seeing the bottom of a boat, above the water. Ours was pretty clean, with just a few random barnacles. On the other hand, the rudders and propellers were quite encrusted with the little devils. Fortunately, they are easy to scrape off when still wet, so immediately following our power wash – that was the first thing we did – scrape barnacles. A few larger mussels wedged themselves into whatever tight little place they could find and they proved a little bit harder to dislodge. Those that came off easy got a trip back to the water (as promised). Got to tell you though, it’s very intimating being under the boat as it’s propped up by a few blocks of wood and 6 metal stabilizing tri-pod jacks. 
One of Tom’s primary goals was to remove the old, sporadic operating transducer, whi
ch he did by cutting it out. Yipes! Yup, a nice 2” hold in the bottom of the boat. He constructed a new fairing block out of a block of wood by slicing it in half (at a hull-angle) then drilling the proper sized hole, installing the new transducer, slapping it back on the hull, and then fiber glassing over it. Not as easy as I make it sound, but Tom has a way of making things work, and work WELL! After being painted it looks great! Throughout the next week, along with the help of our friends, Steve and Cissy, we scraped, taped, sanded, blasted and banged our way to a clean, freshly painted bottom. To help prevent corrosion, the underside of our swim step was also treated and painted. Also under our corrosion control department Tom replaced 6 “sacrificial” zincs on the props, shafts and rudders.
Hanging around a boat yard for a week proved very colorful and enlightening for this novice. It was interesting to watch a pilot boat replace their experimental ‘bumpers’. A couple of crews came and went with little progress being made on their respective boats, with the exception of shrimp boat, Texas Rose, and her captain, Robert. They completely replaced the bow rail of the ship, along with the installation of a nice angle iron at the very front tip of the boat and were beginning fiber glass work when we left.
It was a pleasure to meet the captains’ son, Brandon. He’s off for the summer and will be attending high school next fall. He was a very engaging young man, as we spoke of many things. He seemed mesmerized with Refugio and it was our pleasure to have him assist us with our ‘splash’ back into the water and join us on our trip back to the marina.
As scheduled on our 7th day we went back to the boat yard to pay up and ship out. As Keith, the yard manager approached our boat while operating the travel lift one of the hydraulic lines burst, sending a fine spray of fluid all over o
ur bow (yuck). It took him the good part of the day to repair/replace it so we opted to return the next day for our SPLASH. Once in the water and before Keith removed the slings, Tom attempted to start both engines - NOT. After sitting for a week, and without being charged, neither engine cooperated. So Tom started the generator (love that generator) jumped and charged both engine batteries – and “botta-bing, botta-boom” we have ignition, and backed out of the craddle.Refugio is now safely tucked back into her little estuary at Serendipity Bay Resort awaiting our next project.
I’ve learned more than I care to know about the bottom of a boat, it’s no longer just a welcome sight to this weary scuba diver.
