April 3 - Refit Update

Things are moving along. The tent has been removed and most all the visquine is now gone. There's still some wrapped around the mainsail, headsail and solar panels, but essentially we're now open to the weather again. Talking about weather for a moment, we've been quite fortunate in that the weather has been hot and sunny, ideal for painting, sanding and varnishing. The transitional period is a bit late this year but should start soon, with daily rains and high humidity. In the shop, our doors, bin covers and floorboards, as well as the companionway stairs, are almost completed being refinished and varnished. Today, Mr Gig made an 'executive decision' to fabricate all new teak handrails instead of reinstalling our old ones, so there's some wood working projects going to occur over the next few days, including the fabrication of our new rubrail. On deck, plenty of Sikaflex 291 is being used, and everything is going back where it belongs, so that's a good thing! We're also quite pleased with the separate painting and spraying of the non-skid on the lazarette hatch, dodger and new hatch turtle. The finished main hatch and turtle were installed earlier today. It's wonderful to stand back and look at the newly painted hull; the Awlgrip Flag Blue combined with the Oyster White cove stripe is beautiful. The boot stripe should be completed over the next couple of days. It's been exciting around here....