Jack vanArsdale, Whitney Stewart and Warren "Guy" Stewart worked non-stop this Saturday and Sunday to accomplish many important tasks for preparing Kelly IV for the new Season. After a great breakfast at "The Better Half", our new breakfast standard in Sandusky, this great crew draped plastic sheeting around the entire boat, stem to stern, so the dust from sanding wouldn't foul the neighboring boats. Then they sanded the entire bottom below the water line and pressure washed the dust of the entire hull. Jack loaned his pressure washer to make this happen!
Once sanded, Warren filled in the cracks on the rudder and the entire crew painted the bottom with 3 coats of Petit Hydrocoat Ablative Paint. The first coat was blue, followed by 2 coats of black. The purpose of the different colors is that if/when we see the blue bottom paint, then we know we need more paint!
There is a ton of exposed wood on the outside of this beautiful sailboat. That didn't intimidate this terrific crew! Warren and Jack coated every square inch of wood surface with teak oil while Whitney followed to clean the area so no drips or spills could be seen. Please understand the work this involved:
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| Dirty Teak |
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| Oiled Teak |
As if this wasn't enough for a Saturday, this team also replaced a cracked portlight in the forward starboard cabin, lead by Whitney. The new portlight was tested immediately by a rainstorm and proved to be entirely weatherproof!
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| "Guy" models the new "Kelly IV Crew" T-shirt |
Once the crew cleaned up and showered, they donned the Inaugural Release of the Brand new "Kelly IV Crew" T-Shirts! With all four of us looking like Smurfs (the Original Blue Man Group - to help the younger crowd) we headed into town to pick up some hardware and tools for the Sunday work. After a fun and relaxing dinner at Max & Erma's with the most beautiful and attentive waitress, Jenna, we retired to Kelly IV for a well-deserved rest.
On Sunday we enjoyed our breakfast at "The Better Half" again and began our work for more preparation of Kelly IV. Warren applied the heat gun and removed the venerable and wonderful name of "Raconteur". It was the sad end of an era, but none of us is the "Raconteur" that Mr. Don Slessman, prior owner is. Kelly IV's new name will be added in a few weeks so she enters the water with her new appellation. While "Guy" prepped Kelly IV for her new moniker, Whitney and Jack completely cleaned and cleared the dust and cobwebs of 3 seasons on the hard. "Raconteur" was last on the water (ignoring her delivery) in September 2005. Jack, Whitney and Guy all pulled out the carpet, emptied the drawers, cleared out duplicate tools and hardware, and possibly most important: served as Kelly IV's conscious for keeping the boat clean and open. The new Lifesling and old boom were rigged, while the mainsail was wrapped in her sail cover and stored on deck, opening the cabin for further work. In fact, they even reorganized the entire tool bag and all the screws, blocks, bins, clevis and cotter pins, engine parts, emergency equipment, cabin carpet, every drawer, locker, and surface in our now-clean sloop! Warren lead a team effort to mount the old Loran, new GPS, and a small compass in a very cool cockpit mounting that enables the helmsman to steer from the side as well as the stern.
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| Close-up of Kelly IV T-shirt logo |
After a relaxing dinner and farewell at Chili's, the Stewart's headed for Erie and St. Mary's while Jack & I drove off to Zelienople.
At this point, Kelly IV only needs her new handle on the transom and she can be splashed. There is much more work to be done, but almost all of it can be done after she is in her slip.
Here's a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Jack, Warren, and Whitney for a superhuman effort to accomplish more than could ever be expected. You can be certain you more than earned your new Kelly IV T-Shirts this weekend!
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