Last day on deck

My last morning as a deck hand, I painted the base for the mizzenmast that is going to be welded to the plate in the tweens and I helped Richard tar the shrouds. At capstan when Dan looked at me I told him I didn’t exist anymore, so to the galley I went. Dina and I went over a few things, like were things were, what we had left and things I’d have to get for the transit, then started dinner. We had honey mustard chicken, bread and corn and then Richard, Justin, Jesse, Katie and I went trick or treating.

The galley is all mine now.

Boat bath

Tenley and I scrubbed the hull and the boys sanded. Our hands were frozen from spraying with the hose and it get sploshing all over us. We lifted the lower part of the lower mast for the mizzen up today as well. Sam showed up today, he’s going to stay around for a while and help out and maybe help on the transit down as well. Today Dan gave us each our own brushes because we’ve been having a problem of not being able to clean them well enough. We had another lobster dinner and more news got spread around about people leaving. Cory and Grant are leaving on the 13^th to go back to Florida and Dan and Laura will leave shortly after that, and Justin leaves in about a week.

Chris 'Shoe-varine'

My Cyclopes pumpkin.

Justin's pumpkin.

Amy trying to dress Mitch up.

Justin 'Jason', Tenely 'the Ocean', Richard 'Disgruntled flower'

Mitch 'Bambam', Amy 'Pebbles'

Tenley and Amy.

Amy and Richard.

Katie 'Little Nemo' and I 'Princesse Camille'

Day off

Another day off in a small town and we end up doing practically the same thing. Went to the thrift store again with a handful of people to look at things to make into Halloween costume. Jesse found a hideous red sweater with a cat on it, oh no. We also got pictionary and played it once we got back to the boat. Grant, Katie, Peter and I all went out to dinner one last time because Peter leaves shortly and the four of us have been together so long, just a little over 11 months now.

Jesse and his cat sweater.

Painting with epoxy

Hawsing and reaving party, after lunch Peter drove Laura and I to the metal shop where we got to paint the new mizzenmast with brown epoxy paint.

Cory drew faces on bungs by the galley door.

New mast, Peter and Laura.

Mizzen complete with ironwork.

Machine shop.

Rainy day

I’m really happy that I was on duty today because it was raining. Cleaning the heads took forever because they were finally put back together, for the past four days or so we’ve been using the shore heads. The shore heads looked like something from a horror movie, just a little dark and dingy. Since it was raining we stayed inside and caulked and NP1-ed cabins.

Scrapping ... again

Again more scrapping, it’s getting a little ridiculous, everything was wet so we had to scrape, no sanding. In the afternoon we finally got to change things up and caulked in the afternoon. Justin drilled a hole in the engine room bilge so the water could actually drain out, it flooded out for the rest of the evening.

Justin's hole in the bilge to drain the water.

Laura dapping.

Yard guy contemplating how to fix the bug shoe.

Jojo and Tenley scrapping.

Dan.

Had to get rid of all that green fuzz.

Mitch and Rich lashing down the old mast.

Chain to help take out the shafts.

Peter fixing the plumbing.

More scrapping

Ahhh, more scrapping! Chris and Katie were lucky to be pulled away to work on making us a new top for the mizzen. No more washing for us because it’s a weekday and if the EPA should show up we could get in trouble for not collecting the water that falls off the boat when we scrub it. So in the afternoon we did some caulking and hausing, using the air pressured caulking gun is a lot of fun.

Scrapping the hull

More of the same today, scrapping and sanding now, but there was no wind so the air was thick with the dust and was really itching my eyes. We are all wearing dusts masks and glasses, but it still gets everywhere. Laura, Tenely and I spent the last part of the day seeing if washing the boat and scrubbing would help get rid of the green algae, and it did. Peter and John spent the day taking apart the heads, didn’t finish like they said they would.

Haunted house

Our doom began today, scrapping the hull under the water line, by doing this ourselves we are saving the boat about $10,000, we’ll also be caulking and painting it ourselves. Cap said this morning that we’d be here for 4 weeks, way later then anyone really wants to be. After today’s work I’m really looking forward to cooking just because it’s so cold.

After work Amy drove a handful of us to a haunted house put on by the Boothbay faire department. Had some nice zombies in a graveyard and best of all scarecrows in a cornfield. They were a kid lying down in a dark tunnel to scare us, I said we should step on him so he can’t scare us and he quietly said. “Please don’t step on me.”

Silly Peter.

More cooking to come

On my day Peter and Dina came back, they got the job in California, which means when they leave November 1^st, I’ll be the cook for the rest of the season! They brought me back a lobster tail pastry from Boston, it was amazing, crispy shell filled with pastry cream. Jesse and I went to the thrift store and I found the perfect dress to alter for my Halloween costume.

Hauled out!

Eggs with hash browns for breakfast and another cold lunch because we were hauled out successfully this time, tuna, pasta salad and deviled eggs. I was really excited the whole time we were being hauled out, in the beginning I was on the dock watching as things went slowly. The diver went down and had to put some more wedges in, the bilge blocks were placed compared to the measurements when we went into the water last time. While being hauled out I was on the boat and glad I was because it was a strange feeling, we were going up hill slightly. When we were on the hard most of us went down the tall ladders on the side of the cradle to see what we looked like. When I saw her I think I fell in love with the boat all over again, she truly is an amazing thing. They say that she looks good since the last time they saw her about three years ago, the fresh water in the lakes looks like it did her some good. For dinner I made sirloin, spinach, Yorkshire pudding and mushroom sauce.

Mizzen tent, to keep dust in.

Getting in.

Diver getting ready.

Coming up.

Usually there is water there.

More mizzen gone

Another day of cooking, so had to get up early to make Johnny cakes served with the spicy apple sauce I had made last night. For ,65,69 I had assumed we’d be being hauled out so it was a cold lunch of sandwiches with ranch dip for celery and carrots. For dinner I made pork chops with caramelized onions in a spicy orange sauce. We didn’t end up getting hauled out, but we did chop the mizzenmast off in the tweens and pulled it out using the spanker boom as a crane with come alongs. There was junk everywhere when they pulled it, piles of rust and insulation that we assume could be asbestoses.

Grant watching John take apart wires in the binnacle.

Chris.

Richard.

Going into the rail.

Chris hammering up wedges and Jesse cutting.

Jojo and Dan taking up on come alongs.

Insulation.

Second part of the mizzen out.

We'll be on those blocks soon.

Mizzen comes out

Cyclopse toast for breakfas;, Japanese food for lunch and pasta carbonara with bread, balsamic and olive oil for dinner. Got the mizzen out in the morning and moved the boat over to the shipyard in the afternoon.

Lift off.

Dan climbing shrouds.

This use to be attached ...

... to this.