Ft. Pierce and bike rides for exercise

"Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."

I was out bike riding Friday and ran into this handsome guy in the Cemetery over in White City.  I asked him if I could take his photo.  "Why?"  I said, because you look like the guy in the movie.  We dont need no stinking badges.  He just laughed and said OK.

 

While riding through, i saw this marker.  Wonder how it was at the Jones reunion with John Wayne, John Boy, and Johnny all answering simultaneous when called.  "Hey John?"

Today i stopped for lunch at Tillman's Bar B Que.  YUM!

Cornbread and Collard Greens.  Man it was good!

Then a few blocks later on my ride i stumbled across a Cider Maker...

 Billy and I.  (me in 5 yrs?)

I got the entire sample platter and totally shot the afternoon...

L > R.  Strawberry, Pineapple, Vanilla, Cherry, Coconut, 

PB&J, Blackberry, dry Cider, Mango, Peach Habanero. 

Sunset and Fruit Salad

The Last thing, i found a rock sitting on a bench.

What's that all about?

I hope you had a big weekend too?          

 -Peg Leg Skip

HONEY... I'M HOME!

 LAUNCH DAY!   YIPPEE

They got me out first in line for the day.  I was back at my marina in about 20 minutes and tied up - high tide - slack tide - no mishaps.  Easy Peasy!  I learned one thing.  Old dog and i got a trick.

Shawn drove the Lift via his wireless game console.  (if he calls in sick, I'm taking over)

The Marina Crew lifts Prodigal, moves the large blocks of wood and Mathew Williams scrapes away the 'residue' so John Williams can apply the bottom paint.  All this while the entire crew looks on and waits patiently.  Then John does some touch up around the entire hull.

Thanks again to Williams Marine and the entire crew of Cracker Boy Marina.

Now the costs:

Ouch!  It aint easy, or cheap to be a Pirate...

- Shallow Pockets Pirate Skip

Prodigal is up on stands and I'm on hold

I'm scheduled to launch Prodigal tomorrow at 8am.  Today they only had the 2pm time slot and that would be low tide.  I need to catch high tide and also slack tide to get back into my slip at City Marina.  So, the work is done but i'm on hold for a day awaiting my chosen launch time.

Shawn moves the stands so John can paint.  

I stick my hands on the 'old' paint to see if it's still ablative.

A few small dings on the rudder are filled & painted.

Next thing on the to-do list will get started next week.       -Skip

Saturday in the Cracker Boys Boat Yard

By the time I finally made it back to the marina on Saturday, the Williams Marine crew were already well under way sanding smooth all the barnacles and wet sanding the hull to a clean slick shine.  When the entire surface was smooth from growth and barnacles John and Mathew Williams took a break to let the hull dry and went to mix the bottom paint.  It's an ablative paint designed to 'sluff off' and wear so that it hinders growth of things onto the hull.  About once a month you can take a brush and rub over the surface and the paint sort of dissolves releasing any growth.

With both Williams on painting detail it only took a couple of hours to get all the surface painted.  I asked John how long it would be before it needed painting again...  he said, "about 12 to 13 months."  I asked if more coats of paint would help it last longer?  "Not really.  it'll just cost you more paint and labor dollars but still wont last another year."  *OTHER SAILORS:  WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE?  I asked John if there was anything I could do to help?  "Yes, stay out of the way."  So I did.

Tommorrow they are going to check all the through hulls while its out of the water.  confirm there aren't any needing to be replaced.  (better to fix a hole in the boat while it's not in the water!)

Next step is to schedule a splash time with the marina once we know when Prodigal is ready to launch.  (probably Tues or Wed morning at high tide)  At high tide I can just motor back the half mile to my marina and tie her up Easy Peasy.  (yeah, right)

I was told routine maintenance is about 10% of your purchase price each year.  All I can say is, Ouch!  We need a smaller boat...

-Poor Pirate Skip