We arrived again a day earlier than usual on Thursday, May 1 expecting to get put in the water. We reviewed the prepared dock lines and fenders. We were then told it would be next day--Friday. So we went about handling some of the other tasks on our agenda for the weekend.  

On Friday Donna hoisted Dave up the mast to install a newly purchased radar reflector at the top of the starboard diamond wire . While up there, he spent some time inspecting the mast. Following that, we decided we would have enough time to clean out the anchor locker.  There were still a number of nearby boats that had yet to be moved first before Pas de Deux could be moved. We decided to lower the anchor to the ground and string out all of the chain so that we could measure and mark it at 25 ft intervals. We cleaned the accumulated dirt from both the chain and the locker, and eventually brought the chain back up into the locker. 

We continued to wait for our turn to go back in the water. We got a small amount of black bottom paint ready to paint the four squares of area currently obstructed by the hull supports.  The action started about 4 pm that day--we took digital pictures as well as video of the whole operation, which is pretty amazing. We've attached a clip for you to enjoy!

Once in the water, we powered out of the slip-the engines started right up and the props did not fall off--yay! We moved Pas de Deux to a position on the main dock. Settled in there, we added water to the starboard tank. We turned on the refrigerator and freezer to test once again-we expected they still needed repair which was the case. Dave contracted with the yacht yard to have the refrigeration inspected and repaired in the coming week now that we were back in the water. The boat had to be in the water to troubleshoot properly (the related cooling plate is on the underside of the hull) . 

Saturday morning, while waiting for it to warm up outside, we focused on more chores like cleaning interior bilges and dried any standing water. Donna sprayed surfaces with Lysol spray.  Dave removed dead silicone from other ceiling panels that were drooping, unglued, and used contact cement to put them back in place. We jerry-rigged a broomstick and pieces of wood to hold the panel in place against the ceiling while the contact cement set. Dave made new toggle pullies for lifeline pelican hooks--cute. We washed windows inside and out-what a difference that makes! We followed up with a special compound for removing light scratches from plastic. (Donna remarks to herself "Gee wiz--I don't even do this work at my house".)

The sun finally came out around 9:30 am so we could work outside with water without getting too cold.  Donna spent the rest of the day cleaning the upper decks of tree pollen and residue. Fortunately we had shop vac with us to suck up all the debris.  We washed down a huge amount of pollen and dirt that had accumulated over the winter, starting with the bimini and solar panels, then working our way from bow backwards to stern and cockpit with a light soap mixture-we'll call that Phase I. In Phase II we repeated the cleaning with Softscrub where needed to remove difficult dirt. We also took some serious stains off with a fiberglass stain remover compound. Dave drilled two drain holes that were intended by design at the glass doorway where water had been standing beneath a teak cover.

We began to look forward to departing the marina and heading south to a new home on the water near Smith Point, VA.