Big Ocean Small Boat

Eagle and I hauled and painted Shanti ourselves. We were inspired by my grumpy and hyper-competent gang of east coast one-design friends who apparently haul, paint, de-rig, re-glass, re-deck, and otherwise completely eschew the paid services of the boating labor class. Like once a week, if you believe them.

Fine, but in my opinion, even if I’m as handy as everyone claims I am, this is about the same ROI as changing the oil in your truck: Same money, same quality, twice the time, three times the hassle.

Also, an important take-away: In SF Bay, there’s no need to do boat work anywhere but KKMI. I paid the same for a haul-out and yard space at dodgy San Rafael YH as I would at our “notoriously expensive” yard across the bay, but gave up decent equipment, any semblance of security, handy advice, an inspiring view of AC boats on the hard, and a well-stocked chandlery. In exchange for this non-savings, I got my boat nearly dropped off a rickety dolly, a spreader bent on the crane, and some pretty sketchy characters jumping out of the dumpsters every morning.

Did I mention that I didn’t save any money? Short advice: Pay the $1K flat rate in the spring.

How did we do it?

1. Longboarded (by hand) down to 100 grit.
2. Filled and faired most of the chips and dips
3. 2 coats of black Micron Extra

Eagle did most of the backbreaking work around step #1, which basically buys him out of my share of the Islander, in my opinion.

Eagle and Longboard

Down to the primer

Back into the water where it is safe