Home stretch

We are on the first of what is likely to be a whole lot of home stretches. This one is the home stretch before launch...maybe launch happens Tuesday maybe Wednesday. Hard to say. In any event Ellen has been soldiering away at the starboard deadlight where we think the last leak is coming from. (And we know there is no such thing as a last leak on a boat. This one is the last leak for now.) She has been scraping and peeling and scrubbing, and huffing VOCs. The parts are cleaned off so tomorrow we can rebed things in the hopes of sealing this source of unwanted water.

Looks ugly now, but once the caulking and trim piece are back in place, and once the deck has been scrubbed and waxed it's going to look fantastic. And be dry.

In other projects, I got the transom finished today when I installed the name and port of call. Also got the new "PEARSON 36" vinyls installed on the sides. Looking good. (Special thanks to Super Jill for her prowess with the printer. She made the numbers for the rubber dinghy. You will see those in plenty of shots once the rubber dinghy gets launched.)

After putting the name on the boat (stressful stuff keeping everything centered and leveled) Ellen and I got the swim ladder back on. We had it welded since it's been rusty and failing since getting whacked by an errant sailboat in Bimini, Bahamas in 2012.

We went with two colors this time around. It's not so obvious in the photo, but "CUPCAKE" is blue with a black outline. The boat shed is starting to get on my nerves. Today it was evident that some cat used a nearby part of the building as a litterbox. Reminds me why we are not sailing with a cat.