Our drive down to Florida was incredibly uneventful which is exactly what you want when driving straight down. Traffic was good for the most part and the weather also cooperated (with a bit of rain during the night). We left Kingston at 1:30pm Oct. 26 and arrived at Reynolds Park at 12:30pm Oct. 27th. After a short visit our friends Julia and Brad, we drove into the Reynolds storage yard (we got lucky – the gate was open because some contractors were working. The gate is supposed to be closed and locked on the weekends) and checked out the boat. We spent a little over an hour taking off the sun shade. After that job was done, we headed to our Airbnb, unpacked most of the car, and did a bit of grocery shopping. After the overnight drive we were in bed early!
First day of boat jobs – Oct. 28th!! There is much joy in owning an old boat. Crimson Kathryn has a lot of style and charm that comes with her 44 years. But she also comes with a long list of jobs!!! Some of these jobs are maintenance items that every boat owner must do, while others are improvements. This season we have a variety of regular maintenance jobs and repairs plus some new installs. The major items on the list are: New bottom paint (being done by Holland Marine), repair of the cutlass bearing, non-skid paint on the deck (to solve our slippery deck issue from last season), new water maker and 2 new air conditioning units.
The bottom paint job was started the Friday before we arrived and the Holland Marine employee, Andrew, finished the work today. It looks amazing and it’s great to have that item crossed off the list. Unfortunately the first job for me today was to wash the deck and cockpit so the enclosure and all cockpit cushions could be moved back from inside of the boat. As usual we had a small amount of white mold on some of the wood surfaces and I easily cleaned those off with water and vinegar. Mark worked on taking apart the propeller shaft to get at the cutlass bearing. Not a lot of swearing went on so it seems like the removal process has been a successful job so far.
Ordered parts are starting to arrive at the Reynolds’ office. Today we picked up our air conditioning units and 2 other items. We’re moving all these new parts into our Airbnb unit for now – freeing up space inside the boat while it’s being cleaned and organized. Tomorrow the deck and cockpit will get washed so outdoor stuff can be moved and we’ll be able to work more easily inside the boat. The first few weeks are always the most challenging as things get sorted out.
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 