HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN???

I arrived in Islamorada on Saturday just in time for "Happy Hour". It was a little slow going on Sunday, but I did get the boat started and got my plan ready for the next morning's trip to the boat yard. I was up and at'em before daylight Monday morning. I loaded my bicycle for the ride home, threw off the lines, and by 7:30 was headed out the canal toward the bay. The trip went almost without a hitch. I had a couple times one engine dropped a few rpm's but then took right off. When we got it pulled out we found an old lobster trap line wrapped up in the port propeller. I'm sure I did not run over a trap but there must have been an abandoned line floating in my path. I'm hoping that was the reason for the glitch in operation on the way up. By the way, the entrance into Coral Bay Marina is tight. It makes the space between the 500 and 800 docks at home look like open water. I'm not sure a 50 footer could turn around in there.




Here she is on blocks ready for a new bottom job.

Now how does this happen? After pulling the boat and pressure washing it, we found several spots where the gel coat had popped off. There is no way they could have been caused by hitting anything. Of course this will take a little extra preparation before the bottom can be painted. Break out another thousand. Here are some close ups.









The bicycle ride back to the condo was an eye opener. I think it is the only real bike ride since the century ride. Only about 10 miles, but it seemed like a lot more and the bridges were not fun.

I spent the afternoon stripping old caulking around the stairs and bridge. I will be heading up to the boat yard soon to take up where I left off. I think I'm going to take the Whaler today, so there will likely be another story coming.

CTM