Welcome!

The adventures of the vessel "The Hard Six" and the man owned by her!

Friday, June 14, 2013

The Bottom Job - Coming home





It was a beautiful, albeit insanely hot day, to bring the boat back home to the marina. When I got there, I spent most of the morning working. You can't beat a job that has an office view like this:




I got her all rigged out to go - even after a week out from under cover, she still looked great to me, especially with the new bottom paint.

I took her out into the St Johns. I wanted to see what kind of speed she could do with new bottom paint and the tweaks to the carburetor.  The fastest the boat had ever gone in the time I owned her was 27.5 mph. On the way up, best she could manage was 24.5. Today? 30.5 mph! I'm not sure which it was, but I was thrilled. I don't think the engine ever ran or sounded that good.

I was so happy in fact, that even when the US Customs and Border Patrol stopped me to do a routine check I was happy as a clam. Especially after they told me what a nice example of a Chris-Craft I had. Nice guys, I thanked them for their service and they took off flying down the river. 

About 15 minutes later, I saw the US CBP boat go flying past me going back up the river. I couldn't figure out why. 



I figured it out shortly after that...




Right after this, the VHF went off with the "NOAA weather wanring". Thanks. Water was breaking over the bow shortly after that, high enough that I was getting wet at the helm. Nice thing about a 26 year old Chris-Craft; I knew she could take anything that was coming my way. And she did.






Even if it was a wet ride coming home, she's back in her slip; and I loved every minute of it.






Next week: fiberglass detailing, swim platform cleaning and oiling, and varnish on the swim platform.

No comments:

Post a Comment