Where to begin? I am terribly behind in updating our blog and LOTS has happened since we brought our "new" boat home from Mississippi. We bought her with the plan to do some refit work but little did we know that we would be doing more than anticipated. As fate would have it, on March 2nd a tornado came directly through our marina. In doing so it destroyed about 70% of the docks at the marina. The devastation was unbelievable. Our docks are covered with tin roofs and the entire roof super structure collapsed on all the boats. To make matters more fun, we still had (have!) our trawler for sale and both boats were on the same dock that got damaged. Surprisingly, both boats weathered the storm amazingly well. On our bayliner it was not too bad because about half of what we were going to replace anyway was beat up in the storm so insurance money has helped take care of all of those items. Luckily neither boats sustained any structural damage whatsoever which was fortunate. There were about 30 boats, mostly 30' and under, that sank on the storm. Both our boats had taller vessels in the slips next to them so most of the steel landed on the neighboring boats instead of ours. Here are a few pictures of the damage to the marina:
And our pilothouse in the midst of the rubble. Amazingly no steel was left laying on our boat at the end of the storm and it was also the only boat on the entire dock that, when the storm was over, was not pinned in to the dock in some manner and she was literally the first boat to leave the dock once the recovery efforts started:
Lots of damage to other boats!
So, our refit plans got adjusted and more work was to be done but it has all worked out. We had her up in the service yard for quite some time getting some cosmetic fiberglass work done, new radar arch installed, straightening a bowrail out, etc. but that is all done and she is back in the water thankfully! Here's a picture of our old radar arch...cut into pieces and thrown into the dumpster:
We replaced the old arch with a very nice aluminum pipe frame arch that we ordered online from Atlantic Towers. We also ordered a hinged mounting kit for it so that it can be lowered at any time should we ever ship her over land. We love how it looks on the boat. We spent the last 2 weeks on the boat since she is now back on the water. This was a combination of fun and work...my son Caleb and I sanded down all the varnish since old cetol finish had been beat up beyond repair (and we didn't like the looks of it anyway), we've been replacing the ugly colors and soft goods on the interior (getting rid of all that patchwork quilt stuff!), running electronics up through the new arch, etc. Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the last 2 weeks aboard....
Anchored out in our favorite cove and swimming with the kids. New radar arch installed!
Teak prior to working on it:
Caleb is a true boat addict as well and helped me sanding and varnishing:
And now after 4 coats of Epifanes varnish (plan to do 4-6 more!):
Chattanooga's annual "Riverbend" festival was last week and we decided to anchor out for a night for the festival. The aquarium is visible behind our boat- love downtown Chattanooga!
Dawn in downtown as the sun was just preparing to rise:
After the night at the festival we cruised back up to our favorite coves to anchor out. Caleb loves driving from the pilothouse:
And the kids LOVE jumping into the water off the flybridge!
I took a video of the view from our anchorage just at dawn that next morning...so peaceful with the birds chirping everywhere. We shared the cove with a nice classic Chris Craft:
Father's Day we were anchored out and then enjoyed a fun cruise up to Aris Restaurant at Harbor Lights Marina. From our outdoor dining we a great view of our boat which I still enjoy seeing on the water after the storm repair!
My good friend and yacht broker that works with me took these 2 great shots of us cruising down the river heading to Riverbend:
Well, there is a quick update anyway. Lots went on in the last 2-3 months but we are back on the water and the boat is in great shape. We still have more to do...having a new bimini and eisenglass enclosure made, working on upgrading our house battery bank for longer times anchored out, more varnish, organizing the interior but the big stuff is all done and WOW was it great to spend 2 weeks on the boat! I hope to update our blog more frequently now that we are back on the water so stay tuned. If all works out we will do some longer cruises on the river this summer!
