MOTHER OF ALL HAUL OUTS--Part 2
IDENTITY CRISIS

	The workers lay out the pink hibiscus flowers on our deck. Too bad it isn't non-skid...

In the beginning there was plenty of work to keep us occupied. All the halyards, all the fittings, all the hardware of any sort had to be removed from the mast, boom and spreaders. Hardware from the deck, cabin top, and the cockpit needed to come off too. Some would be replaced with new pieces. All the rest had to be cleaned, and the fasteners and shackles inspected in preparation for their refitting--someday. And it all had to live someplace until that day. The empty chain locker became the home of halyards, sheets, reefing lines, jack lines, blocks, out hauls, boom bails, mast tangs, etc. Everything else went on top of the bed!

Multiple baggies have been residing on our bed, full of hardware and fasteners (all duly labeled) and bits and bobs of this and that. I last counted 29 ziplock baggies, 5 margarine tubs, 4 big canisters (mast winches and parts), 3 square tuppers, 2 big plastic bags, and 1 red basket full of cleats, on the bed. (I think with a little luck I could turn that last sentence into a Christmas song!!!) Lots of big stuff chose a spot on the bed too--like the radar, the life sling, the roller furling drum and top swivel, the dorade cowls. The solar panels have been moved to new quarters in the shower. No wonder we had to move off the boat--there was no room for US!

The workers kept moving along at a steady pace. Once the bottom had been ground back to the fiberglass, the workers could start concentrating on the deck. I don't want to catalog the 3 weeks of prep it took to get ready for the first coat of primer, other than to say that the workers were far more conscientious with their filling, far more thorough with their sanding, than we would have been. Also, in addition to our shrink-wrapped surroundings, all the deck areas not to be painted were masked off with sheets of oil cloth-type stuff, the right side face down. When it was time to spray the Awl Grip topcoat, all the tape and masking was removed, and new tape, new masking laid down. The oil cloth was turned over. Magic! We had a deck of pink hibiscus flowers on green trellis squares! I loved it!

Sanding the topsides into our psychedelic look.

Meanwhile, there were the peripherals--things you do because time, space, and being hauled out made them easier to attack. We have had a lot of stainless steel work done. Early this year we had acquired our first set of solar panels. I know, I know; we are behind the times in this department. Nor do we have a wind generator. We have an engine-driven refrigerator and freezer system that is very efficient with 45 minutes to 1 hour of engine time daily. This engine time also charged up our big bank of batteries sufficiently too. We always had plenty of electricity to use as we had pretty simple electrical needs. Then "equipment creep" snuck in the door--er--hatch, and we could see that having the boost of extra amps from solar panels would be beneficial.

We didn't know where to put them. We mounted the panels on the rails just adjacent to the cockpit. We hated them there. They were just in the way and too vulnerable. We decided we would put them up on the radar arch at first opportunity. For various reasons, Al has never liked this arch. Now was our chance to turn it into something more agreeable. There were plenty of examples of arches with solar panels in the boatyard to supply us with ideas. In the end, not only did the solar panels have a new home--so did the radar. We had a stainless steel bracket made for the radar and will remount it on the mast. I already mentioned the mast support; it has a new sister plate reinforcement. There are also 2 new chain plates, new bow protection plates under the anchor rollers, new deck fittings for the spinnaker pole, and a bunch of small repair/replace items. We were very lucky to get all the stainless work sorted out and completed before the deck work progressed into the painting stages.

We took a 4 day holiday from the rigors of boat yard dust and confusion and went to Penang, Malaysia, to renew our Thai visas. On our return we found SUNFLOWER looking like a leopard--spotty all over! Or maybe like a rotten banana--under our sprightly yellow paint lurk gray and black fairing compounds from the original building. Al kinda liked our new psychedelic look. "Maybe we could just clear coat it like that!," he perused, while backing off for a better view. I figured we could start a new trend--be the first with a totally unique sailboat finish--yellow and black psychedelic spots with pink hibiscus decks!

	Beth has a look at the final finished product on the topsides. Shiney side up!

Again, the sanding and fairing, and sanding and fairing, went on day after day after day, until one morning, while we were right in the middle of an electrical job, the painter came and motioned us to get off the boat. Time to paint. First coat of primer. SUNFLOWER turned white! Boy, did she look weird! It just wasn't right. We had lost our identity! Friends sailed in from Chagos, knew we were in the boatyard and came for a visit. They phoned us, standing 4 boats away, and wanted to know where we were! What to say? Look for the white boat?

At last the day came when we could put our identity crisis on the shelf for good. We are YELLOW again! Are we happy? YES! Is the work finished? NO! The hull is still in dry-out mode. The mast and boom are in mid-process, but that should be finished in less than a week. The deck still has some work, and the new non-skid needs painting. But the topsides are a sparkling yellow, the sheer stripe is glossy white, and the boot top is a beautiful blue. It has been a huge turning point in our morale as we continue with this major investment in time and money for SUNFLOWER.