Tonight’s sunset at Anacortes Marina really lit up the sky above the boat houses. Gorgeous!
Our plan was to get varnish on the exterior teak and then, weather permitting, start on waxing the cabin and hull. As soon as we finished varnishing the cap rail, fog and mist set in. It lasted 4 days, and ended with a thunderstorm on Sunday night. We got the varnish supplies put away, but have not been able to get started on the waxing.
Alice stands on the swim step to apply a third coat of varnish to Phoenix’s stern cap rail.
Today we got a “final” coat of varnish on the aft part of the cap rail and on the eyebrow trim…despite the weather. It was dry and partly sunny when we got started this morning, but after we wiped down everything and started taping, the wind started to increase. We debated whether to go ahead, as the wind tends to blow all sorts of dust and dirt around…which ends up in the wet varnish and ruins the finish. But we wanted to get this project done, and everything was prepped and ready, so we decided to go ahead.
The late afternoon sun casts shadows from a sailboat’s masts on Phoenix’s port side, as she sits in our slip at Anacortes Marina. We spent today sanding the teak on the aft cap rail and the eyebrow and plan to apply a third coat of varnish tomorrow, weather permitting. We taped the eyebrow trim with blue masking tape to protect the gelcoat from the sanding, and left it in place for tomorrow’s varnishing.
The exterior teak requires annual varnishing to protect the wood and keep it looking nice. This is a view of the teak on Phoenix’s starboard cap rail after two new coats of varnish. The cleats and other hardware have been removed for the varnishing project, so there are visible holes where the hardware will be reinstalled.
Our recent days have been filled with the annual maintenance of exterior teak…varnishing. Our boat’s exterior teak consists only of a cap rail around the decks and an eyebrow trim piece around the flybridge. Doesn’t sound like much, but the sanding, taping, and application of the varnish takes several hours for each coat…and we try to put on three coats each season.
Jim and friends celebrate his successful eye surgery.
It’s now been 4 weeks since Jim had cataract surgery on his right eye, and this week he went back to have the cataract removed from his left eye. So, we made two trips between Anacortes and Seattle – one on Thursday to have the procedure, and another trip on Friday for a post-surgery exam. Both trips were longer than we expected due to traffic volume. Thursday was a beautiful sunny day, and it seems there were lots of people out on the freeway going who knows where…or possibly there are a lot of people vacationing in Seattle. Whatever the reason, I-5 southbound became a parking lot and we ended up leaving the freeway at Northgate and taking surface roads the rest of the way to downtown Seattle.
On Friday, we woke to another thunderstorm and very heavy rain. We had to be in Seattle before noon for the follow-up exam, and we found the freeway jammed again – this time from the heavy rain and all the water that had accumulated on the roads. So, once again, we left I-5 at Northgate…now we’re getting to be an expert at finding our way to downtown Seattle by going through Fremont!
Anyway, the surgery has gone well, and the only event left is another post-surgery exam next week. That should be our last trip between Anacortes and Seattle for a while. Thank goodness!
Boats for sale at the Cap Sante Boat Haven docks.
There was a lot of activity outside the Cap Sante harbor office and entrance to the marina.
We went for a walk to Cap Sante Boat Haven (http://www.portofanacortes.com/marina.shtml) this morning. The Port of Anacortes is located at Cap Sante and there is always lots of interesting boat activity there. The morning started out foggy and things were still fairly wet, but the sun came out later and made it a pleasant day for a walk and to enjoy wandering around the boats at Cap Sante.
Four commercial crab boats loaded with crab traps and getting ready to go out.
The Lady of the Sea waits at the entrance to Cap Sante Boat Haven.
Next up for the boat is to tackle annual exterior maintenance…varnishing and waxing. The unsettled and wet weather will make that a challenge. Earlier this week, we found a couple of dry days to do a little of the waxing and got one coat of varnish on the teak before Friday’s rain. Rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days, but we’ll start up again on the varnish when the weather allows.
Cruising With Phoenix 