Sanding away....

We had gorgeous weather on Sunday, so my family and I went for a nice hike up in the woods.  By Thursday the weather had dropped from 71 degrees to 35!  Of course my day off would fall on a Thursday.  Anyway I went down to the boat to sand down the woodwork so that soon I can start varnishing it.  It was a tough job and I'm still not quite done, but she is looking a lot nicer now.  I have to sand off all the sun bleached gray of about 5 years of neglect.  I've gotten a lot of it back down to the bare wood, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get everything perfectly even.  Maybe it'll give it a nice weathered look.  We'll see.

You can see the wood on the starboard side is a fair bit lighter than that on the port side. I still need to put down a coat or two of paint in the bottom of the cockpit, but she's looking a lot better than when I bought her.
I clambered back into the engine compartment (which was little cramped by the way) so I could remove the muffler and see about sealing the propeller shaft so it won't fill up with water and sink as soon as I put her in the water.  There were a few wasp nests that I had to clear out.  I got startled and hit my head when my phone decided to vibrate as soon as I touched one of the hives.  Stupid text messages.

Yes, I crammed myself under those stairs. 
After a few hours of sanding I was getting legitimately tired and so I curled up on the starboard aft quarter birth for a nap.  I almost drifted off when I got another phone call.  No rest for me I guess.
I found a small section of deck that's leaking; I always knew it was, but now I know where it is, so that's good.  And for being a 40 year-old boat, I'd say she's holding up very well.
I still need to measure the rig and see for certain what kind of sails I should buy, and how I'm going to match the mast and boom to this boat.

Almost sanded.
Also, today marks the official first day of the sailing season here in Sheboygan.  As soon as I get my paycheck today I'm going to go down to the harbor and pay off the rest of my slip for the summer.