First Sit-Down Dinner

When Bryna and John came for a visit we had our first sit down dinner in Leaps' main salon. (Bryna is taking picture).
We used our new wood fired Keppers Pottery plates. We also celebrated receiving our new Toughbook lap top, a Christmas Gift from Bryna, John and Burklin. I used it today to make all the posts to the blog. John spent a great deal of time loading in charts and GPS info as well as some other useful programs. Their gift and work is greatly appreciated. We now need to spend some time coordinating the Toughbook with our navigation station.

Bryna's Favorite Outfit

A champ at fiberglass work, Bryna works on the rudder

Her favorite outfit until such time as she can join us in the Carribean wearing her bathing suit!

A Good Time With The Mast

In preparation for stepping the mast we decided to paint it. That meant removing some parts and a great deal of masking off other parts for protection from overspray. Lots of sanding and prep and then new paint. When the mast was finished and looking all shiny and new we then decided we really should do the boom as it was laying there looking rather forlorn. Another round of masking, sanding and prep before Charlie could paint.

Our daughter Bryna, and boyfriend John, came down to help with the stepping of the mast, a very exciting day even though it was 34 degrees and overcast.

Bryna on the left holding the lifting straps and wishing it was sunny and warm. Charlie on the right  with an employee from the crane company watching for the hook.

Up, Up..... Charlie in camo vest.

Bryna on deck waiting to guide mast down through deck where
Charlie and I are waiting in the main salon. The mast and all its wiring needs to be guided into the mast step in the bilge. This required the calling out of directions from us to Bryna , John and crane operator.

This is one of our favorite pictures. Left to right: Bryna, John and  Charlie all with hands in pockets looking at the rigging and thinking, "Sheesh, it looked a lot more organized on the ground!"

It's in, Hooray! Note, the yellow lifting strap by the ladder -  more on that later.

Bryna starts the rigging process

Bryna and Charlie installing roller furling

Remember the yellow lifting strap? It would not release from the mast so, we had to hoist Charlie up the mast to retrieve it. He is being watched over by our mascot, the dragon kite, which is yet to be named. Charlie says a viking ship is not complete without a dragon.



The morning of Bryna and Johns' departure. Still cold and overcast. We are so happy they could come down and spend some time with us.



On Friday 3/29 we hanked on the sails. A good day indeed.

Non-Skid Project

A portion of the deck on the starboard side needed new non-skid. We used a product called Gibco, which is a mat with the non-skid pattern embedded into it. You then take the pattern pieces and lay them into the wet gelcoat material and squeegee the mat into it until every piece is laying down smoothly and flush to the existing non-skid. 

Deck Prep

Cutting the pieces

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January 2013 Demopolis Yacht Basin Flood

Marina view of floating foot bridge. The bridge is usually flat or on an incline down to the marina. The angle from which this picture was taken does not do justice to how high the peak is off the water. The buildings in the background are the restaurant and fuel dock.

Debris collected around the restaurant and fuel dock.

View of RV park. Notice picnic tables to the left. Several RV's have pulled out for a few days as the river continues to rise.

View of RV Park from the stern of Leap

Marina clean up begins

In a burst of southern industriousness, just build a "rake" out of 2x4s and hang it on the front of your john boat. Put one person in the stern to drive and another in the bow for ballast to hold the rake down and you're off.

Lots of raking to do.