The launch is definitely scheduled for July 20th!! We are in a whirlwind right now. My mom is moving out of her house TODAY, so last weekend we had to move all of our stuff, household and boat, that we've had with us while we've been staying with her. Now we are kind of nomadic.... living out of the back of the car, sleeping at my Dad's place in town, but mostly spending all our time at the boat working feverishly. Neil's last day of work is next Friday the 16th; he can't wait.

It's scary to be so close yet still have such looooong lists of stuff to do. We've pared down the lists to "must be done in order to launch", "would be great to get done before launch", and "can do after we move aboard". My only real reticence to having a long list of projects to complete aboard is that we've been promising Olivia for so long that once we leave on our trip Mommy and Daddy will not be working all the time! And some of the stuff we'll need to get done right away, like replacing the gasketing in the hatches and ports (otherwise wet cushions!) and replacing the port screens (still some mosquitoes around!).

Last week was a truly grueling one. I put in 12-14 hour days all week long doing the interior varnish and sole. Built up Epifanes gloss and then topped it with Epifanes Rubbed Effect. On the sole we used a new product called Ultimate Sole. It is a polyurethane and, like a gymnasium floor, has a really "grippy" non-skid quality while being very clear and glossy to look at. It went on beautifully, a joy to work with, and it looks truly great. It was really weird when I'd finished the varnish and we peeled off the masking tape: she looks like a new boat inside! Now I can't wait to bring in the cushions and curtains I've made and see the full effect!!! I'm waiting until we finish the last few grubby jobs, though. Don't want to get them dirty before we even leave! Here are pictures of the varnish at the Gloss stage, and one of some of the seemingly thousands of loose pieces I varnished off the boat:

What else? Our new trysail and mainsail arrived. Exciting! Neil repaired the mahogany mast step, coated it with epoxy, cleaned and painted the shoe, and re-installed the lot. The drive shaft is back in with its new cutlass bearing and PYI dripless shaft seal (you don't even want to know how many swear words were uttered in the hours and hours it took Neil to get the old cutlass bearing out!) Here's the massive step being epoxy-coated, and the old fasteners showing the crevice corrosion. Obviously we got new fasteners!

We installed our Fleming windvane on the transom (working out the rigging for it will be a project for "later"!) It is such a gorgeous piece of hardware. We ordered our name/hail decal. I used the last few hours at my Mom's house to stitch up some fitted sheets and mattress pads for our berths. Neil made some truly fantastic access doors for the storage behind the settee seat backs. We'd looked at many other boats' solutions at the Newport Boat show a few years back and this is really the best I've seen. The plywood panels with radiused corners fit flush with the seat back. two vertical battens are attached to the inside edge of the seat back bulkhead; one horizontal batten is attached to the inside edge of the door itself. An ABI flush pull-ring-latch is installed at the top. To close the panel, you simply hook the bottom batten into the lip, and shut the latch. To open, you pull the ring to release the latch, and lift out. They don't interfere with comfortable seating, and they won't spill their contents on a windward tack. Cool. Here's our "sketch" of the name, and the seat-back doors (they'll be painted white soon):

Launch scheduled! Sole varnish, buffing, name & hail...