Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile. We decided to have this baby painted. Time considerations, skill deficiencies, and practicality meant that we would have the hull/keel painted by a pro. We will then paint the deck and varnish the teak trim. There is only one option in Morro Bay: Joe at The Boatyard. First he had to get it out of the water. It was a little tricky to get the backstrap inside the rudder and leave enough space, but you can see it was successfully pulled out. It's a bit of a shock to see all that hull, keel and rudder for the first time. It was a bigger shock to see the name "EVA" on the back. For some reason, we had never noticed it. Joe and his assistants are quite the characters. You feel like you are hanging out with some old school mariners. Be warned, though, he charges a new school price.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it before they put it back in the water after it was painted. They gave me a polaroid and maybe I'll have it scanned.
You can see that it gives the boat a nice new look in this picture with my wife and in-laws in the background. It is now officially a BLUEnose Sloop. This will be a very classy looking boat once we paint the deck and cockpit and varnish the teak. In for a penny, so now we are committed to it for awhile and it will prevent us from the purchase of a bigger boat, which is a good thing, I suppose...
