We Prepare for Launch!

We have been working for three weeks to get Wings into the water.  It's the longest preparation period that we've ever endured and we're quire ready to be off the land and on the water.  We snapped a few photos of scenes during this (hopefully) last day.

This is our new Beta Marine engine instrument panel.  Nice, huh?  The panel is a different size and shape compared to the old one, so we made a template last year and had the background black panel fabricated.  I measured and cut the hole in it for the new panel. 

Lovely Conni applying special paint to some mast damage.  She's completely at home in that bosun's chair, as it's called.  She had already spent many hours in the chair to help re-install the main halyard.  The radar platform at which we both spent time is just above her.

All this mess in the foreground is unimportant, but behind it is Bora Bora.  Many people think that Bora Bora is the most beautiful island in the world.  It's also easy to see why Allied forces used the tall and unmistakable island as their main airbase:  pilots had some hope of finding and recognizing it.  This hideous thing at left is a derelict ferry that's a severe hindrance to vessels entering the slip to be lifted for yard work. 

Tall Bill standing in front of the newly painted Wings.  The color is much closer to deep red that the color of the first coat.

Bill stands in the shade as Conni photographs the propeller, showing the new pitch. 

The lovely Conni stands in front of her almost-ready-to-go sailboat.  That ladder is steep, isn't it? 

This some of the material that I removed from the bottom of the starboard fuel tank.  The tank is iron, so some of this is rust, confirmed by a magnet test.  The rest is dead bacteria that lives in the interface between fuel and water.  Those carcasses will plug a fuel filter in no time.

This is our shiny new depth finder! The grey cable is the NMEA2000 network cable that supplies two-way data and power.  We think that the installation is a good one.