Another kind of love

It's Valentine's Day. I've lived with my husband half my life and I love him more. It is not a holiday for either of us, for he left the house this morning and I probably won't see him for a week or more. Our Richard & Arnold will be getting his attention this week. With weather above 40 degrees, the work of rolling resin can be done with less effort. Try lifting your arms up and down for hours at a time, running up and down ladders, working with a resin that will harden like a rock when it dries. The cloth will come soon.  The hull is well worth saving. Wooden boats can only last so long. There are borer worms that can eat through the hull, especially in warmer waters. Ducks can pull the caulking out of the seams when they are trying to get to the growth on the bottom, the barnacles and snails. Sometimes electrolysis can eat out the metal in  nails or screws causing a plank to come loose. We are saving our little ship, giving her our best efforts, a twenty first century make over. Dave and I share a special bond this Valentines Day, we love each other and our 80 year old boat. We'd like to see her with sails, we're thinking motor-sail. We hope she will be able to continue to fish until she's over 100.  Dave and I are hoping to live aboard this summer, planning a longer passage for next year, now that the Richard & Arnold is not a leaky old boat, just an old boat. We love her and you all, Happy Valentine's Day.