Selene
Copyright© 2022 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 13
The boat was quite dusty but careful inspection revealed her to be sound. The team of women ... for that was what they were ... young but a team ... was used to cleaning boats. The storage was a World War II era decommissioned US Navy small boat base that Flintkote Industrial had purchased just after the Vietnam Conflict. It wasn’t a Marina per se ... but we did lease space to other boat owners who needed dry land storage.
I had never seen this particular boat ... the Lagoon 42 that mother had bought in Cozumel when she wanted to ‘get warm’ during the Great Texas Cold Snap. Daddy said that never had so many students fled UT for Spring Break. For Austin ... it was damned cold.
So ... we cleaned, washed, polished, checked and spiffed the ‘42 until she gleamed. Engine oil was changed, new lithium ion batteries were purchased ... by me ... and the old deep cycle batteries were scrapped.
The twin pickled Yanmar 4JH45 diesels were purged and tested. The water pump impellers were replaced. The sails were taken from controlled storage, bent to new running rigging and hoisted for a ‘look see.’ All in all, it was an enormous task but there were sufficient hands laid on the work and miracles performed. Early Sunday morning we were as ready as we could be.
Then the boat was on the launching cradle and floated off. We made a paseo around the island and didn’t sink. The morning after the celebration was no fun and we were back at school by class time. Who cleaned was easy ... sunburnt noses.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.