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The Fishfinder |
| The
Fishfinder "locates" the "boat"... |
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The Shields emblem marks the "Spot" |
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There's a Shields down there...!? |
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Dry run on #49. Need to get there... |
| Easier said
than done we'd soon learn... |
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HL and Lada... |
| Lada turns
to H.L...."So you've never dove in Long Island
Sound?..." |
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Scuba-Diver-Daddy |
| Tell my
wife I love her!!!.... |
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The final day... |
| A month and
a half of work...now will it come up? |
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Hooking on... |
| Easier said
than done! |
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Still trying to hook on... |
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Rougher than it looks... |
| A "little"
chop is a lot on a small whaler by a square steel
barge... |
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She's Up!!! Wow! |
| Barely
awash...will she float?...is she damaged? |
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She's up, I'm aboard! |
| Incredible!
Exhilirating! |
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Happily shoveling... |
| The mud was
above the top of the seats!! |
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A moment for a proud and happy wave... |
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Shoveling, shoveling and shoveling... |
| Have to
lighten her to float. |
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Bill's aboard! |
| Bill finds
the Ensign for us to proudly display on the tow in... |
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Two proud guys. |
| Nothing is
impossible. |
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| Enough
Pride... |
| Back to
work! |
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Progress. |
| She's
floating... maybe... |
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She floats! |
| The armada
heads into Mamaroneck. |
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The tow in... |
| Still
cleaning out mud and fish bones. And, the new chute is
suddenly discovered encased in the mud! |
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We arrive. |
| McMichael's
Rushmore Yard hauled and stored the boat for the Winter
of '02-'03 |
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Celebration. |
| A
celebratory Budweiser and a moment to relax waiting for
the crane. |
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The Ensign. |
| Encased in
mud and still furled on the varnished mahogany staff,
the Ensign survived nicely. Kindergarten enjoyed the
"Show and Tell" from Katie DeVore... |
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She's in the slings! |
| Incredible!
Indescribable...we found this! We've got her! Wow! |
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Flushing... |
| Need I say
more? |
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She's not the prettiest... |
| She may not
be the prettiest girl at the dance, but it's "Love at
first sight"...!!! |
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"Mermaid" goes indoors. |
| "Mermaid"
was transported to McMichael's Post Road boatyard and
rolled indoors in May 2003. |
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3 years on the bottom... |
| ...now pampered indoors. |
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Not bad... |
| From 50
feet away she doesn't look too bad...but it's all got to
come off... |
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Closeup of the Blue Awl-Grip. |
| She'd been
powerwashed and gone over with a putty knife at this
point. |
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The deck. |
| Parts have
begun to be removed. |
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Harken Lifetime Warranty? |
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Corrosion. |
| The
corrosion around dissimilar metals was intense.
Stainless vs. Aluminum. Aluminum loses! |
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Worm holes! |
| The worms
had a feast on the teak. |
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Control lines fine. |
| The control
lines are fine. Yale light. Wow... |
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Bulkhead crack. |
| The forward
bulkhead crack...water pressure? Likely. |
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Interlux Interstrip |
| To strip
the bottom, we used Interlux Interstrip, a
fiberglass-safe paint stripper. Paint it on thick, let
it sit 10-15 minutes. Putty Knife the paint off...press
firmly! |
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After Insterstrip, before Acetone... |
| After putty
knifing we wiped with an acetone soaked rag...this
pictures is before the acetone wipe off. Needed to do
right after Interstrip while paint was still soft. |
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Acetone. The Universal Solvent! |
| Acetone is
a great solvent for use almost anywhere. But be careful,
it softens almost any paint... Rumor is it softens
the new Awl-Grip2000 ...better to stick with old
Awl-Grip if true.? |
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After Acetone rub down. |
| Bare
gelcoat! If every bottom stripping could be so easy.
#231 had very little paint on her... |
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Starboard side "done"... |
| "Done" is
always a relative term when working on a boat... |
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Topsides progress! |
| 2 guys, 2
full days...lots of 40 grit...much progress... |
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Topsides view. |
| A view of
the starboard topsides progress... |
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Port side aft. |
| The boat
had been Awl-Gripped twice in it's history, once white,
once blue... |
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"Clean deck" |
| Most of the
hardware removed...toe rail removed...getting there... |
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Hull Deck Joint. |
| The hull
deck joints are typically rough and hidden with the
white vinyl rail. Here it is exposed. |
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Splits fixed... |
| The debate
is still going on...Was it water pressure on the bottom
or the hauling out process? |
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Awl-gripped by McMichael's... |
| Thanks
guys!!! Can't do that with a brush or a roller!!! |
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Yeah sure... |
| ...that's
what she looked like, we just pulled her up (-; |
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She went down... |
| Blue white
and red...She came up, Red, White and Blue! |
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| The INCREDIBLE
Deck Paint job!!! |
| Speechless...the
deck fairing and paint job is breathtaking. |
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| The deck. |
| Awl-Grip color is
Eggshell White. |
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| The deck. |
| Can't admire this
enough...Who's ever going to believe this thing sat on
the bottom for a day let alone 3 years!!! |
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| Toe Rails
Begun! |
| Note the
re-chromed bow chock! |
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| The Toe Rails |
| Most of the work
on the toe rails was the fussing and joint fabricating
and the bung cutting and removal... |
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| Beautiful
Lines... |
| Bow-on Shields
are stunning...with fresh paint and a newly chromed bow
chock "Mermaid" shows her stuff... |
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| Bow chock
close up |
| More than a year
ago, 60 feet down, I gripped the bow chock in both hands
and knew for certain that we had found the Shields... |
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| Toe Rails Done |
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Crazy-proud-scuba-diver-daddy-owner finally does some
work!! |
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| Coamings Begun |
| Howie had precut
the coamings at his house...so he hit the ground running
and finished the cockpit coaming by day's end. |
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| Two days
work... |
| Two long days of
work wrapping up. The cover must go on and the
boat must go outside! |
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| Last Glimpse
Before Spring... |
| A lot of
carpentry was accomplished in two days, but there's
still an enormous amount of work to do come Spring! |
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She's done! |
She gets her
first win! |
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Mermaid, Shields #231, salvaged from
Long Island Sound after 3 years on the bottom will grace
Larchmont Harbor for many years to
come...look to the West by Schaeffer's Point.
If she's not there on the mooring,
she's out sailing... |
