Guildive Cruises Blog

Hurray for nice warm days.  We cannot wait to take the cover off as these warm days have really been heating up inside the cover, BUT… we are waiting to get the skylights bedded back into their frames before Guildive can be free from the cover!  We are keeping our fingers crossed that the sealant comes in the mail this week and all that can just be taken care of very soon.  

After completing the deck project we have been turning our attention in other directions.  Zander has been focusing on some engine and shaft work and I have been doing some painting on these nice days.  We are going to be replacing the prop shaft tube, about 6 ft in length, with a new tube as the old one was cracked.  This requires boring out the old tube and placing a water tight sleeve in its place.  Zander has made some good progress in removing the old one but is off to Maine for a week for work.  I have been getting some fresh paint on the cabin tops and the overhead in the wheelhouse, so Guildive is looking better and better.  We have also been attacking the heads again by getting the new beadboard hung and further work on the new cabinets.  Our new curtains for the wheelhouse are almost done, a bit different than the yellow as these new ones will have a full window, and they are off-white.  So projects are moving along but we are feeling the time crunch as spring is upon us!

Zander and I have been keeping ourselves busy with other boat deliveries and more to come.  We had a beautiful trip from Southern Maryland on a Grand Banks, a great day for a motorboat ride – no wind!  Our days and weeks are busy busy but we still have smiles on our faces.

We survived the snow, and so did Guildive.  The last month, watching the snow melt, we have been busy both on the boat and getting some indoor projects done.  The big project we tackled the last few weeks has been getting new seams in the deck (about 60% of the deck was re-seamed).  After crawling on our hands and knees picking out seams, sanding the sides of each seam and cleaning them out our bodies are ready to be standing straight up!  Here are some shots of the deck all picked out and taped up ready for new seams….

Along with the decks we have been getting into some other projects such as some shaft work.  This year we dropped the rudder making the removal of the shaft possible.  So here is Zander working to remove the cutlass bearing and then the shaft.

During some of the really cold days we set up shop inside the house and worked on the spreaders – stripping them down to wood then getting MANY layers of varnish on each one.  We have also tied all of our shrouds to the trees and have begun to slush them with fluid film.  We are trying to make our life easier for the rig up later in the spring by doing as much to the rig now that she is down rather then going up and down the mast several times when the masts are back in!

Guildive is not the only boat that has been occupying our time in the last month, we have started to do some yacht deliveries now that the weather is turning for the better.  Our first one in February was a 50′ Beneteau on a beautiful day, a bit chilly, but a great sail nonetheless (it was a short trip across the Chesapeake Bay only a few hours).  We have more for this month, so our time will be short for Guildive but we are making the most of all hours of the day.