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| Working the Wood |
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| All the teak is getting multiple coats of Interlux Schooner varnish. We like this varnish's golden hue. Mike was in luck in that, while most of the exterior wood required heavy sanding to get down to good wood, he didn't have anyone else's neglected varnish work to remove. To avoid having to strip the wood bare in the future, we intend to stay on top of annual refresher coats. Sweet Samantha's permanent home in a covered slip will help keep the damaging sunshine off the varnish. |
| Easy Access |
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| One thing Mike definately likes about this boat is the easy access to the instrument panels. Here is a peak behind the upper instrument panel, obtained by removing a roof panel inside the cabin. In this shot, the new panel and gauges are in place, but Mike hasn't yet started the wiring job. |
| A Roadworthy Rig |
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| We're towing Sweet Samantha on a tandom axle trailer pulled by a Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicle. The Jeep has plenty of towing capacity to pull this boat-trailer combination, and the four-wheel drive will come in handy at the launch ramp. Since we will be keeping the boat in a wet slip on Dog River, we'll be towing only when the boat needs to be hauled for maintenance and upgrades, when we want to go far afield and when we're running from a hurricane. |
| What's in the Big Box? |
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| We came home one Friday evening to find FedEx had left this box on our front porch. "What is that?" Cheryl asked. Mike already knew: It was the used Boston Whaler stern seat he had purchased from a fellow Whaler enthusiast (Thanks, Andy!). The seat was shipped from California to Alabama, and it arrived safe and sound. Mike was on a schedule to launch the boat, so he cleaned up and installed the seat that very night. It was in place by midnight. Think that's late? He finished installing the Mills Flytop canvas set a little while later, at about 3 a.m. |
| Ready to Go to the River |
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| Here we are about 2 p.m. the following day. Well, the same day, really, since the canvas wasn't completely installed until 3 a.m. The boat isn't finished -- still need electronics upgrades, the radar arch, auxiliary motor, cabin restoration and lots of gel coat fixes -- but it's ready for use. Sweet Samantha's first season as a member of the Brantley family has begun. The big day was on Saturday, March 19, 2005. By the way, we plan to purchase everything needed to for the complete Mills Canvas weather curtain set. We chose a dark blue color for the canvas as opposed to the ever-popular Pacific Blue. |
| At the Ramp |
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| Here's Sweet Samantha at the launch ramps at Mobile's Navco Park on Dog River. These launching facilities are good, and they got better at some point recently. The week before, in Mike's first (and solo) outing of the year in Sweet Cheryl, our 1982 15 Sport, he noticed the parking lot had been paved. We mentioned above that most of the exterior varnish work would be shielded from the sun in our covered slip. That's probably not true of the bow pulpit Mike built. Oh, well. We need to get an anchor to put on there. LHG of Whale Lure fame will surely appreciate the varnished teak flag pole at the stern. |
| Samantha's Boat |
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| "My boat!" says the enthusiastic young boater for whom Sweet Samantha is named. Her lifejacket is a Mustang PFD intended for young children between 20 and 30 pounds. See that duct tape patch on the dash? That's temporarily covering a hole where a previous owner had installed a fishfinder. The combination anchor/navigation light mounted to the windshield is factory original, but it will be removed when a new light is installed on the still-mythical radar arch. |
| The Sofa in Back |
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| Besides providing plenty more seating, the stern seat also creates a "back" to the open-transom boat. Now it's much less disconcerting looking aft while under way. Sam is really into the bottle of juice, isn't she? We plan to install something underneath the seat in the rear to prevent her from crawling under and out of the boat. That line hanging down is her leash, which is held by the skipper or Cheryl when one or the other doesn't actually have their hands on the boat's most precious cargo. |
| Skipper Looks Back |
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| Mike looks back at the view in the previous photograph. The Todd ladderback seats are very comfortable, but the narrow helm of the early 1980s Revenge leaves no room for the chairs to swivel fully. And did we mention we had to lose the armrests? |
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Contents (c) 2005 Mike Brantley This page was created on Sunday, March 20, 2005. 
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