Ok, ok, I know it's been awhile. I won't bore you with why I am so busy as I know everyone is busy and it's no excuse. Anyway, where was I? Romance is looking better and already back in her slip. Ben Miller of BM boat works was kind enough to shoot a few pictures of the repairs as they were happening with Romance. Below you can see that we stripped off the dragon’s tail and big red heart. It just didn't really fit with us. I'll be painting the stern a nice white next time I am in Kemah. Below that is the rudder repair. There were some pretty deep cracks in the top edge so Ben sanded it down and reglassed the whole top edge. Should make her water tight and much stronger to boot. Next is the patch of the old through hulls. for some reason the previous owner had the speed and depth indicator mounted at the stern of the boat. Now I don't know much but I do know, especially after running around at Offats, that I'd rather know how deep the water is in front of me than under me. That way at least I have a shot at slowing down or stopping. Next comes the shiny new paint job. Please note my only complaint was that we didn't strictly measure the prop aperture before I shelled out 3K to PYI for that Max-prop. So, I fixed up the old proplock and we'll just have to live with a little bit of drag. But, speaking of PYI, let's talk about vendors for a minute.
Since the email exchange below I still have not heard a single word from Givens. I've also just noticed that they did not take part in Practical Sailors life raft test this year. For some reason they were just too busy to provide the raft to PS. Makes you wonder doesn't it? Maybe I should send them another reminder email that two more weeks have gone by and I still haven't been updated.
On the other hand, two huge gold stars to PYI who distributes the Max-prop and to Katadyn Water Makers. PYI has been excellent through out the past haul out. Even thought the prop didn't fit they were exceptionally customer focused and said not to worry, that they would provide a full refund and all I'll be out is the shipping. Good people over there. As for Katadyn, they purchased the company that made the PUR Power Survivor 35. They still make it in a manual form for ditch bags and the like, but no more power version. However, upon one single email they provided me with the now out of copy owner’s manual that had been produced by PUR. They even pointed me towards the part numbers for the service kit I will most likely need to get her running again. Now that's good customer service.
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