A Brief Recap - Part Two

The little yard in New Jersey where Kerry Deare is kept came under new management a few years back. Visiting this yard is a step back in time. There is a small skilled crew who work at restoring and maintaining wooden boats of various vintages and sizes. The yard also does routine maintenance and storage on GRP boats owned by a few "holdovers" from an earlier era. The atmosphere is businesslike, low key, and relaxed.

I asked the yard to clean up the boat to the point where she would float while I did a thorough refit. This meant they had fun cleaning the topsides, painting the bottom, repairing a few plumbing items, cleaning the exterior teak, etc. These are chores I have always done myself but paying the yard bill was just the ticket to get motivated. Once she was back in the water, "The List" was developed and it eventually grew to 15 single-spaced pages the following May. As often happens, the level of effort and expense was well out of proportion to the net asset value of the boat. My justification was that Kerry Deare had been "without" for so long that she needed all the care and reassurance I could provide. And provide I did.

She came out of the water in late November with much accomplished and much more to do before going offshore the following Spring.