HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

As Christmas approaches, Karyn and I are enjoying the season in Fort Lauderdale for the first time in several years. This is the only warm area of the US and it is difficult to get into a festive winter holiday mood while wearing shorts and t-shirts. The year has been stressful and taking on the stress of the Holidays appears daunting. It seems we are still continuing to recover from the middle part of the year. Jack, my father, at 91 succumbed in May to the cancer he had been fighting for eight years. He was very alert mentally until the end and remained an inspiration to us all. We saw him off in the best manner we could muster. He approved.
In mid-June, Karyn and I set off for Turkey to re-launch the boat and had planned to sail a portion of the Aegean Sea. Threshold had been stored ashore for eight months. An immobile vessel, like a stationary man, deteriorates rapidly. Several mechanical problems were delaying our departure. It was now July, so rather than cruise a shortened season, we decided to go ahead with a planned much-needed paint job on Threshold, committing to having it done during the summer rather than the fall. We engaged a contractor at the D-Marin Didim Marina to do the work as this was their slow season. As the boat was literally torn apart (mast out, hatches off, all deck hardware off, interior emptied) we rented an apartment in town and labored, along with the workers in the yard, 6 long days a week. Our jobs were to clean, inspect and service all our equipment, repair paint dings in the mast, and design our new stainless bimini frame to incorporate solar panels. We also redesigned the antenna pole and modified the transom locker by having its opening hatch re-welded. This was all going along smoothly for about two weeks until we realized that they did not know how to properly paint an aluminum boat! They were totally overlooking the most critical part in the prep- the timely application of the anti-corrosive primer onto the areas of bare aluminum. After several frantic discussions with the Awpgrip reps in the US and in Istanbul, we called a halt to the project until either an experienced aluminum boat painter could be found or else have the Awlgrip rep come down and instruct the team about the proper procedures. This all happened just before their end-of-Ramadan holiday week so work was delayed for quite a bit.
After they were able to get an experienced painter, the Awlgrip rep did come down to supervise the initial prep and the boat turned out beautifully with the same Stars and Stripes blue on the hull and Matterhorn White on the deck. The initially contracted job of 2 months turned out to be 4 1/2 months with us being there every step of the way to make sure things were done right the first time. This was not the summer of land touring that we had hoped for, with the exception of a brief visit to Ephesus.
There are still some outstanding projects that need completion, such as the replacement of 8 out of 12 Lewmar hatches that were seriously distorted when they were removed. The leaking ones have been temporarily replaced while new ones are on order. The boat's interior has been "waterproofed" for their winter rainy season. We hope to return to Turkey by early April to "settle up and ship out". We hope our only problem then will be "who is going to polish all that blindingly shiny stainless steel bling!"

Some photos have been added in the "Gallery"
An online version of the Yachting article is @ http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/cruising-chartering/adventures/2013/07/on-the-threshold-of-the-world