Well, today was our much-anticipated date with Driscoll's Boatyard to haul Meridian out of the water and apply new anti-fouling paint to the hull. These paints are not your average Glidden or Sherman Williams-type of paints...they are formulated with all kinds of nasties, including large amounts of copper, that marine organisms find repulsive. The goal, of course, is to keep the under-side of your boat from looking like some aquarium-gone-bad science experiment. At $250 per gallon, its not only marine life that finds this paint difficult to live with.

Anyway, the yard guys did a super job of positioning the slings (large straps) under our hull, and gently lifting Meridian out of the water. As they were driving forward to where the painting would take place, and with the boat swinging just inches above the ground, I asked the driver of the travel lift if the slings had a scale. Yep, they did...let's see now...42, no, wait 44, ok make that 45. As in thousand. Pounds. 45 thousand pounds. 22.5 tons. Or, to put it in context, 7,000 pounds more than the boat weighed when new (and empty). Yeah, we've loaded up with 7,000 lbs of crap. That's a lot of crap.

Back to bottom paints...only in a marina can you have the following conversation without decking somebody: "How's your bottom?" "Oh, not bad I guess. It's probably getting a little dirty by now, though. Maybe I should have it looked at." "Well, Joe down at the marina just cleaned mine, and he did a swell job." "Gee, do you think Joe would mind looking at my bottom too?" Definitely not your normal water-cooler banter.