Jule III has been resting at Bennett Brothers Yachts (BBY)
for nearly 5 months. During her sabbatical, she has had a face-lift,
significant drive train reconstruction, rigging work, some wood
varnishing, and the addition of several new safety systems. She and her
crew miss the southbound voyage but we are planning for the up-coming
season's passages.
The masts came down in anticipation for a trip to
the paint shop. One of the very few disadvantages of a ketch is that
one has to pay for two unsteppings (and two steppings). We got the
rigging inspected/repaired, masts cleaned, booms reconditioned and
powder coated. She entered the paint shop in late 2014.
During her topside painting, a couple of coats of primer
were applied after much sanding. She looks like a bullet or a
submarine. Glad we are painting her white. Joe noted that the last
boot stripe job had a 3" sag in the middle. He used laser technology to
ensure that it would be straight this time. While in the paint shop,
Jule received the final coats of topside white and the exterior wood was
treated with a Awlwood. She is pretty.
Jule was put back together and 'splashed' for her
sea trials and for her temporary berth in February 2015. All vibration
and 'extra' noises were gone. She sounded and looked great. Today she
was moved from her slip to a T-head where she will leave for her 22.6
mile passage to Deep Point marina in Southport. These 5 months have gone
by really fast.
Today Jule III was underway for the first time in 5
months. We were fortunate to have Jim and Karen (of SV Wanderer II) as
guests as we made a passage of 22.6 nm to Southport NC. We arrived at
Deep Point Marina at 1400 without incident (i.e., we didn't hit
anything). Doug (Harbor Master) helped us tie up to our berth at B9.
We will continue to work and provision Jule III for the real start of
our voyage.
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