Poking and prodding

Meet Carolyn Ann.  She's sixteen feet across (beam), 37 feet long and drafts just 3 feet (the part of the hull that's underwater). 

After Walter (the mechanic) and Rob (the Marine Surveyor) had poked and prodded her insides, it was time to haul her out so they could do the same to her outsides.  

Walter spent a few minutes in her engine room, came out and told Jerry, "I have two words for you: I'm impressed".  He spent the rest of the day in the engine room trying to find something that needed to be fixed and found a couple of easy to correct issues.

Samples have been sent to the lab and Walter and Rob are working on their reports and so far everything looks, well, ship shape.  We hope to have all the final reports by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

While she was hauled out, the owner, Joe, cleaned a few barnacles from her propellers and replaced some zincs.  

Zincs attract stray electrical currents in water and sacrifice themselves so that the metals that make up important parts like the propellers, rudders and bow thrusters don't get eaten up.  Sort of like trap crops planted next to a garden to draw the bad bugs away from the crops.  

Punk (Kathy) and Joe, Carolyn Ann's owners, invited us to stay with them in their New Bern home for a few nights while the Inspection and Survey were taking place.  After two wonderful days and nights with them, we've relocated to Captain's Stay B and B to wait for the survey and lab reports.

While we were with Punk and Joe, we learned that Carolyn Ann's "birthday" is August 6th.  That's the same day we left our home empty with our truck jammed full of every earthly possession we didn't give away or sell.  

They oversaw her construction in Gainesville, FL in 2007, maintained her with extreme diligence and lived aboard her for about 10 years.  They took her around the Great Loop 3 times, up and down America's great rivers and into Canada. 

It's easy to see that it's difficult for Joe and Punk to let her go, and we're so grateful they dragged their feet when it was time to sell her.  Had they not delayed, we wouldn't have been ready to buy her.  

Provided there are no fatal flaws in the reports and lab samples, we'll have big shoes to fill as the second owners of a well-loved trawler. We'll keep her birthday the same and rename her Tanuki with a home port in St. Augustine, FL.