Vic Smith wrote:

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:13:08 -0800 (PST), Skip Gundlach
wrote:


Meanwhile, as above to all those so inclined, I'm diving again today
and expect the mud and slime will brush right off. Oh. Yes, the
hull, too :{)) - except for the bottom of the keel, already polished
from our bumping a few times on the way back from our holding tank
pumping and fuel tank filling yesterday as the tide was nearly out.

For whatever strange reasons the mind has, the above was evocative
of your progress since the St. Pete prep days on the hard. Sweating
of full of doubts.
That seems like yesterday, and here you are today, casually and
confidently diving to inspect your vessel.
Good God man, you have changed!
As an aside, I wonder how many here do frequent inspections of the
hull. I suspect most don't see it except at haul outs.

I've done it several times, but not often in the Chesapeake because
most places I couldn't see anything.. Once in the fall when the
water in the river was pretty clear and it wasn't too cold and it was
sunny, we went and anchored over a sand bottom (reflects light) and I
went down and scraped the barnacles off the prop, and I've also been
down at in Indian Creek (Virginia) to see why the depth sounder wasn't
working (turned out to be a combination of barnacles and a bad
connection inside the boat). Come to think of it I've also gone down
briefly in other rivers or coves - but not in the Bay itself.

And I've been in the water with a snorkel at Sombrero Key, Key West
and the Dry Tortugas in order to see how the bottom, prop and zincs
were faring.

And of course sometimes I've gone down to see what the anchor was
doing.

Bob has scrubbed stuff off the waterline from the dinghy sometimes.