Oh my gosh! This blog is a lot of work when I am just “a little busy” getting the ship ready for the season!! Here are a few snap shots of the last minute preparations.

Here the deck chairs get oiled on a fine spring day.

The final step in the spring painting season is when we do the decks. This year we redid the non-skid coating which entails two coats. One on which we sprinkle crushed walnut shell and two days later a second coat to seal the walnut shell in. We mask off the edges of the non-skid areas to make the decks a bit “dressier”. Here Farlyn is taping in preparation for the walnut shell layer.

Farlyn applies the finish and I clamber about sprinkling walnut shell on . . .

and the tape comes off . . .

The decks are done! I will kill anyone who spills anything on the decks now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve catches a few “black details” we forgot . . .

I made a new teak bracket for the aft running light . . . .

Steve polishes the stainless steel anchor guard plate.

Working for my dad is soooo much fun . . . .  it’s like going to the dentist and getting asked too many questions. How do you chat while you work with a respirator on?

How did we miss these bits? Farlyn carefully stains without dripping on the decks.

Luke caaaarrreeefffuulllyyyyyy hand sands the salon table and varnishes it twice and then over two days polishes it to a silky, sensuously smooth finish.

He is getting really good at this.

Then we book a “crew training day” to review safety drills and practice firefighting and abandon ship procedures. Here the portable firepump and the ship’s built-in fire pumps are in action.

Luke and Tavish, our two other skippers practice with the emergency steering tiller.

I am the patient as we practice getting a stretcher on and off the mothership.

Don’t drop me! I am your boss, right. Kids! Now, hey, no fooling around. KIDS!! Really!

And there are the inspections required by Transport Canada. Here the fire extinguishing and fire suppression systems are checked by a certified inspector.

And the propane system is inspected . . .

and the radio systems are inspected by a very thoughtful Canadian Coast Guard Radio Inspector . . .

And Terry, who has worked on Gardner engines in England his whole life tweaks our engine and gives his stamp of approval for the up coming season.

and a HUGE component of the preparations is taken on by Fern. She experiments with new recipes and finally decides on the menus for all the various tours: 3 night, 5 night, 6 night, 9 night, and then creates a master shopping list and orders from large wholesalers. The orders arrive in Campbell River timed to match our 3 days of inspections. Somehow we find room for many hundreds of pounds of stores in the nooks and crannies of the Columbia III.