My, what a heady title! Yes, that is a prime example of dramatic foreshadowing if I ever saw one. Now that I have you sitting on the edge of your seats, I will tell you this is something that happens every spring to Delos and a lot of us Northern Hemisphere boaters. Diane and I were over at the Marina last week, and as we walked Ramses round the grounds we saw all the boats on their cradles. Some had had their covers ripped by the high winds we have had this winter, exposing their wooden or PVC frames; others had faired better with their cover intact. This scene got me to thinking about the "lifecycle" of our boats and hence, the "metamorphosis" tagline.

First, let me give you a little background. Diane is of Greek extraction; her grandfather came from Greece. Greeks have always held butterflies to have a special meaning. In fact, the word for butterfly in Greek is "psyche", which translates into "soul". Butterflies belong to the class Lepidoptera. Don´t ask me why but I do remember that from Sophomore Biology class. Their life cycle is egg, caterpillar or larvae, chrysalis and butterfly. As Diane and I took the chrysalis, the cover, off Delos we were left not with a butterfly, but with a larvae. What was this backward evolution? No, just the facts of boating life. Eventually Delos will be a butterfly, but for now, the work has just begun. Outside, Delos will get a good scrubbing from top to bottom, then two good coats of wax. No new bottom paint this year, as she had a very good application last spring. An inspection did show the need for new zinc, a job easy enough for me to handle. All the through hulls were greased with Lanocote just like Warren of the North told us to do. While doing this, I noticed a far amount of build-up of debris in the through hulls. I made a quick cleaning job of this with a handy narrow brush. This should increase the flow of water into the air-conditioning and engine in-takes. I had never thought of cleaning those before; now I will add that to my to-do list. Inside, there will be lots to do also. First, a thorough flushing and cleaning of the water system. Then a complete wipe down with diluted bleach of all the hard surfaces. Well, you get the picture. Everyone has their own system for getting their boat ready for the season, but until you slide out of your slip and raise the sails we are all still larvae. Let´s plan on getting ready safely and with safety in mind for our crew and ourselves. Let´s make those boats like Butterflies.

Back to Tosp