[This is the third try at sending this - it actually comes before the three photos and the "grime and slime" post. Blogger's failing to post, grr. That's why things seem a bit out of order!]

currently in:  Glades Boat Storage yard, Moore Haven, FL

The last week passed in a bit of a blur. Britt had become quite sick to his stomach - we thought from something he ate - and after a day of rest, we did a cursory stab at sightseeing New Orleans and then drove on to Mobile, where we stayed with friends. As it turned out whatever Britt had was contagious and I came down with it a few days later just as he started feeling better - I hope our friends didn't get it! I'm still feeling rather yucky.

I was hoping that finally coming into the boatyard again, after so long, and seeing Windom again would lift my spirits. Instead, the first thing we heard when we entered the yard was, "By the way, we've had a few break-ins lately, and your boat was broken into last night."

We climbed the ladder with trepidation. The companionway hatch was still locked - the only way to break in there would have been to totally bust the wooden frame - but the big central hatch (like a window, only horizontal) lay wide open, and it was clear its latches had been twisted off and broken. We'd heard that the burglars were thought to be local "kids" who ignored expensive boat electronics and went instead for stereos and booze. And indeed, although the radar, gps, and vhf and ssb radios were still in their places, the car stereo was ripped out of the wall where we'd installed it, the CD changer was gone, and one of our interior speakers was heavily damaged (probably someone tried to remove it and couldn't). Unfortunately, the burglars didn't find the 3/4 full bottle of rotgut vodka we keep for killing fish - a few good slugs of that and they'd have had their come-uppance, you can bet!

The police are coming tomorrow to take a report we can use for filing with our insurance, but I'm not sure it's really going to be worth it - the total cost of what was taken or wrecked was probably about $750, but I doubt they'd pay full replacement value on 4-year-old electronics, so it might not even top the $250 deductible. And I suspect the damage to the hatch falls under hull deductible, which is a lot more. We'll see. Grr.

Other than that, the boat is a complete and utter mess. Part of that is because we left all the storage compartments open and the cushions awry, hoping the air circulation would prevent mildew. But part of that is due to an infestation of hornets, who built a nest under the dinghy and found their way into the boat, where they were killed by the various formaldehyde and other chemical packets we had around the boat as preservatives. So there are dead hornets everywhere, and dead other icky bugs as well. We had an aluminum pan of charcoal in the center of the floor (another sort of preservative), which is where the burglars jumped down onto when they came in through the sunroof, so there are bits of charcoal everywhere. And more ominously, there are little piles of sawdust in various places, suggesting we might have an infestation of boring insects - at leats the hull's fiberglass!

The exterior isn't much better. Windom looks abandoned, poor thing. The deck's horribly dirty, and dirt has streaked the hull where rainwater's run off. The lines are all stiff, and the bird's nest in that one coil has disintegrated to a mess of grass and sticks and dirt. Under the peeling tape, the teak looks like a lost cause, but I imagine some nasty chemicals ought to bring it back from grey to golden again; this year, Britt wants to try oiling the exterior teak rather than painting it with Cetol (which is ugly) or polyurethane (which doesn't last).

It all sounds depressing, and I admit I was a little depressed at first. But as we started making our list of what we need to do to get Windom cleaned up and ready to go in the water, we both found ourselves getting excited. It's not exactly going to be fun, but our progress will be obvious, and it will be wonderful to have a clean and trim boat again.