Marking the waterline

I have been thinking of bottom painting Xiao Feng for next season and when I pulled her out of the water yesterday I got an idea of how to mark the waterline easily. She has been in the water for just over a month so the unloaded waterline is already clearly marked on her hull, I just added a few marks along that line before cleaning her. When it is time for painting I just need to put the masking tape an inch or so above the marks (maybe a little more in the bow).

Marks

Cleaning of bottom started

Sailing (?) with crew

Took Grandma (aka my Mother) out for a sail today, so finally I had a crew that could handle the camera. Unfortunately the wind died after almost two hours of sailing, so I had to man the oars to get us home. The Walkabout is an excellent row boat so I could comfortably keep Xiao Feng at 2.5-3 knots the whole hour it took us to get back, with a little extra effort she climed up to 3.5 knots. For longer distances I think 2-2.5 knots would let you keep going for hours on end.

All in all a very nice day on the water.

Sailing out

Our destination

Wind is dying out

Grumpy at the oars

Back on the trailer