The piper must be paid

Lest you think my sailing adventure was all fun and games, here are some photos to show just a fraction of the work that's involved with going sailing. I was contemplating a day of leisure with a few household chores thrown in, when I got a call from Captain Tim. It was the last day he had before having surgery on his shoulder to get the sloop, Morrigan cleaned and stored for the winter. He told me it would be wet, messy, and with lots of heavy lifting. He wasn't kidding. First he backed the sloop into the storage barn with his fork lift so that the mast could be tied to the ceiling and then pulled it out so that the fun could begin. The hull from the waterline down was covered with a thick green film of scum. The top picture was taken after one hand wash and a pressure wash. Obviously it wasn't clean yet. Tim wanted to find the best cleaning agent so we tried various things; liquid Spic and Span, Dawn dish detergent through the pressure washer, vinegar and salt, bleach, and CLR which was used to show the difference between the way we wanted it and the way it was. We didn't have enough CLR to do the entire boat, besides the chemical isn't supposed to come in contact with your skin. So, we kept searching for the perfect cleaning compound and the winner was Bar Keeper's Friend! After two hand washings and several pressure washings, the result was a shiny shiny sloop!