Greetings Paddlers
With the warmer weather about to arrive ( I think), we are just 2 months away from the launching of the Susanna Foo for another season of fun and paddling. Now is the time that we start getting the Foo ready. If you can remember from last year, the interior white paint on the floor was starting to flake off and de-laminate. Also the varnish on the gunwales, particularly on the sunny side at the dock received ultra violet light damage. These are the 2 major issues and there may be other minor stuff to do. The preparation work for painting and varnishing has to be carefully done and based on experience from last year, one gets tired after 1 to 2 hours so the need to have shifts of teams will allow the work to progress without too much burden on a few. You also get an opportunity to socialize as you work and get to know your fellow paddlers better.
At our Open House last February, we had a sign-up sheet for those members who were willing to assist in cleaning, sanding, painting and varnishing. Not all of you attended the Open House so this notice gives you an opportunity to sign up and help. During April and May, some of you may have travel plans and would be available on a reduced time frame. That’s fine. For those who would like to help including those who signed up in February please respond to the email in your inbox indicating your willingness to help and if you are away for part of the time, please indicate the dates.
Next week Scotty and Phil will examine the Foo to determine the magnitudes of the tasks and to see how it came through winter storage. We will also look at the list of volunteers and develop work teams. In reality only 4 or so can work at one time.
I envision that we will have no exact work schedules as essentially we will have to take advantage of good weather when we get it. We don’t have any exact procedures at this time. We may have teams come sequentially or maybe 2 teams at a time. With the latter, one can use a power sander for 10 minutes or so and then pass it on to someone else for a similar shift. The gunwales are relatively easy but the floor will be awkward. We will find out the best procedure when we start.
Paddles up!