My first order of business was to get a battery into my boat. I wanted a Group 27 AGM marine deep cycle battery and found one at West Marine down on 37th Street.

The outside teak, and particularly that of the combing, was very grey and rough, so I decided to skip chemical teak cleaners and just sand it down until it shone golden yellow. I spent a good part of June 14th sanding the combing manually with a hand block and 50-grit paper to start. I later switched to a Black and Decker Mouse for finer sanding.

Here are views of the combing before:


and after the sanding:

 
I also turned my attention to the removal and replacement of the registration numbers and the name. My wife's 1800-watt hairdryer became a heat gun:


...and the old vinyl lettering came off easily. It was kind of fun, actually, like a taffy pull:


The gummy residue left behind did not go gladly into boatyard oblivion; I had to use an acetone/water solution before most of the traces were gone. Next to go were the Ohio registration stickers and numbers, replaced with the fruit of a morning spent at the Herald Square office of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles:


At this point I retired into the cabin to mumble the text of John Vigor's denaming ceremony capped by a swallow of warm beer, praying that dockmaster Steve Card, or anyone else for that matter, was out of earshot. I was now fortified to tackle the transom. Within an hour I had my boat renamed (pending the pouring of champagne by the namesake over the stem head).


I used bronze wool to smooth out the teak rail after sanding:


Finishing was done with StarBright Premium Golden Teak Oil; I mixed it in my paint pot with a splash of mineral spirits to thin it for the first application.

I started from the stem head at the starboard bow:


The wood grain came alive as it greedily absorbed the first oil it had known for, I don't know, probably years. Application was almost ridiculously easy. I laid it on unstintingly, using the narrow side of the brush to scrub it into the deeper crevasses, anticipating with the tack cloth a few centimeters ahead. With the color change, the boat seemed to change character; she gained gravitas, a kind of maritime seriousness. I talked to her under my breath the entire time to keep her relaxed and happy: You look fabulous, baby, oh yeah. Uh-huh. Lookin' good. I finished the second coat at 6:45; oiling had taken about two and a half hours. I smelled like a cabinetmaker.




I had bought a new Nissan 4-stroke 6hp engine. To make it possible to close the lazarette hatch with the motor tiller folded back, I reduced the height of the center portion of the mounting board to 3 and 5/8 inches with a lethal-looking half-bastard file, sanded, and reinstalled: