Astraea made it safe and sound to Knight and Carver Yacht Center after her cross country trip. Well, mostly safe and sound. There was a bit of damage to the bottom of the keel, but nothing a few hours in the yard can’t fix.

I met Sal, the carpenter, and I know Astraea’s mast is in good hands. He’s been in the boat carpentry business for 30 years. In no time he had all the wet, rotten wood cut away. Tonight he’ll leave a lamp on the exposed area to dry out any residual moisture. The next step will be gluing in new wood. The final part for strengthening the new wood is penetrating the wood with epoxy. This will strengthen the mast far more than wood and glue alone. It will also prevent any future rot.

We put up the lifelines and reconnected the anchor. The windlass works great going up. I just don’t know how to let it go down yet. Inside the cabin we began removing the damaged veneer by the windows. It comes off easily with a putty knife. We should have all the veneer removed in a day or two. Then we can remove the headliner. After the headliner is out we’ll smooth out the area around the windows with putty. I can also begin removing and rebidding the windows.

Checklist for getting Astraea ready to live aboard:

• Prepare and ship to San Diego
• Unload in San Diego
• Put up the lifelines
• Remove damaged veneer
• Remove headliner
• Remove and rebed portlights
• Clean
• Launch and tie up at Pier 32