Almost time to pull the boat for maintenance

Thanks to Ron & Sonja aboard Conch Clipper for getting this photo of us with the brand new main sail in all its glory. Dirk and I decided a couple weekends ago to take off for a sail. The winds were suppose to be great for sailing. So off we went into the bay, winds between 10 to 20 knots. Beautiful day and great sailing. I usually take the wheel as Dirk drops and rolls in the sails. As we approach the fuel dock I suggest we pull in for a pump out. Any chance we get is a good chance to take. I tell Dirk to take over so I can do my usual getting the lines and bumpers ready drill. Dirk told me to stay on the wheel, that I would do fine. Semi panic took over as I know I have to learn to dock the boat but I wanted notice. Not 2 sec notice. Time to put on my big girl pants and get the job done. Much to my surprise the first attempt and she was docked. Whew! what a relief. Pump out is done and we start to take off. The wind is coming from out starboard side no biggie as it pushed me away from the dock. Yes, Dirk had me pull away from the dock also. But much to my surprise Dirk had big lessons in my agenda today. He wanted me to pull the boat into the slip. What ever happened to learning by taking baby steps. Boy, husbands can be sneaky...This time a much larger panic button was set off. Huh? Me? Our slip is more then mid way down and just going down the way with huge (to me) boats on either side was scary. I hoped no one would be watching as I'm sure my eyes had to look like they were the size of dinner plates. Thank God the wind and current were working in my favor. At least that's what Dirk told me. I kept thinking how am I gonna get this boat between those two concrete pilings without doing damage to us or someone else's boat. I managed to get the nose in but started to drift slightly to port, Dirk kept saying to give it gas. I figure more gas, more speed. Forward speed does not equal a very nice docking in my brain. But I listened to Dirk and gave her more gas. Dirk put the port side bumper out and I basically pivoted around the pillar and pushed forward, Dirk fending off the pillar. Not a perfect docking, but for my first attempt not to bad. I was actually stoked. Although I am not looking forward to doing that again any time soon. So here it is almost October already. We have started making plans for the boat to be pulled so that we can do a few items of maintenance. We need to have a new bottom job done and the thru hull for the overboard waste dump is stuck. Now is a good time to replace it as when we start to travel we will need it. Dirk will take this time to perhaps have the keel joint looked at and also see if the rudder is holding water. When we first had it surveyed I believe there may have been a question about that. We also want to take this time to finally try to de-oxidize the hull and give her a good clean and wax. We actually had someone stop by our boat and ask if it was hard to keep our aluminum boat clean. So yeah, the girl needs her battleship gray hull given some major TLC. Anyone having any suggestions on what to use please let me know. In the coming weeks hopefully I will have some new pics of new projects being done. Please keep checking back and I just want to say thank you to the people that keep checking back and following our blog. Hang in there, it will get more interesting, I promise. Also if you would like to leave a comment please feel free to. I love getting comments.