Friends of the Fort Point Channel open boating docks for the season

Friends of the Fort Point Channel open boating docks for the season
Summer is approaching fast!

New Boat Prep Begins: Bottom Prep and Painting

Yesterday we received our second and final load of boats, and now the prep work begins! First step? Bottom Paint. You would think its as easy and painting anything. Sand, then paint. Wrong. The simple task of painting become quite the process involving several prep steps before you can even sand the bottom. Step One: Find the water line In order to do this each boat must be placed in the water and floated free. Using a skiff we dusted the water with black chalk, as the chalk hits the side of the boat it sticks to the dry surfaces and washes away were the water hits leaving a nice line. The boat is then hauled out. Now that we have reference points around the hull we must tape off where the line will have a nice straight line. This process involves a good eye and steady hand to mark out a straight line around edges, chines and curves of the boat. Always make sure to have plenty of extra tape and plenty of patience for this! Step Two: Proper Bottom Prep Now that we have a straight and proper water line, we must prep it for paint. When boats are manufactured they are made in a mold. The gelcoat contains waxes and the mold contains release agents that let the gel coat "release" from the mold. These are transferred to the surface of the bottom and must be removed. First we start with some soap and water and a scotch brite pad. Using a little elbow grease the bottom is washed thoroughly using plenty of water. This washes off other contaminants such as road salt and dirt. Now using a wax remover we soak a rag and wipe it on a 2' x 2' area rubbing it in. Now using a clean rag we wipe it up. The goal is to let the wax remover work long enough to get soften the wax but not to long as for the solvent to dry. After doing the whole bottom we spray water on it to see if it beads up indicating residual wax. This step may have to be repeated several time to properly remove all the wax. Once this is done, we are ready to sand. Step Three: Sand Using a sander and 80 grit paper thoroughly sand the bottom so that the "shine" is gone and the entire bottom is sanded. It is important to not sand to much and remove the gel coat down to bare fiberglass. Also, always change the paper regularly, gel coat is a hard and causes the sand paper to dull. Once sanded, the bottom must be cleaned with acetone and clean rags to wipe away and sanding residue. We then wash each bottom to ensure all foreign contaminants are gone. Let Dry. Step Four: Paint Now there is a whole article about what paint one should use but skipping this we chose a water based hard bottom paint. Using a fresh roller we apply 2 even coats allowing paint to dry per manufacturers specs. Once dry the tape can be removed and you now have a painted bottom! This is the first step in a multi-step process that each boat will be need to go through. We have electronics to install and break in the new motors. After the break in period, which is 20 hours of varying rpms and load ranges, the boat must be hauled and all fluids changed.. LET it begin!

What a way to get to work! Pulling into the Marina today we saw our first order of new boats waiting to be unloaded off the truck. The boats took 900 mile trip up from Indiana where they were built to order. Upon unloading, each boat was thoroughly inspected from stem to stern for scratches or marks from the shipping process and all electrical systems were looked at by our Mechanic to ensure all systems were operational. Above you can see us inspecting the boat as the Marina Bay team lowered them down for us to inspect the inside. After each one was inspected we quickly lowered them into the water and marked a waterlines so we can properly bottom paint them in the next week or two. We then transported them back out into the yard so we can bottom paint each one as well as install GPS units and set each boat up. We then repeated this process for all 4 of the boats until all were unloaded and inspected. We will be holding an open house this weekend at Marina Bay in Quincy with 2 of these boats on display so come down and check them out!

New Boats Ordered!

The New England Boat Show is officially over, this morning we broke down our booth and put it away for next years show! The show was a great success being about %40 larger than last year, drawing in crowds by the thousands! They offered a wide array of activities and seminars to keep one busy for days. Back from last year was their remote control sailboat pond with 5 fans powering your vessel through the course. It was a challenge to get your hands on those Remote Controls and have a try at it, but it was well worth the wait. This year the boat show added the Power Boat docking challenge, a remote control twin screw scale model of what seemed to be a 65 Viking. Mission: Bring the boat in through the narrow inlet, back her down into the slip, and power back out of the harbor. The captain with the fastest time took home a weekend stay at the Westin Hotel.

We thank everyone for coming out and saying hello. Remember to look for the show again next year and come visit our booth to see why we are the smart alternative to boat ownership!


Speaking of new and Shiny Boats, last week we put in an order for 8 new boats to add to the fleet!!!! We looked high and low for fuel efficient yet spacious boats that will allow you enjoy your time on the water and not worry about a huge fuel bill at the end of the day. We found the answer with Hurricane. They manufacture bow rider deck style boats with all the creature comforts one would expect for a great day on the water. Each boat will have plenty of room for the whole family, and some friends! We are expecting delivery of the new boats Early to mid April with them being active int he fleet around the middle of May.

Keep your eyes open, and don't worry, each club should see at least 1 of the news boats!

2012 New England Boat Show!

New England’s premier winter boating event is held at the state of the art Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC). The Progressive Insurance New England Boat Show has grown into the Northeasts’ largest Boat Show, attracting thousands from the New England Seaboard. The show fills 300,000 square feet with hundreds of the newest boats from the region’s top dealers, along with a wide selection of marine accessories and special features – creating a marine marketplace and boater’s paradise like no other.

As the smart alternative to boat ownership, we have been at the show all week trying to introduce the idea of Freedom to the thousands of visitors of the show. The week has been fairly steady, truly a great time to come down and enjoy the show, with less traffic you can get more intimate look at what the show has to offer. Today the show opens up at 1pm and will run to 9pm which allows plenty of time to come down after work. Make sure to come to our booth #1115 and come say hello, ask us questions, and sign up!

Don't forget that the show offers a wide array of boating seminars and classes so come down and check them out and learn a thing or two!

Partnering up with Boston Scuba!

We are proud to announce that we have partnered up with Boston Scuba!  As a Freedom Boat Club member you will be able to take advantage of special discounts and events. Next time your fueling up at the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina, head up and check them out!

Boston SCUBA is a PADI dive center located at the Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina in East Boston.
The dive shop offers SCUBA classes, dive charters, air fills & dive equipment sales, rentals, and service.
The shop is accessible by car, “T” or even by boat! Boaters will be allowed to tie up at the fuel dock to visit the dive shop.
Show your Freedom Boat Club ID, and receive a 10% discount on equipment purchases at the dive shop.

Find Boston SCUBA on the Web at: www.bostonscuba.com

Hard at Work!

What did you do today? Go Skiing? Spend the day at Work? Call in "Sick"? I can say that you were not working on your boat! That's what we do! Today we finished up two boats and swapped them out for two more boats that need some routine maintenance!

We have been busy moving about 2 boats a week in and out of the shop working on things like; complete engine tune ups to fixing faulty gauges and everything in-between!