September 19, 2010.

Since my last post pretty much centered on jobs let me expound a bit on Christy’s employment situation. She’s been working for a small "company" that is amazingly successful, all things considered.

She works for a woman who I’ll call Maggie, who has been doing brightwork for close to 20 years. Maggie has worked alone for the majority of those years but she has employed someone here and there at various times. This year Christy just happened to be lucky enough to be here when Maggie was considering hiring a helper again. Christy has always done all the brightwork on our boat so she has a bunch of experience.

Maggie’s business has no name, no business cards, no letterhead or work vehicle emblazoned with slogans, promises or the nonexistent company name. Maggie gets all her work through repeat customers and word of mouth. And she's as busy as she wants to be.

Maggie pays Christy well and keeps her busy. The work is physically difficult but Christy has been learning a bunch. In fact Maggie has encouraged Christy to take on side jobs
of her own.

On Friday Christy used a heat gun and stripped all the existing finish off a Caliber 40. The old finish was past its prime and the wood was starting to look seriously neglected.

On Saturday she spent the day sanding the wood with progressively finer sandpaper.

The owner wanted to use Cetol so after the sanding was completed she taped and cleaned the teak and the applied the first coat of finish.

The difference is already amazing and it will look even better after several coats of finish.