Thanks for the encouragement, Howard! Boy, you're not kidding about the kids thing...As a stay-at-home mom with a 12 year old, 10 year old and three-year-old, three cats, and three dogs - sawing rust off of a CB seems utterly peaceful! ha ha We had the boat hauled yesterday morning. (I was so nervous, I could hardly eat breakfast - and that is drastic, for me!) They started before I got there, and she was already up in the sling, waiting for pressure washing, looking so tiny in that big lift! The bottom paint, like the hull paint, is pretty fresh-looking, and so the growth wasn't too horrible. Several clusters of mussels, and that's it. The CB, however, with no bottom paint, was utterly unrecognizable with the bristling of mussels, seaweed and algae. As the owners had said, the CB is stuck with about one foot sticking out. We've worked on it a bit, but our metal bars were too thick to work up in the pocket. The top of the pocket, over the hole the line feeds through from the CB to the winch, as I mentioned before, was sealed with what looked like bond-o when we chipped it off. The hole is ragged. We were wondering if anyone had ever simply cut the top of the CB pocket off, so that we could access the CB from above? Since we need to repair and refit the line entry hole anyway? Thanks! Danelle ----- Original Message ---- From: Howard Audsley <haudsley@tranquility.net> To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 1:02:08 AM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Intro from SE Alaska Welcome Danelle: Once you start your refit, when you run into questions, just ask. If the boat needs it, somebody on this list has done it. Most boats will have the same issues. It's all been figured out. Some of it takes some sweat and work, but can be done by mere mortals. That our boats still float and sail should all the proof you need to keep you going. Compared to raising kids, this is a piece of cake! Howard ____________________________________________________________________________________ You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com