Monday (Year 2, Week 2: Finishing Up) I was having a sphincter-clenching moment because things were not done and time was running out. Quickly.

Then, yesterday, Wes showed up with the last of the chainplates. I still have to install them, but they're here.

Grayson showed up with the last of the carpentry. And made final adjustments so that it fit perfectly. We still have to sand and seal and varnish the woodwork, but, it's here.

The other two gallons of bottom paint arrived at West Marine, allowing us to start painting.

Today, I was excited to be able to put the last chainplates back in and then put the last ¾ gallon of bottom paint on the boat. (The last quart we save for Friday to put on the spaces occupied by the jackstands.)

We had the dripless seals looked at today, too. It shows some signs of wear, possibly because we ate a crab pot and had a line (and some floats) banging down there for quite a while. (See "DelMarVa Circumnavigation—Days 10 and 11" for details of that situation.)

That gives us Thursday to clean and stow and start buying groceries.

Thursday late or Friday early we should be able to launch. We'll have some follow-up work from our mechanic to see if the shaft and engine are truly happy.

Guests on Saturday and Sunday.

It may just fall together as hoped.

Dinner was a little pot-luck with Sapphire and Inspiration. Sapphire had a half-bushel of oysters left over from another party. We threw those on the grill. Inspiration had a load of crabs from I'm not sure where, but we cracked and ate those. We brought a big pot of beans and rice including poblano chilis from Tom's garden.