What a Great Time We Had

Akron Power Squadron members have completed one of the finest Civic Activity events we have ever undertaken. It was certainly a win-win situation for Akron Power Squadron and the owners of the Becky Thatcher sternwheeler in Marietta, OH. We were provided free lodging in area hotels, more food than we could possibly eat, great entertainment on Saturday night and much appreciation by the Becky Thatcher staff. In return, we provided many man-hours of power-washing, paint scraping, painting and clean-up. We accomplished much more than we had planned to the amazement of all. On 8 Apr, we sent a group of six members to power-wash, scrape and mask. On 11 Apr, most of the rest of the crew of 17 arrived to continue scraping and masking. On Saturday, 12 Apr, we finished scraping and masking and started the painting. We finished up around 1400 on Sunday, 13 Apr. Boy, were we bushed! Following are pictures of the 4 day project. Click on the images for a full size photo.

Prior to the actual work taking place, we made a couple trips to Marietta to size up the project and lay out an agreement with the Becky Thatcher folks.


John gets started early Friday immediately after our arrival.	Mary Jane "chips" in, so to speak!	Maggie attacks the metal railings.	Don, the Becky Thatcher maintenance man, chips in to help.	And, of course, we have to clean up after ourselves.	Bonnie applies masking to the windows and frames.

Joe makes the big stretch to mask everywhere.	Friday evening, we all met at the Lafayette Hotel to discuss tomorrow's plans.	Most of our weekend work crew had arrived by Friday evening	Mary Jane and Maggie probably NOT discussing paint scraping.	The Lafayette is a beautiful hotel with a very classy lounge.	Early Saturday morning, Steve jumps into the job.

Primer is applied to all bare wood.	Chris scraping away any last loose chips.	Jackie finds a comfortable, warm, sunny spot to work.	All windows on starboard quarter masked...	...also on the starboard bow. All ready for...	...the Master Blaster with the paint sprayer!

Here, Dave starts work on the 3rd deck, port side - an area not in our plans.	We were so far ahead of our planned project, we decided to just keep on going.	Let's remove the masking and see what the finished product looks like.	Steve cleaning some algae growth from the bulwarks.	Let's give this crew a big round of applause for a job well done!	Sunday morning brought out a few diehards for a little touching up.

Sharon repaints the main entrance door.	Mary Jane also finishes up a door.	All right, let's see what we've got...	...Not bad...	Not bad, at all!	Next year, maybe we can do more on the port side.

Quite a stretch for an "Ol' Fart!"	On top of a ladder, leaning out over water, Bob remains undaunted.