Going Home

Carroll & Fred watch as the Travel Lift brings the Lantern Queen back to the basin.
(Note the smooth, freshly coated bottom, and the slick white paint above.)

In she goes!
(from this angle the new paddles dominate the view)

Capt. Fred and Carroll leave about 7:30 am on a sprint back to Havre de Grace.
(The wind & tide were in their favor. They were back in plenty of time for the afternoon charter!)

World's Best Crew!

There's just no way to say thank you to people who work like this!
They did an amazing amount of work in 3 incredibly hot, dirty, exhausting days!

Spa Week for the Old Girl

After de-barnacling, the Lantern Queen "rode" the 110 ton Travel Lift around the boatyard to it's temporary home between some of the shops. (This was pretty convenient, since the Georgetown folks were so friendly and sharing with their tools and advice.)


Before the Travel Lift set her down, large timbers were stacked underneath to be used as cribbage.
In addition, a number of jackstands were placed around the perimeter too.

Constructing the cribbage was heavy and serious work.
Lots of people were going to be working in, on, and under the boat for several days.

De-Barnacling

First a little bit about barnacles - they're not supposed to be able to thrive in fresh water.
But, for more than a year before we purchased it, the Lantern Queen sat in shallow water on the Elk River, so she probably got them there. Barnacles really slow a boat down - we picked up more than 1 knot/hour after the "de-barnacling."



The photo above shows the conditon of a rudder before the barnacles were removed.
(Boats are normally only hauled out every 5 years.)

Up close and personal with some barnacles.

This is how they're removed. The tools these fellows are using resemble putty knives on long handles.

Lots of elbow grease, chipping and hosing later, andthe entire bottom looks like this - only slightly raised circles where the barnacles used to be.

Haulin' Her Out

(If you're interested in more photos of this adventure, go to lanternqueen.com and click on Photo Gallery.)


6:00 am, Monday July 6, Georgetown Yacht Basin.
Crew is still asleep onboard, after a long nighttime Bay crossing.

7:00 am - 110 ton travel lift approaches the Lantern Queen.
(FYI - Lantern Queen weighs 62 tons)

7:10 am - She's out! This is the first time we've seen the boat's bottom!

7:30 - Moving around the boatyard.
First stop - Barnacle removal.

Off to Georgetown

As soon as our guests disembarked from the Fireworks Cruise, a skeleton crew (Capt. Steve, Carroll and Scott) sailed the Lantern Queen across the bay to the Georgetown Yacht Basin on the Sassafras River. They sailed all night, arriving about 4:00 am in Georgetown - just long enough to get a nap before the excitment REALLY began.

5th of July

The Havre de Grace Fireworks Cruise is always a sold-out cruise, and 2009 was no exception. Although this is one of the harder cruises for the crew, it's one of my favorites! Fireworks, patriotic music, and a boat full of people thankful for our freedom - who can resist?
Special kudos to our crew - especially Carroll & Scott for the heavy lifting (literally) on the anchor.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to all the Lantern Queen Brides and Grooms! There have been so many this summer! We hope you have a long and prosperous life together, full of love and fun.