THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2010 - I just wanted to let you guys in blog world know that we are still here.  While there is some things happening on a regular basis there just hasn't been any breaking news to blog about this week that I thought would interest anyone.  So, since the other option is no blog updates at all, then here is the few tidbits that we have to report tonight.

We shipped a couple propellers off to Performance Propeller in Florida earlier this week in hopes of getting them tuned up with a little extra pep for next spring and we worked in the shop a good bit Monday and Monday night.  We finally got the show boat completely in primer so there isn't much to do on the decking there before we can paint it, and we got the bottom of the Yeeeha F-3 boat gel coated, numbered and the bottom of the capsule painted.  The next step on it is to flip it back onto the trailer and begin sanding and fixing the few issues on the topside.  Hopefully both of these are painted and ready for decals around Thanksgiving.

We ordered a handful of propeller covers this week so we will have something more than a towel to cover the sharp edges of the propeller when the boat comes out the water.  For those of you who aren't boat racing rule fanatics the props are taken very seriously by APBA.  Anyone firing up an engine out of the water with a prop on is in big trouble since it can mangle someone's legs pretty badly.  So, every time a boat comes out of the water a towel or cover must be put over the prop to make it more visible and most teams remove it all together to protect it and the crew members.  These new thick nylon prop covers will snap over the props kind of like a spare tire cover so those sharp blades will be nicely padded should someone's legs bump into them.

We also ordered four floating buoys that we can use next spring to set up our own practice course at the local boat dock.  We plan on practicing a good bit next spring to get ready for the 2011 campaign so we want to be able to make the course as real as possible so we can practice in conditions similar to those we will see at the races.

And, we went to the Marshall University suplus sale this week and picked up a whole bunch of nice furniture we can use in the hauler and shop.  We got about 50 nice green chairs that will fit with our color scheme and we got a truck load of nice tables that we are going to hinge to the interior walls in the hauler so they can be dropped down after the boats are removed to use as tabletops for eating, working, computers and the like.  We are going to spend a good bit of the winter months working on the appearance and functionability of the hauler since we anticipate having all of the boats ready for the water by shortly after the new year rings in.

That's about it for tonight.  If you are still awake after that update I hope you will check back in a few days for more news.  I will try to update you on some sponsorship numbers over the weekend and will introduce you to our new dock master, Bryan Rozzi, after I get some bio information on him next week.

Dana Tomes