MADISON was a family boat in Pensacola from 2000-2004 then out of the family's hands for a few years. She was stored outdoors near Escambia Bay when Hurricane Ivan came through. We tracked her down in 2011 and bought the hull back, had a fun time picking her up and chasing out a few critters from her hull. Tip: Don't leave the inspection port open on a boat without a rodent screen in place.
Here she is the day we picked her up, she was leaning against the retaining wall in the background, under some oak trees. Skipper lifted one end and I lifted the other, and we heard a scurrying sound. A huge rat popped out of the inspection port, said something rude and ran off. To Skipper's credit she did not drop the boat, nor did I, although Skipper did dance a little jig.
We got MADISON home and I spent an afternoon with a garden hose and wet vac to remove as much dirt, leaves and twigs as I could. Plus other unmentionable stuff. The name RATATOUILLE was briefly considered. We flushed the hull for quite a while and she has had a fun time sailing since then.
Fast forward to a few days ago, when I opened the inspection port to check for any leaks I was surprised to see more leaves and twigs. Hmmmmm. I guess what happened was when MADISON took her round trip in a Pods container to Chesapeake VA and back she got bumped around enough to shake more critter condo furnishings loose. So I got the cordless shop vac and several extension wands to vacuum out as much as I could reach.
Looking portside aft at the flotation block and cockpit. Couldn't reach past the block.
Looking starboard aft at the flotation block and cockpit. The block is set a little more towards the side so the extension wands could reach back further.
Looking forward.
Is there more of Mother Nature still in there? Who knows? The good news is that there was no smell, everything in there has been baked dry.
Log of MADISON.
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