We have every trace of the Sea Ray's former name removed from the boat. Even something as innocuous as having the boat's former name written on a scrap of paper and left onboard could be a harbinger for bad luck. So, we have searched the boat thoroughly and have found nothing...so we are ready for the renaming ceremony.
The shipyard crane operator lifts the boat and gently cradles it underneath the transport crane. He slowly retraces the path that he took two weeks ago, when we stored the boat on storage racks for cleaning and servicing.
Once the Sea Ray is back on the water...we can begin the ceremony to purge the old name from King Neptune's record books...and to add the new name which we have chosen.
We carry on board a White metal tag tied to a rope... a water-soluble ink marker and several bottles of champagne. This is "the good stuff"! You just can't risk insulting Neptune, God of the sea...by offering a substandard libation.
I begin the ceremony by addressing King Neptune:
"Oh, mighty and great ruler of the seas, oceans, and connected waters, to whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage, implore you in your graciousness to expunge for all time from your records and recollection the name "Sea Nympho" which has ceased to be an entity in your kingdom. As proof thereof, we submit this ingot bearing her name to be corrupted through your powers and forever be purged from the sea"
I then write the name "Sea Nympho" on the metal tag...and drop it from the bow, into the water...
"In grateful acknowledgement of your munificence and dispensation, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court"
I then pour over half the bottle of Champagne into the water starting from the east and pouring to the west. I then divide the remainder of the bottle among us. Once we have touched glasses and drank our ration of Champagne, I pull the metal tag from the water...and lo and behold "King Neptune" has washed the former name of the boat away...and we now have a "Clean slate," and we can now proceed with the renaming of the boat...
"Oh, mighty and great ruler of the seas, oceans and connected waters to whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage, implore you in your graciousness to take unto your records and recollection this worthy vessel hereafter and for all time known as the "Queen Ann" guarding her with your mighty arm and trident and ensuring her safe and rapid passage throughout her journeys within your realm. In appreciation of your munificence, dispensation and in honor of your greatness, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court"
I then pour one glass for myself, one glass for Ann and pour into the water the rest of the bottle... starting from the west and pouring to the east. Ann and I raise our glasses to each other...and drink the champagne down.
Now we must appease the four winds...
"Oh, mighty rulers of the winds, through whose power our frail vessels traverse the wild and faceless deep, we implore you to grant this worthy vessel, the "Queen Ann" the benefits and pleasures of your bounty, ensuring us of your gentle ministration according to our needs"
I then face North and pour a generous portion of Champagne into a Champagne flute and fling the contents to the north as I intone:
"Great Boreas, exalted ruler of the North Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your frigid breath"
I then face West and pour the same portion of Champagne into the flute and fling the contents to the west...
"Oh, Great Zephyrus, exalted ruler of the West Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your wild breath.
I then face East and pour the same portion into the flute and fling it toward the East...
"Oh, great Eurus, exalted ruler of the East Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your mighty breath.
I then face south and repeat the process of pouring and flinging champagne to the south...
"Oh, great Notus, exalted ruler of the South Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your scalding breath.
Another round of Champagne is poured into everyone's glass, and we all raise our glasses in celebration...before drinking it all down.
With that...I go ashore and return with a self-adhesive vinyl sign that I had custom printed, which reads "Queen Ann, Home Port St Joseph Missouri" which Max and I, with the assistance of Bob and Ann...affix to the transom of the boat.
We walk over to the end of another dock to admire our handywork from a distance.
"That ought to do, until we can get her home and have that painted on permanently." I say
As we are walking back down the dock toward our boat...Ann says to me "Can you explain something to me?"
"I will certainly try..." I reply
"I've noticed that people seem to have different ways of describing a Boat. I've heard a lot of people call them just that...A boat...while others might call it a ship and still others may refer to the same boat, as a yacht. How do you know what to call them...when everyone seems to have a different name for the same thing?
"It is all about "perspective" ... by today's standards... a boat has to be over 120ft long to be considered a ship...and if it was built solely for personal pleasure use...then it can be called a yacht.
"But... the definition tends to vary when you take into consideration an old boat like my Chris Craft. The paperwork that I have on it...as well as old sales brochures I've seen, classify it as a "Luxury Motor Yacht."
"This is because, back when it was built in 1957...it was considered to be one of the largest boats of its kind...and since it is constructed of wood, using standard ship building practices of the time...it was considered a ship."
Back then, they went by the old adage "A ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship." Since we always carry a small Jon boat on board for safety and ship to shore use... I guess by that old standard...the Chris Craft would be considered a ship.
To make things even more confusing.... Long before I got it and restored it to its former specifications... my old Chris Craft saw duty as a tour boat for a while in the Wisconsin Dells. So, it was technically a "ship for hire" at that point and as such was licensed as a commercial passenger ship, with a full-time captain and crew."
So, because of all of that past history...I tend to use the words Boat, Yacht and Ship interchangeably to describe the ole girl. She doesn't seem to mind...and everyone else seems to understand what I am talking about...
"I know some people tend to get hung up on 'technicalities" ... when it comes to talking about things like this. So, your best bet is usually; to just call all boats...boats...and just leave it at that. If they want to argue after that... just smile and walk away. That's what I do!"
"So...what is our game plan, once we get back to the Marina?" Max asks
"Figured that I could get busy and refuel both boats and top off the Gerry cans...while you three go to Ann's house and get her "treasures" boxed up and brought back here. Since we will be traveling together all the way... we can just put all of her stuff on the Queen Ann, and we can continue to use the Tia Maria for our meals and what not."
"Speaking of which, I have an idea for modifying the two forward cabins and turning them into one large cabin, like the boat was originally designed. The walls I put in to divide it into two sleeping quarters, are free floating, meaning that they provide no structural support and are just bolted in place. If we take those down and do some modifications...we can turn two bunks into one large bunk...then get us a memory foam mattress and voila we have a place where everyone can sleep comfortably or do whatever we want to do...without feeling quite so cramped for room."
"You are NOT going to believe this..." Ann says excitedly "but I happen to have a brand-new king-size memory foam mattress in the closet in the "playroom"! We bought it thinking that it might be more comfortable for my husband to lie on...but never got around to changing it out! If you think it will fit...consider it my donation to this trip!"
"Being memory foam, once we get it in the cabin...and open the packaging...we can MAKE it fit! That will be perfect!"
While the rest of them are gone...I take each boat over to the fuel dock and fill the fuel tanks to the top. All of the Gerry cans were still full, so I didn't need to do anything with them.
When I get back, I unbolt the dividing walls between the two forward cabins... and by jockeying one of them around a bit...and sliding the other one under the built-In bunks...I was able to create a platform to hold the king-sized mattress when it gets here. The other two mattresses I was able to stand on their sides and wedge in place...so that if someone rolls to the side... they will have some padding to protect them...instead of the hard wooden side of the boat.
When the other three return... Bob and I carry the heavy box with the mattress to the Tia Maria and carry it down the steps to below deck and drag it to the forward cabin area.
"Damn, taking down those walls made a HUGE difference!" Bob exclaimed
"Yeah, I think this will work out great once we get everything in place.
We open the box with the mattress and lift the heavy bag up onto the platform that I have made for it. I pull out my pocketknife and tell Bob "Brace yourself, this whole space is going to be wall to wall mattress in a moment"
I center the bag and begin to carefully insert the knife blade so that the sharp side is up...then smoothly cut the plastic freeing the mattress from captivity. While it didn't exactly "Explode" out of the bag....it did quickly unfold and began to "inhale" and expand rather rapidly. I manage to grab the remains of the plastic bag and get out from under the mattress just in time to get myself free from this growing monstrosity.
Bob quickly hopped up on top of the mattress and pushed and shoved until it was fitting in the space provided very well.
We then went to help Ann and Max unload the other things and carry them to the Queen Ann... Once we had those things put away...Ann tells Bob that she has some King size sheets to fit the new mattress and offers to help her put them on the bed.
Max and I finish closing up cabinets and cubbies and retrieve the chrome stripper's pole from the top of the car...which Ann had wrapped in brown paper to disguise what it was while transporting it to the boat. Once inside the boat...we decide to zip tie the pole to the legs of the galley table so that it won't roll and damage something.
