So that Marcellite's 91-year-old mother and I can board
Empress safely at her end tie at the Marina Village Marina, we had Rick Busch build a new set of dock stairs as shown in the photo below. Rick is one of the marina dock captains who also is very skilled at carpentry and boat repairs, having lived aboard a sailboat for many years.
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New Empress Dock Stairs
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To bridge the gap between the dock stairs and
Empress when the wind or tidal current causes her to stand off the dock, Rick cleverly devised a boarding plank that is hinged to the dock stairs and rides on wheels on the side deck of
Empress when deployed. When not in use, the boarding plank folds flat on top of the top platform of the dock stairs. The photo below shows the boarding plank deployed.
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| Folding Boarding Plank Deployed |
Rick totally enclosed the interior of the dock stairs and provided a door to allow the interior to be used for dry storage as shown in the photo below.
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| Dry Storage Under Dock Stairs |
I am in outpatient physical therapy now and am becoming more mobile every day. I hope that my next blog post will show me back aboard
Empress.
