13 - 19 April Diary of a haul out – week 2

After a week on the hard we're settling into our routines. Polly is getting more bold with her adventures, even staying at the foot of the ladder when a familiar face walks past. The appearance of a dog will send her scurrying home for safety.

Day 8

Back to the last piece of compounding and waxing today. We've had to move the scaffolding under the sugar scoop to be able to reach this area. The green algae has gone and is replaced with a resplendent shine. I apply two thick coats of protective wax hoping it is too slick for new growth.

and after

before 

David begins sanding the antifoul with our orbital sander and the front plate disintegrates. Most fortunate for us Grenada is a 220v island and we show a Makita sander for sale in one of the hardware shops in Hillsborough last week. We did a quick change out of scruffy boatyard into clean town clothes and catch a bus to town. Two shops have the same sander – we opt for the better priced unit from Dollarman, but also find a replacement front plate to repair the original sander.

By end of day we

completed compounding and waxing the hull

sanding of the rub rail

Day 9

We've had a response to our advert to sell our old chain and a sale subject to the buyer being able to source a new gypsy wheel for his windlass.

prior to painting

Today's tick list

Completed preparation of the rub rail

Painted first coat the silver grey stripe of the rub rail

Day 10

This morning there was a post on FB Grenada Cruisers page informing us that the Ministry of Health was extending the Covid vaccine programme to include permanent cruisers resident in the islands. It advised us to visit any of the listed vaccination centres with our ID and boat papers as soon as we were able. On Carriacou the L'Esterre Health Clinic is administering shots and it is 500m up the road from the boat yard.

In the morning I made an exploratory visit and in the afternoon we went back for our shots – the Astra Zeneca. The nurse was wonderful – I didn't feel a thing. We had to wait 15 minutes in case of adverse reaction and then we went back to working.

At sunset we had

Applied the second coat of silver grey paint

Masked the dried grey paint ahead of painting the rub rail brown

Wrapped the hull with protective 3M sheeting ahead of painting

dress code for patients at the clinic

Had our first Covid vaccination

waiting after injection

Day 11

The days are getting hotter. We try to start our day at sunrise and take a couple of hours break from midday to make our life more bearable. On Wednesdays. Thursdays and Fridays I go out on my bike to pick up lunch – meals on two wheels.

Whether it was the combination of a hot day or my body reacting to the vaccine, but I was tired today, very sleepy. I did stay awake long enough to help David with painting the main colour of the rub rail. He was using the scaffolding and applying with a roller. I work from on deck brushing on the half inch strip on top of the rail. The original colour when the boat was made was laid within the gel coat and a 1'' strip of silver tape adhered through the central depression. With sun and use the silver tape degraded and the brown gel coat had had poor repairs done by the previous owner. We decided Jackster deserved her TLC, an aesthetic improvement, and Jotun's two part paint fitted our requirements. I must say it is a perfect colour match.

When we removed the tape it was Wow! Such an improvement.

after renovation

before

Jobs completed today

Renovation of the toe rail

Day 12

More compounding and waxing

Removed all the protective wrapping and painters masking tape.

prop cleaned

Buffed old antifoul off the propeller

Day 13

Today is Sunday and the yard is quiet. We are one of just four boats with the owners living on board while they do their work. So it's just us and the goats.

The nasty job of sanding the antifoul began today using our his 'n' hers orbital sanders. By nature antifoul is packed with nasty, skin damaging chemicals and sanding it puts the dust in the air. I suit up Hazchem style with an all-in-one suit with hood, gloves, safety sunglasses, face mask and peaked cap under the hood. I even pull the trousers legs low to cover my feet. It's akin to going to the gym in a full body sweat suit.

People ask why are we doing all the work ourselves and I indicate our Captain who is a perfectionist. Having been disappointed in the past with 'experts' he feels if he / we do the work he can guarantee the level of attention to detail matches his own high standards.

I tire physically with the effort of sanding and take a break – switching to removing the plastic markers from our old chain, making tea, etc. All essentials for the Team.

David takes a break later in the afternoon to begin the process of fitting our new high definition fish finder. This snazzy bit of electronic kit from Raymarine needs to be fitted through the hull to bounce sonar off the seabed and convert the results via cable on the inside of the boat to our chart plotter to give us an image of what lies below the bow. It's advertised partly as a fish finder if you were looking for shoals of fish. Our intention of use is as an aid to anchoring. It should indicate coral heads, debris, trees, etc on the seabed and help us to drop the anchor without snagging a bit of old wreck.

Today's task is measure, remeasure, stand back and scratch ones head and walk away to make sure everything has been considered before cutting a hole in the hull.

sand by me

Progress made

Begun sanding antifoul

First step on installing sonar depth sounder

Chain markers removed in anticipation of sale

Day 14

The final day of our second week on the hard began with retail therapy. We paid the balance due on the new 100 metres of anchor chain – Italian Maggi 10mm short link –  which was shipped up from Budget Marine Grenada on the inter island ferry.  It is so shiny it will be a shame to put it in the water.

The count for last day of our second week

We'd done more hull sanding

Taken delivery of a new anchor chain