The End Is In Sight!

We're still here!

I know, this is getting boring now. Believe us when we say, it’s wearing thin for us too now. We are still here, in the boatyard, working our little butts off.  (Ok, That’s a joke about the little butts).  But this has been one epic haul out and a HUGE learning curve for both of us.  But the end is in sight. We still have no floor boards and absolutely nowhere to sit inside the boat and we are surrounded in a chaos of large storage boxes and ‘stuff’ piled high. But everything is ready to go back together.  Our new water tanks have arrived, the old fuel tanks have been tested and painted for protection and we have finished painting the inside of the boat. – Yippee. I can’t tell you how many gallons of paint we have slapped against that steel hull and what a relief it is not to be painting in there anymore. Of course we now have to work out how everything goes back together and Sim has several new improvements and modifications to add in to the mix. The tanks are proving awkward to put back in as the boat has shifted slightly while we have been out of the water and millimeters make all the difference with our snug fitting tanks; don't even mention the floor boards. Now the hot summer days have gone and brisk, bright autumn days have arrived we are feeling the pressure to get out of here and head south to warmer climes.  We are aiming with all our heart for the beginning of November.

Our old aluminium fuel tanks were cleaned up, etched and painted for protection.

There is still so much to do from re-installing the tanks, the bilge pumps, re-wiring and re-plumping everything that ran down the center of the boat, re-installing the floorboards and the furniture.  Making a new sofa with storage lockers inside as we threw the old swivel chairs out in lieu of a bunk with a lee board.  Repairing and repainting the swim platform.  Not to mention everything on the outside of the boat – priming, anti-fouling the hull and buffing and polishing the topsides.  We haven’t got around to the cosmetic jobs we wanted to achieve and to be honest we’ll probably look scruffier leaving the yard than going in.  But our hull is in better condition and we feel we know our boat more intimately. 

Sanding the bottom

There are still areas of the boat we didn't gain access to like behind the fridge and freezer and in our aft cabin and heads so we have a loose plan (because we are gluttons for punishment – and because we like this yard so much) to come back next year for a repeat process.  Plus we feel we have not had our fill of the states and would like to spend some more time here after we return from our little jaunt to the Bahamas.

Sim re-instaling the diesel heater,( aka waist deep in chaos).

Sim and Randy about to sandblast a couple of areas

Sim priming the areas that were sandblasted

Our paint station under our neighbours boat.

The miserable escapee.

This was taken today - Sim installing water tanks.

These are squid (yes, squid!) that our neighbour on his sports fishing boat 

next to us has painted on his hull to attract the fish. Brilliant.