Back In The Boat Yard At Bock Marine

Wandering Star back in the boatyard at Bock Marina

We are back, hauled out in Bock Marine in North Carolina – a rather timely affair in some respects with the threat of hurricane Joaquin hot on our heels....though I believe the forecast models are finally in agreement and have him tracking out to sea. And though we are grateful that there is no imminent danger, it does not mean we are not feeling the side effects.  Rain! It has rained almost every day since we have arrived here.  The days it didn’t rain were so hot and humid our skin stung from the sweat. And now it’s forecast to rain some more. Already rivers run through the yard.  The inside of the boat feels damp and yucky. The cockpit is sodden.  The states of North and South Carolina are on flash flood alerts. Much of small downtown Beaufort is underwater.  But I guess this is nothing compared to how the poor islands in the central Bahamas are doing.

The current prediction taking Joaquin off shore.

So we plod on with the work, albeit at a slightly slower, wet pace....  We hope to be out of here in a month (a relatively short haul out for us!) weather permitting. During this time we want to:

• ·         Drop the rudder (tick) to install a rubber bearing in the shaft to stop it clanking around....there has never been one. So Sim has to design it himself. - I have just been told that this involves grinding and welding in our cabin (bedroom)! This means emptying the whole cabin as the dust gets into every nook and cranny :-( =not happy!
• ·         Replace gearbox drive plate – which has been taken off already and replacement from UK ordered.
• ·         Over haul engine cooling system.
• ·         Fix leaks from heat exchanger.
• ·         Relocate heat exchanger so as not to foul alternator.
• ·         Inspect, chip and paint (if needed)  interior steel hull under battery boxes and galley floor – This was a huge job taking the batteries and battery box out, but it looks OK underneath. In the galley we had to cut the floor out – suspect this area hasn’t seen the light of day since the boat was built. A small amount of rust but nothing the needle gun and some fresh paint won’t fix.
• ·         Anchor and chain dropped, ready to be galvanized.
• ·         Scrape, sand and anti-foul bottom
• ·         Change anodes
• ·         Clean and polish topsides.

Not boatyard jobs but while we have an address:

• ·         Replace radar cable – the radar has not worked for the last year – it could be a multitude of things but suspect the cable that takes a convoluted, twisty turny route through the boat. - Cable ordered.
• ·         Replace parts for Katadyn water-maker – we have to have one of the smallest outputting water-markers out there (less than 3g/hr)  but the spare parts are the most expensive.  We went for 9 years with no water-maker on Alianna, even in remote parts of the world like the San Blas Islands we still managed. But ‘managed’ is the word here.  2 new membranes and a seal kit cost approx US$850.  You can buy a lot of water for that amount of money. But coming into our 12th year of full time cruising it has become one (of the many) luxury items we like to have and since we can run it off our solar panels without having to run a generator we figure (read I), its not so bad.

The containment zone as Sim cuts into the galley floor to inspect the hull underneath.

Cleaning 26 years of dirt under the floor boards!

In the mean time the security officer (aka the kitty) so far has not escaped the boat to go and stalk the yard cat or to lose herself in the tall pine trees of the woodland behind us but this probably has something to do with how wet it is outside. Yet another praying mantis appeared under the boat, this time a pregnant one, laying a cocoon under one of the wooden chocks. .......we waited (a long time) for her to finish so we could move her and continue scraping  and sanding the bottom without covering her in toxic anti fouling paint. 

We spent an hour thinking this menace had wandered off into the depths of the woods behind us only to be found later hiding under the kayak!

Our spot in the yard on the hot, sunny, humid day between all the rain

An early morning in the yard thick with fog.

Another praying mantis graces us with her presence

She lays a cocoon that can hold up to 100 baby mantises

Sim scraping the barnacles off the propellor

The day we hauled was wet, gray just like all the other days so far.