Yard Work

As mentioned previously, it had been almost two years since our last haul-out. In addition to needing paint, our zincs needed to be replaced.

Actually, for 23 months in the water this zinc is not bad:

Nice new prop zinc:

The shaft zinc was still 50 percent:

We installed a much larger shaft zinc:

Greased the propeller:

…and sanded the bottom. As far as nasty jobs go, this really wasn’t too bad. The paint was pretty thin:

Bottom done. Two coats of paint all around and four coats on the leading edges::

The paint is new to us but very highly regarded. Everyone we’ve talked with has experienced excellent performance with this brand. I think it’s mainly used on commercial ships. Jotun Seaforce 90, we’ll see how it works for us…

Then we broke out the Awlgrip and touched up the anchor scars:

In the past we marked the anchor chain every ten feet with paint, but it wears off quickly. Tanya found these cool rubber markers at Budget Marine, that appear to be a much better solution:

Back in the British Virgin Islands our anchor swivel broke…while we were anchored in 15 feet of water on a sandy bottom…and not much wind blowing. We almost lost our anchor, or worse had we not been on the boat at the time. Anyway, I like having a swivel because without one, the chain gets all wound up and kinked. We found a swivel that I think will work better than the last. This swivel is a different design and about three times over-sized:

And after several long days working in the hot sun and oppressive humidity, we treated ourselves at Zanzibar’s by the sea:

Chaguaramas has several boat yards that cater to recreational boaters like us but it is mainly a commercial port. These are some random pics of the business side of Chaguaramas.

Dry dock right next to the yard we are in:

Another larger dry dock at the far end of the port:

That’s it for now. This haul out, in spite of setbacks, has gone really well. We are actually ahead of the game. It’s Sunday, I have to do a little sewing on our head sail, then we’re going to clean up the boat and go play dominoes at another marina. We are launching tomorrow at 1:00pm and then we are going to sit on the dock for a few days planning our next leg!