The haul out went well, although it cost almost twice as much as we had budgeted. Two weeks out of the water, hotel bills and dining out took a huge, unexpected bite out of the checkbook. Luckily, there were no surprises and the boat needed nothing more than two coats of Petit Trinidad.
Svendensen's Boat Yard always does a nice job for us, but next time I'm going to shop around for price. Hopefully, we won't have to haul for another 3 or 4 years. We try to stretch it as long as possible because of cost and also the inconvenience of having to find a place to stay with the cat. We have a diver come every four months to clean the bottom and check the zincs. When he tells us it's time to haul, we take his advice. The last bottom job only lasted 2 1/2 years, not quite long enough in my estimation. The paint had worn off the bow, probably because we skim through the water like lightening - NOT!
Some people stay on board while their boat is on the hard, but that trip up and down the ladder isn't as inviting as it was a few years ago. I actually ran across one of our neighbors who had been staying on board for over a month while his boat was hauled. Calliope is a big sailboat, 47 feet with a 9 foot fin keel. She appeared to be about three stories above the ground, although it was probably closer to 15 feet from the keel to the deck. They were in the process of doing some major repair to the hull before going cruising later in the spring. I got a neck ache just looking up at Ron to chat. I can't even imagine traversing that 20-foot ladder several times a day.
Nosy as well as curious, I asked what the bathroom accommodations were like while staying on board a boat that is high and dry. We have a Lectrasan, which requires salt water to function, so I couldn't quite picture in my mind the whole problem involved in flushing. Ron has a holding tank on Calliope, but when the boat is hauled, he and his wife use the bucket method. I guess that's better than climbing down the ladder in the middle of the night and pad-footing across the yard to use the land-based head, but still just a touch primitive for my tastes.
In the old days, we did the bottom work ourselves. I don't know if you have ever sanded the underside of a boat, but take my word for it, it's darned hard work, especially since you are using muscles that don't often come into play. By the end of the first day, we were both knackered, with more of the same to look forward to. Now that we are both cancer survivors, I would like to keep it that way and so hire the yard to do the heavy work of sanding and painting. I don't want my Sweetie to inhale that toxic dust that comes from sanding away the old bottom paint.
So, hopefully, with regular cleaning from our diver, we are good for another few years. The boat seems to glide through the water and I'm sure we have dramatically improved our gallon per hour consumption of the liquid gold. But the best part was getting back to our home. Old Noodles, our resident boat cat, immediately took his position in front of the heater vent and looked quite content.
