The Annual On the Hard

We are on the hard doing the annual maintenance chores. The big job is painting Songster’s bottom with anti-foul to prevent marine growth taking up residence on her.  We also have to fix the windlass (the chain stripper broke last season - no that is not some sort of exotic dance but a device to prevent the chain from jamming on the windlass gypsy), regrease the sea cocks, revarnish the cockpit table, repaint the anchor chain to mark every 10 metres, clean up the propellor and a few odds and ends.  That should keep us busy during the scheduled two weeks on the hard.  The marine environment is harsh so there is always something to fix and refurbish on a boat.

We are getting fit climbing up that ladder a dozen times a day

Last year, being newbies, we had arranged for one of the yacht maintenance companies to do the job of anti-fouling.  After seeing that the chore wasn’t much more than painting a room in a house (something we have done quite a bit of in the last few years), we decided we to do the job ourselves this year.  The first task was to scrub the hull removing any remaining slime or barnacles.  The pressure wash done when Songster was lifted out of the water was fantastic so the scrubbing process was fairly easy, if a bit messy as it has to be done wet.

Before and after the pressure wash

Old and new Zinc anode from the propeller.  It is amazing the amount of electrolysis that goes on in salt water. Better the zinc than our propeller.

Next we had to choose which anti-foul to use.  We had used a fairly basic product last year and wanted something that would last two years and save us the cost of a haul out next spring.  Well ask ten sailors their opinion on anything and you will get ten different answers.  We researched the different brands and got prices from the various chandlers but in the end didn’t really feel any the wiser as to what would be best for us.  So we chose a mid-priced product that is suppose to give us two years in the water.  Time will tell.  We gowned up and got on with the job.

All gowned up ready to scrub and paint

Rolling on the anti-foul. Despite the protective clothing I still had spots of paint all over my face.

While Bob was doing the sea cocks, I sanded the old flaky varnish off the cockpit table to get it back to the bare wood.  This took days so the 4 coats of varnish needed to refurbish the table will have to wait until we are back in the water (and I can count on 5 days of no rain).

Sanding the old varnish off the cockpit table

And so it goes.  The Marvelous Marlin Men are fixing the windlass and there are a few odds and ends left to do.  We are not killing ourselves ploughing through these chores so we may need to stay on the hard a few more days to finish everything.  Plus Mother Nature hasn’t been co-operating and the weather has turned nasty.

Mother Nature showing her stuff - the view from our aft cabin

Never mind, it was a treat to have a bit of a lie in and catch up on emails.