Haul out day!
This morning I decided to haul the boat to have a bottom job done and check/clean the raw water intake through-hulls in case one of them was clogged. I still haven’t pulled the impellers to check them, since I don’t know how yet. The haul-out is a good logical step, however, which needs to be done anyway before the trip to New Orleans, and the only time that Peyco Marina has to do the haul out is today.
Veteran’s day. PS: If you’re a veteran, thank you for your service!
So, I call up Tim to come help me and together we head to the marina. It takes me two tries to pull into the berth where the giant machine to pull the boat out lives (not sure what this machine is called, but it’s like a big driveable crane with straps that hang down into the water).
The guys at the marina said I did great at the helm, by the way, compared to many of the folks they’ve seen.
So, we pull the boat and I get to see what she looks like out of the water for the first time. Wow!
Here she is:
After she was hauled out I was able to inspect the bottom. The marina guys were very helpful in coaching me through what to look for. The bottom (anti-fouling) paint was thick, and flaking off in a few places, but there were no big blisters! This is a very good thing. I only saw two super-tiny blisters on the entire hull.
The props and shafts, as well as the trim tabs were COVERED in barnacles! Holy cow – that would definitely cause some vibration! I asked them to clean the props and trim tabs as well and Paul came over to look. “Yep, that’ll cause the overheating right there!”
So – maybe that was the source of the overheating problem?
After cleaning the props I could see that they were bent in a few places. New props are $2000.00 each. Ouch.
I asked if they could straighten them with a sledgehammer. “Nope, but you can.”
OK, “Can I borrow a sledgehammer or two?”
So the marina guys bring me out two hammers and I begin straightening the props one loud ding at a time.
This is a strange emotional feeling, by the way. I’ve done this on other props many, many times. I’ve always pulled the props off to do it, laid them carefully on a piece of wood (or, in a few extreme cases used the hitch on my truck as a back-stay) and hammered them straight. To do this on my new (very large) home was surreal.
After a while one of the marina guys came over and offered to hold the sledge while I hammered from the other side (thank God – my arm was getting tired and I was only on the first blade of the first prop (each prop has four blades).
Well, we get them all straightened out and then they come over with a radial sander and clean the props down to the brass. Ahhh they look so much better!
I also had Paul weld some stainless steel to the swim platform brackets, since I wouldn’t have time to have new brackets made before the New Orlean’s trip next week. In addition, I noticed several pieces of stainless rub rail were missing (probably from damage incurred during hurricane Ike). The marina had some of this trim, but wanted $50.00 per foot for it! YEOUCH!
Here’s a vid of that portion of the process:
This is Paul welding the braces to the swim platform. It came out so strong I may not need to have new brackets or a new swim platform made for years!
Here’s the welding process:
Now, remember that I’d planned on having a bottom job done. After looking at the bottom and seeing that she’s doing just fine I decided to wait on that extra expense and put her back in the water. In my mind I’m looking at fuel, possibly new water tanks, and possibly a new fridge. I can’t afford to spend any money that isn’t absolutely necessary at this point. So, I decide to splash her again without the bottom job and get the bottom repainted in a few months.
Here we are putting her back in the water.
So, the total for all the work, the cleaning, pressure washing, scraping, sanding, and welding was $1,241.76.
I paid in cash, with the very last of the money I had from the sale of the golf cart.
B.O.A.T. = Bring On Another Thousand
Love – captain James out.
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