Haul-out 2009
30 March 2009 | Whangarei
Sancho: semi-sunny seventies
B.O.A.T.: (Break.Out.Another.Thousand)
Nothing separates a sailor from his cash quite as fast as a trip to the boat yard. Not surprisingly, there is usually a chandlery nearby to facilitate the process. Dollar by dime, it sneaks up on you.
Topsides paint and primer $80 a gallon. Anti-fouling bottom paint $125 a gallon. Epoxy barrier coat, sandpaper, paint rollers, brushes, thinner, stir sticks, paint pans, dust mask, Tyvek suit, advice... Ah, finally, something for nothing and worth every penny! Sometimes it really is a few thousand: like our new mainsail and Wind Dancer's new engine... Yipes!
Argonaut hasn't been out of the water since 2006 in Alameda. The poor old War Horse was in need of a face lift and a few minor repairs.
It'll look a lot better when we're done and the constant battle with sea life trying to establish colonies on the bottom will be much easier to discourage with a good dose of Cuprous Oxide on our side.
The price of overloading it with cruising gear, anchors and chain was a row of osmotic blisters along the waterline above where the old epoxy bottom ended. Too, the aft edge of the keel had been faired too fine and I discovered a pinhole that is probably the source of the annoying mystery leak.
While I'm at it, the rudder shaft has developed a little play that results in a flutter in the steering. It won't get better on it's own, and while not dangerous, it effects the Aries in it's self-steering chores and unnecessarily stresses the rudder. Not good when the seas are up. You want that baby to go where you point it.
Once the haul-out is complete, the new batteries (For you Yachties out there: 2- 6v 370 Ah L16's in series, charged by two Kyocera 130 watt solar panels) are in and we have the new mainsail, we'll be ready to do a little cruising around the North Island while waiting for a weather window to head for the tropics for another season.