Back in the Boat Yard
25 August 2008 | Raiatea
Randy
Today we got a lot done at the yard. The bottom got two coats of paint and a couple extra at the water line. We went through the standard six cans to coat everything well.
The rain threatened, which seems to be my luck, as it poured in between painting sessions in Grenada. Other than a little sprinkle though we had no real rain today. The Raiatea Lodge, on the other hand, is right at the bottom of a rain funneling draw. It can really get going there. It never last more than a few minutes though so it is perfect. You can just go in for a coffee when there's a little shower and in exchange you get a lush garden to enjoy when the sun comes back out five minutes later.
Fred had the rudder all epoxied up and was fairing it and prepping it for foam injection. That put the two biggest projects in good stead.
Unfortunately the old stripe stickers were still on the boat. I hope the yard guys come through here as I am not looking forward to peeling these suckers myself. Some guys have the touch and they are not me. It took me forever to get the boot stripe off of the sterns so that I could raise the water line a little aft.
We have not had any reason to raise the factory waterline except in the transom area. This area can get and stay pretty moist though because it is so low and flat in the first place, and when we load up the new dink it gets a little lower.
We also had some nasty gel coat like stuff on the starboard stern at the waterline. This is the kind of thing the yard guys sort of gloss over. It took me half a day to clean up so that the bottom paint could be applied properly. I can only assume it was the result of some spillage into the water, perhaps when the guys were doing the glass work in the Grenada lagoon. Not sure but I am sure it was no fun to clean up and probably pretty harsh on the environment when it happened.
The Canvas guy completed some minor improvements to the cockpit enclosure we have today. It is still not exactly the way we want it but getting closer. The local canvas guy is a great Italian character. He's fun to work with and has a wonderful attitude. He does good work and pretty much on time but he only had the materials he has, which is to say nit much. The work he did for us was with non UV resistant thread. I would have probably skipped the effort if I had known because it will likely have to be redone in three years or so. If you have your own material and thread or just need some repairs I would recommend him (get the name and number of the Italian Canvas guy from Dominic at Raiatea Carenage).
Propane tanks came back and they said they could not fill them (I suspect due to the US spec valves). The unhappy part is that one was a third full and the other was a quarter full when they went out and they are now empty. Doesn't bode well for our culinary pleasure back on the boat. Dominic is going to see what he can do.