June is a depressing month in Eilat. The summer heat begins to build and we all know that sooner or later its going to get hot and I mean HOT. The town begins to gear up for the inevitable summer onslaught of tourists. Down at the marina we haul out our biggest sun awnings and hunker down for a tough couple of months.

When you work in boat maintenance and when you specialize in marine refrigeration and air conditioning, summer means frantic calls at all hours of the day. By July, Manny gets used to leaving dinners uneaten, as he heads over to one boat or another to do an emergency fix on a broken refrigerator. He of all people understands the importance of cold beer on a hot day.

This year throughout June and early July, Manny found himself out in the blazing sun, tackling different maintenance jobs and wondering just why he wasn't sailing. Summer is the time to get away and do a little cruising. Even if you aren't off cruising, you'd have to have a hole in your head to haul your boat out to drydock in Eilat, at this time of the year. Working on your boat in drydock is a miserable job any day of the year, never mind in extreme heat. Still, every summer there'll be a day when we pass the drydock and find a boat sitting there with several people working on her bottom. One of us will look at the other and ask - are they nuts? Who hauls their boat out in 45 degree weather?

Considering all that how is it that we spent the better part of this summer working on not one, but two boats in dry-dock?

It all started back in April when Manny contacted Ellen's owner requesting an okay to sail the catamaran up to Greece for haulout. It was three years since she was launched and this being her first bottom inspection; he had a few extra things he wanted to do. Manny explained that In Israel a special crane had to be reserved and most of the cats went to Greece. He made clear that he preferred to work with a yard familiar with lifting catamarans and that many Greek yards had professional standards. He presented cost comparisons for three different marinas and we waited for an answer.

What we thought would be a fairly easy choice turned into a long and exasperating shuffle between lawyers and insurance agencies. Finally in June, much to our dismay, he was presented with the decision that Ellen would be hauled out in Eilat.

Right about that time, we received a letter from Yofy's insurance company. They had a few requirements before they'd renew our policy and one of them was proof of haul out within the last two years. While their request was not unusual, it was a problem for us. If you've been following this blog you'll know what we feel about the local boatyard, their prices and our search for other options. However, since we were facing a summer haulout for Ellen, Manny decided that we'd combine the jobs and lift Yofy as well. We might as well be in for the penny as for the pound.

One day mid July, we took on a couple of extra crew, offered up our request for an accident free day and motored down the coast to the yard. Eilat's yard doesn't use a travel lift, or even a crane, but works on a slipway. Over the years, Manny has helped several people haul their boats on this slipway so we were as prepared as could be. Extra lines and fender boards were in place. We'd lucked out and had a calm morning with light winds and no waves. Yofy had to be maneuvered into place square in the middle of the submerged cradle with her keel on the center line, and then she was tied and wedged in place, before the winch began to haul her out - inch by creaking inch.



After a couple of heart stopping hours, we were out and the work could begin. Mornings we were up early to get as much work done as we could in the cooler hours. Mid day we'd head back to the marina to rest in Ellen's air conditioned cabin. Then we'd head back to Yofy to continue to work till dark. Apart from the heat and the lack of shade, Eilat's dry-dock is a dusty, lousy place to work on your boat. The one benefit the yard does have is its small private beach. While he worked, Manny would periodically jump in the water to cool himself off.

Over the space of two weeks Manny sanded Yofy's bottom and changed all of the through hulls and all the sea cocks. He inspected the shaft, cutlass bearing and changed the prop and zincs. Finally we applied another coat of epoxy primer and two coats of anti fouling. Once we began to paint we had to work fast as the heat cured the paint before we could roll it on.



Finally at the end of July, we were finished and could relaunch Yofy - and what a grand feeling it was to be back afloat! Before we could kick back and relax it was time to start all over again with Ellen. This time Manny worked with Igor, his crew. While they worked in the yard, I searched for airfares and rental cars in Croatia.

At last, Ellen was relaunched without damage and we all could sigh with relief. It had been a summer of hard work and we were ready for a change of scenery. Lucky for us, we were on our way to Croatia to help a friend find a boat, but that is a story for another day.