After a break from cruising in order to work and pay for Nick's college we are finally on the move again. I left my job at the end of September and we have been working on getting the boat ready to go ever since. Most of October and November were spent on painting the boat. We painted the entire topsides with Awlgrip. It took a long time as we needed 4-5 days for each section we painted, 1 for priming and sanding and 3 for topcoats. You realize how big the boat is when you have to sand and paint every inch of it. On rainy days we did other projects both on the boat and at home, but as usual still have a lot on our to do list. We had hoped to be on the move sometime in November but were slow getting everything done. We wanted to spray the hull but the rainy weather set in. Since we still had to haul the boat and do a bottom job before setting out we decided to look into just spaying the hull while in the boatyard. Our local yard allows do it yourself work on everything except spray painting. They have a spray building that they put you in but they have to do the spraying themselves. They told us that if we did the sanding and prep work and supplied the paint they would spray our hull for around $12,000 (just an estimate; it could be more if they felt it needed more sanding or prep). We had hauled our Gulfstar sailboat at Pensacola Shipyard years ago so we called them to check prices. They have a spray building and would allow us to do our own work at a reasonable rate. So on December 8th we finally left our home port of Madisonville, LA and headed to Pensacola. We had a nice 3 day trip. The weather was great for December, warm and calm seas. We spent the first night at Cat Island, MS, next at Dauphin Island, AL and then to Pensacola Shipyard on Bayou Chico. The only problem we experienced was fog on Mobile Bay, We spent a few anxious hours playing dodge the barges in the fog with visibility about 1/2 mile.Thank goodness for AIS. We arrived on Thursday and were supposed to be hauled on Friday but they had a scheduling conflict and decided we would have to wait until Monday. We moved into the travel lift slot Sunday PM and were hauled at 7 AM Monday in the pouring rain (and its been raining ever since).


The building they put us in is made of some type of thick plastic sheeting over frames and resembles a quonset hut. It is built on rails because they can't fit the travel lift under it. They have to slide it back out of the way, put the boat in place, then slide it back over the boat. We had to take our mast down in order to fit. They said it would take a couple of hours to put the ends on and they couldn't do it in the rain so it would be a few days before they would get that done. We started sanding the hull and doing other jobs such as pulling the shafts to replace the cutlass bearings. It rained most of the week but finally cleared up and turned cold on Friday. The Awgrip paint can't be sprayed below 55 degrees and it was in the 30's at night and 50's during the day. We decided to go buy a heater to heat the building up so we could paint. We bought a 75,000 BTU diesel/kerosene heater from Tractor Supply. We went in at 6 AM and turned the heater on and by 10 AM it was warm enough to paint.

We sprayed primer on Saturday and topcoat on Sunday. It all went smoothly and looks great (at least we think it does for our 30 year old boat). Once we got the hang of it it was not as hard as anticipated. Good thing we finished in the few good days we had because it started raining on Monday and rained for the rest of the week. Even though we are in the building the water runs in under the sides and stands on the floor creating a lot of humidity.


They just started using the it and are still working out the problems and hope to fix this soon. Since the paint has to dry for a week before relaunch we decided to drive home for a few days to spend Christmas with Nicholas. Went home on Tuesday and returned on Saturday. We painted the bottom on Saturday and Sunday, finished up the shafts, caulked the windows and were ready to go back in the water on Tuesday. We got back in the water at 1 PM. They allowed us to go in a slip for the night so we could have time to put our mast back up. They have been really nice to us here. All the yard crew were very helpful and nice to us. They said their job is to do whatever we need to make us happy. We highly recommend this facility to anyone in the area that needs boat work.


Once we were back in the slip and tied up the bilge pump came on. Our bilge pump never runs. But it came on and came on and came on, every three minutes. Uh-oh. David repacked the stuffing boxes thinking that was the problem but no change. He crawled throughout the bilge and checked every inch of the boat to try to figure out where the water was coming from. We finally traced it down to a leaking bolt in the vee strut.The backing plate is plywood glassed over and appears soft. We guess the process of removing the shaft and changing the cutlass bearings moved it enough to cause a slight leak or else the hauling, blocking and moving in the travel lift did it. Don't know what exactly but there is a small trickle coming in. We got it slowed down but we are going to haul out again and replace the bolts and backing just to feel safe. The yard is closed until Monday for New Years holiday so we are just hanging out in the slip, keeping an eye on the bilge and waiting. Its still raining so we are just enjoying being on the boat again. Except for the few days we went home, we have been staying in a hotel, they don't allow you to stay on board while hauled out. Hotel living sucks! Guess we'll be back at the hotel Monday. Hopefully we will only be out of the water a day or 2. When we get totally finished with everything I'll add up all our expenses (hotel, car, boatyard) and see how much we really saved by doing it ourselves. Stay tuned for more boatyard fun.