Yard work summary

It's tempting to give you the context and detailed results for every drop of sweat ... but we don't have time to write it and you don't have time to read it.  So instead here's a summary, and if you want more info or to discuss anything then drop us a comment.

Lifted out 04 Mar, lifted in 8 weeks later on 30 Apr - both wonderful weather days, howlucky were we.  Positioned btw two large motor cruisers, with less than foot of space at the gunwales - they pack 'em in at Gillingham.  At least we were not too near the trees with their dreaded sticky droppings.  The pigeons are a nuisance, wherever you are - spreaders are obviously a great place to sit and sh*t.


With reference to the winter sailing and good performance, she didn't have a huge amount of weed and barnacle, and the yard guys got it off easily with the pressure washer.

The focus of the yard work was those things that cannot be done in the water:

- serviced seacocks (original Blakes, a bit pitted on the cone, still work fine)

- serviced winches (because if we dropped something it was a yard hunt rather than an underwater hunt) - turned out our Lewmar 44s were hybrids, the base being the original which has to be removed from the boat to full service the gears & pawls - good advice from Amber at Aquafax was that if they are not back-winding then do maintenance in situ by cleaning and regreasing the gears whilst winding the handle.  Our Lewmar 30s are rarely used and seem fine, so simple maint for them too.  Of the three Lewmar 8s on the mast, 2 worked fine and 1 was seized - eventually freed the latter after taking out the key and putting WD40 in for a few days - all three serviced.

- replaced main hatch (big leaks last year) with a Lewmar Ocean 60 (ow that's expensive, but we aspire to blue water one day, so let's get the best) - work done by Jean-Pierre of Hadlow Marine to an excellent standard and a good price, ably assisted by Paul Ledsham.

- rebuilt one cockpit locker lid because the ply on the underside was badly rotted, whereas the teak was still very serviceable and matched the rest of the cockpit

they pack 'em in

- stripped all varnish off the boat:  cockpit, coamings, washboards, handrails, and 80' of toerail - used hot-air stripper with the triangular tool to great effect.  Bloody hard work.

- used oxalic acid on external wood and gelcoat to great effect.  This is the main component in all those expensive hull and wood cleaner products in the chandlery, but you can buy oxalic acid crystals in tubs on the internet and make up a much more powerful solution yourself (with gloves and mask) - it really does get the grey out of exposed wood (where the varnish had failed), and cleans up the GRP better than anything we've tried.

- teak oiled all external wood, three coats, and it looks as good as when varnished, and in future all we have to do is wipe on more teak oil.

- cleaned and polished the hull using Autoglym with a hand applicator and hand polishing - might get a palm sander next year and polish with that, see if we get a better finish, but pretty happy with it now.

- anti-fouled with Cruiser Uno, Navy colour which looks very good (yes, I know, you can only see 2" of it when she's in the water).

- replaced the shaft anode which was fairly shot and could come loose (new last year), left the 4 disk anodes and 2 pear anodes as all wearing very slowly (inherited with boat) - maybe next year for those.

There was probably more but that is the gist of it.  We didn't touch the engine or the sails.

Launching is always a bit of a trauma, however Kevin & Clive at Gillingham always do a great job and take immense care ... and nothing leaked, and the engine started.  So that's all good.