It's Haul-Out time!
For the first time since buying "Endurance", nearly two years ago, she came out of the water and onto a hard stand over the last couple of weeks.
This is almost the final maintenance step in our pre-departure preparations, and we're still on sked for dropping the lines in early January.
She looked pretty good......the previous owner left her in excellent shape, and the hull was perfect with no sign of Osmotic blistering, the bane of fibreglass yachts of "Endurance"'s vintage. She had a full hull strip and re-glassing in Sydney before I took over, and it shows.
For the first time since buying "Endurance", nearly two years ago, she came out of the water and onto a hard stand over the last couple of weeks.
This is almost the final maintenance step in our pre-departure preparations, and we're still on sked for dropping the lines in early January.
She looked pretty good......the previous owner left her in excellent shape, and the hull was perfect with no sign of Osmotic blistering, the bane of fibreglass yachts of "Endurance"'s vintage. She had a full hull strip and re-glassing in Sydney before I took over, and it shows.
I had lots of comments from passers-by outside the fence, from toddlers pointing out the Pirate Ship, to dreamers taking pictures.
Not too bad after 20 months in the water....
Time to scrape off the barnacles and tackle all of the jobs that can only be done on dry land. A good bottom clean, light sanding and new anti-foul is the primary job, and I happily recruited Tony Bowdler, one of the local shipwrights, to do it for me. I wasn't looking forward to being covered in toxic blue stuff for the next few weeks, but Tony made it look easy.
I stuck with the list of simpler jobs.
Cleaning up the topsides and repairing a few small dings, a couple of coats of varnish on the caprails and timber topsides, cleaning up the stainless steel windvane and bowsprit gear, working and lubricating all of the through-hull fittings, (there's 17 of 'em), topping up the self-steering gear with hydraulic fluid, cleaning out the filters and strainer for the raw water intake, the electric bilge pump and the freshwater tank, replacing the zinc anodes on the hull, fine-sanding the propeller, checking the manual bilge pump, cleaning out the cockpit drains, signwriting the lifebuoy, and finally, a full service on all of the winches on the deck. Which was another job for Tony Bowdler, so I could watch, learn and help to reassemble the tricky little buggars. The next time she's out of the water, I'll be doing everything myself. Aargh! But we're not finished yet.
Tony's going to be doing a full rigging inspection next week, and I've yet to have our shady new Bimini mounted to give us essential shade at the helm.
I stuck with the list of simpler jobs.
Cleaning up the topsides and repairing a few small dings, a couple of coats of varnish on the caprails and timber topsides, cleaning up the stainless steel windvane and bowsprit gear, working and lubricating all of the through-hull fittings, (there's 17 of 'em), topping up the self-steering gear with hydraulic fluid, cleaning out the filters and strainer for the raw water intake, the electric bilge pump and the freshwater tank, replacing the zinc anodes on the hull, fine-sanding the propeller, checking the manual bilge pump, cleaning out the cockpit drains, signwriting the lifebuoy, and finally, a full service on all of the winches on the deck. Which was another job for Tony Bowdler, so I could watch, learn and help to reassemble the tricky little buggars. The next time she's out of the water, I'll be doing everything myself. Aargh! But we're not finished yet.
Tony's going to be doing a full rigging inspection next week, and I've yet to have our shady new Bimini mounted to give us essential shade at the helm.
Just why she rides so well at sea. That big, long keel and massive rudder aren't built for anything but comfortable Ocean cruising.
| It was a busy week, and after countless trips up and down the ladder to the deck and crawling through the hellishly small spaces to get to some of the things that needed servicing, it was a major relief to see her back in the water. 
Tony whacking on a coat of good Altex #5
| 
The zinc's been doing its job.
Emerging, after grovelling under the cockpit, blinking at the daylight like a wombat.
Mechanical nightmares.....every winch is a gearbox.
|
A gentle nudge from the tractor.......
And whizz backwards down the railroad track into the water, just like a ride at Disneyland!
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