Haul out day finally arrived! We secured Galt and headed out for the hour long trip over to Phillipsburg where we were hauling out at Bobby’s Marina. Since we had been planning this haul out for months, we had informed the yard we would arrive at 11:30am so they would be ready. Ah, Caribbean time strikes again. When we arrived, there was already another boat in the travel lift. The yard manager told us to pull in behind the other boat and tie up to the dock. Bill somehow managed to pull Galt into the tight spot and we tied up without issue. By that time, it was lunch so we knew nothing was going to happen for at least two hours. We went to grab a quick lunch and even had time for an afternoon nap before the guys were ready to haul Galt. The main guy in charge came over and said, “Okay, we’re ready. Now, just flip the boat around so we can load it in stern first.” Flip the boat around??!! We barely got the boat into the space in the first place and now they wanted us to “flip it around?” Bill explained that Galt is not like a motor yacht or a catamaran that can “flip” in a tight space. The guys finally seemed to get the picture and they decided they would “flip” it around using their scow (small boat). Thus began the wrestling match. First, they tied the scow to the side of Galt. Then, as the pilot pulled Galt away from the dock, the other dockhands pushed as hard as they could to swing the bow around without knocking off the anchors. At the same time, they had to closely watch the back end of Galt because there were old posts sticking out of the water. Keep in mind that Galt weighs in the vicinity of 30 tons! Then, as if it could be made any more difficult, a charter catamaran returned from their day on the water and parked directly across from where the guys were trying to move Galt. One hour later, they had successfully “flipped” Galt into position. The next step for a haul out is to place large blocks on the side of the boat to prevent damage from the haul out straps. Getting the blocks in place and the straps tightened with five workers all doing the Caribbean yell-at-each-other-loudly-at-the-same-time routine had Bill looking like he was herding cats. With the straps finally in place, Galt lifted easily out of the water and had a nice power washing to knock off the sea. From the time we left the marina at 10:15am until Galt was out of the water was between 6 and 7 hours so it was a long day!
Since the haul out, we have been working our way through the boat chore list. We think we finally identified one drip/leak that has been a mystery since we bought the boat. The good thing about pulling the boat out of the water is that water that went into the boat generally comes out of the boat following the same path. So, day one we walked past the propellor and there was a steady drip of water coming from the prop shaft. Luckily, the prop and prop shaft were already on the inspection list so no new surprise! Our first tackle of the week was to pull out five thru hulls that we want to eliminate. Thru hulls are holes that are purposely put under the water line to allow water in for things like cooling the engine, supplying toilet water, etc. Over time as the boat is reconfigured, some of the thru hulls become obsolete. For obvious reasons, leaving unnecessary holes in the boat is not the best plan. After watching several YouTube videos, we were ready to go! Bill started on the first one only to discover that the seacocks (the device that keeps the boat from flooding) had been installed with an adhesive known in boat world as 5200. 5200 is great for boats because it is waterproof and once it is stuck, it is stuck. Great for keeping items stuck on a boat….not great for wanting to get items unstuck. Back to YouTube to see how to get 5200 to unstick itself. Take heat gun and heat the 5200 for at least 1.5 minutes. Take screwdriver and loosen heated area. Take needle nose pliers (Sally’s tool of choice) to grab putty and attempt to pull loose. Slam arm against bathroom cabinet door. Curse. Start at step one again. Meanwhile, Bill was outside the boat cutting the flange that holds the thru hull in place with a grinder. Grind, grind, grind. Remove flange. Stick large peg in hole. Beat peg with sledgehammer. Nothing budges. Curse. Beat again. We are proud to tell you that we successfully removed the thru hulls with only a few bruises and scrapes but if we were Catholic, we’d need a few Hail Marys for the amount of cursing that took place! We voted that Sunday was our day of rest so we hopped in the car to go exploring. Bill found a parrot sanctuary that looked super touristy but we figured we give it a try. It was a definite highlight! There were so many species of birds and they were all used to humans so they would land on our heads and shoulders which could be startling if you were not paying attention. As we prepare to go to Europe, I made a goal to only take two pictures of each site so that I do not end up with hundreds of pictures to edit every night. I am afraid I failed terribly at my new goal today. With 105 bird pictures under my belt, we headed out to the beach for a quick lunch between rain showers and then home so I could go through the pictures for the blog. Hopefully I will do better with my goal on the trip! Only twelve days left until we fly off to Europe so it will definitely be a busy week! More projects and more cursing ahead I am sure. I hope you have a wonderful week and if you stand very still, perhaps a bird will land on your head!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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