Gran Tarajal 23 April 2012 Haulout

At 0900 hrs Monday 16 April we motored from our Gran Tarajal marina berth the short distance to the Travel Lift slot.

 Shortly afterwards Antonio, the lift operator hauled us out of the water

There was a lot of white coral worm growing on the hull

 Manoeuvering us to our alloted space on the hard

 Antonio pushes the concrete blocks into position

 and then steers us towards them

 and sets us down on the blocks. Juan Carlos's men position his supports around us

 Dutch Link with its bottom pressure washed ready to be worked on

 One of the first jobs was to repair a very slow leak on the engine exhaust outlet which, luckily is above the water line except when we are heeled over.Tried to remove the securing bolts

 but several of the bolts proved to be inaccessible

 and finally gave up after trying for several hours  to reach them with the aid of a mirror and various combinations of spanners - very frustrating

 Hopefully solved the leak with the aid of epoxy putty followed by Primacon Primer and sikaflex around the bolts - we keep our fingers crossed

 Next job was to replace the skeg and propshaft anodes - both of which had very little zinc left - a good sign as this means they are doing their job and protecting the boat

 the new skeg anode

 and new propshaft anode

 meanwhile Jeannette is busy preparing the centre board for antifouling

 Antonio lifts the boat once more to allow us to fully lower the centre board and antifoul the hull above the concrete blocks

 J is creating a Picasso priming the bare Aluminium parts of the centreboard - Interprotect Primer on the bare sanded Aluminium parts followed by Primacon Primer before antifouling

 A year or so ago we suffered a bad scratch from a half sunken finger berth at Puerto Castillo. Luckily it had only removed the primer and there was no pitting

 so a bit of sanding and priming was all that was required

 Next the bow thruster is cleaned , primed

 and antifouled

 A job we had not planned was to remove the paint on the sides of the boat which has been blistering in places for some time. We decided to make a start on this exhausting job as we had access to a wonderful wheeled platform

 Meanwhile Juan Carlos's men antifouled the boat with Trilux 33

 Discovered that a normal wood chisel is the best paint scraper

 J repaints depth marks on the anchor chain with interprotect Primer

 Completely removed the paint on the port side except for the bit with our boat name on it

 Log/boatspeed impelor cleaned and vaselined

 and antifouled after reinserting in the through-hull fitting

 We ran out of time on the starboard side - will leave it till next time we are out of the water - we have removed the bad blistered paint parts so we do not expect this to be a problem

 As we have no wifi access on the boat, we have been visiting the Cultural Centre where there is free wifi

 The building is closed at weekends but thed WiFi is accessible from outside the building

 but during the week we can internet from inside

Plan to go back into the water tomorrow 24 April then sail to Punta Jandia (SW tip of Fuerteventura) to anchor overnight. Hopefully sail to Las Palmas on Wednesday

Miami Yacht & Engine Works 19 Jan 2010

For the last week we have been on the hard at Miami Yacht & Engine Works on the Miami River.
The leaking seacock for the engine seawater inlet has been replaced, the boat antifouled and the bow thruster electrics repaired. On emptying the sail locker to gain access to the Bow Thruster we found quite some water sloshing around - further investigation revealed that the top lip seal on the anchor windlass shaft was leaking. So anchor winch off and dismantled and new parts ordered. As we had to wait for the parts, took the opportunity to change the propellor shaft seal which had been dripping and carry out lots of other jobs which we had been postponing. Back in the water today but have decided to solve the white smoke on start up problem with the main engine - advice from Mike from Jade Woman suggests that the springs in the injectors may be weak and let fuel drip into the cylinders when the engine is not in use. So trade in injectors have been ordered and a certified Volvo Penta Mechanic booked to fit them on Friday.
So our departure for the Bahamas is somewhat delayed - still, on the bright side a lot of items which needed fixing will have been fixed.
Our friends on Yara have used the weather window of the last couple of days to cross the Gulf Stream and are now in Nassau and will be heading south for Cuba - so unfortunately we are unlikely to see them until probably Bermuda in May.
Temperatures in Miami have risen dramatically the last few days and are now in the mid 20Cs most days so no need for fleeces and heating - this is apparently how it normally is at this time of the year so the locals must really have had a shock last week with temperatures plummiting to the freeze point
Our camera decided that we have dropped it once too often and will only produce grainy pictures so sorry for the picture quality - have had to order a replacement.