Preparation at Fox's marina in Ipswich
Al Shaheen
John & Jenny Franklin
Thu 22 May 2014 16:13
Al Shaheen was taken to Fox's last October for a complete re-paint. As the scope of this project required the removal of most of the deck fittings this necessarily required a lot of work being done below decks and in the anchor and cockpit lockers for access, and removal of head-linings as well as disconnection of numerous electrical and instrument circuits. She was hauled out in October and the mast removed and after some exploratory work to assess the full scope of re-painting, she was then put into a shed in November and work continued in the dry throughout the winter. From the beginning a completion date of 31 March 2014 was agreed. I had set this to allow a for (a) an over-run of 2 weeks, (b) a commissioning period of 4 weeks and (c) a departure date for the Baltic of 15 May.
Before hauling in October Jenny and I practically stripped the boat of all her gear and transferred everything to a 20 ft shipping container in the yard, but at 10 ft elevation! We worked for days lugging boxes up a flight of steel stairs. In total we must have carried the best part of a ton of gear up there judging by the rise in the waterline. We then went away to South Africa in November and returned in March.
The execution of the project is another story, but Fox's did an excellent job except that they were 6 weeks late which put enormous pressure on ourselves as, by that time, we were also commissioning our new apartment! Al Shaheen was finally launched and the mast stepped on 6 May but with still lots of work to be completed which held us up in putting the gear back aboard. She was eventually loaded and most commissioning jobs completed by 19 May but I had then to return home for a small operation on my arm. We finally sailed on Thursday 22 May, stressed, ragged and exhausted.