The team in the dockyard made a great job of the hull. We
were moved onto a hard stand once the hull had been pressure washed and then
they hand sanded the hull – fortunately there were quite a few of them
otherwise we might have been there for some time. The end product was great and
a really smooth finish which should give us a little more speed. The cost of
modern ablative antifouling paint is stunning and runs out at EC$ 850 per
gallon or heading for USD300 and it takes a few gallons to paint a 50ft hull.
Nevertheless the end product was good. We also cleaned all the exhaust outlets
and stainless at the water line level along with the through hulls. We had a
little trouble with the prop anode which was a very tight fit but got there
eventually. The night onboard was not a lot of fun with no facilities and sleep
was a little lacking. The yard was back in action by 0730 and we were heading for
the water by 0930. Wind was still heading for 25 knots and John got the
straddle operator the turn the rig around so we were pointing out of the dock
once in the water. It was then a case of pretending to be a champagne cork and accelerating
out as fast as possible to stay clear of the concrete. We were bow in on an
alongside berth at the cat club by 1100. Our two day workers, Skill and Sherman (mainly Skill)
had put in a claim for more money due to the hardship of working in the dry
dock and for once John put his foot down and said no. They agreed to come back
and move the boat out of the dock but not to do any work. They were terminated
on arrival at the berth! We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat in and out as
with the wind we have at present the sanding of the hull had produced a sheen
of blue dust everywhere. It was 1830 by the time we were done and back in
reasonable ship shape. John will have to finesse the interior before Kuki gets
here tomorrow or he will be for the high jump. A phone call to Mr Big produced
a car at 1630 and it must be a sign that we are almost residents in that it was
just left at the Cat Club and the first we new was when they rang us to get it
moved out of their way. We are still struggling with the cover for the main
hatch as the present ideas interfere with the gallows bracket. We have a
meeting of those involved on board first thing in the morning. We had a bit of
a chuckle with Maude who is our great laundry lady. John had filled a bag which
she collected before we went into dock and redelivered it this afternoon –
when john emptied it he found what he thought were someone else’s (female)
clothes and called Maude to let her know. What john had forgotten was
that before leaving in March Anita had put some of here clothes in the bottom
of the bag ready for the next service. Maude who is quite a character, came
down to the boat and pointed out that she knew the clothes were Anita’s
and it would be good for John to take some notice of what his wife wore!
