Maintenance "41:35.48N 71:17.00W"
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 21 Aug 2011 13:05
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We're now 'hauled out' for two weeks of annual
maintenance, a really gruelling task. We have a long list of jobs to complete
but the biggest is the exterior of the hull. The section above the waterline
needs to be cleaned and polished. Removing the effects of a year's exposure to
sun and salt is a major task and this year we admitted defeat and resorted to
mechanical help to clean the badly oxidised blue stripe along the waterline.
Here I am in action. The picture might make it look easy. It isn't!
 And here is Alison, painting the hull with a mild
acid to get rid of brown iron staing and return it to a pristine white. The
picture might make it look easy. It is.
 But the really hard, and truly horrible, task is
sanding down the underwater part of the hull in preparation for repainting with
antifouling. The hot waters of the Caribbean promote growth by barnacles, worms
and other marine organisms all of which have to be removed before repainting.
Barbacles in particular are really tenacious and have to be ground off. I'm sure
that the human race could profit by a better understanding of what they use to
glue themselves onto their substrate - superglue is nothing by
comparison.
And here I am, rubbing off, again by machine. New
US regulations quite rightly require vacuum sanding to prevent pollution (we
should pass the same law in the UK, but as yet have not) which is much better
for the environment - and for us. Here I am in action with the sander ($25 per
hour, a snip at $125 for a full day!). It is back breaking work (you only get to
sit down at the lower levels!) in protective gear in the heat but thankfully we
got it all done in a day (it took us nearly three by hand in Scotland last
time).
 Next the painting (fun) and the polishing
(not).
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