38:20.418N 23:43.473E
Muskrat
Chris and Alison
Fri 3 Nov 2023 20:12
There we were intending to spend a few days in Khalkis relaxing before we sailed to Khalkoutsi for our lift out. We were just enjoying a Sunday lunch out after visiting the archeological museum when we noticed an email from the Boatyard asking if we could be lifted out at 0800 the next day instead of two days time. The boat yard was only 10nm away but this was late afternoon and we really needed to get the sails down before we were lifted out. We thought about it over lunch and decided to agree to their request, so hurried back to Muskie and set sail for Khalkoutsi. Luckily the sea Gods were with us and the current pushed us along with the Genoa up at 8kts. We arrived in Khalkoutsi at 1730 and managed to get the Genoa down before it got dark. The main would have to wait until the morning.
In the morning another yacht was called in before us at 0700 so that gave us enough time to get the main off the mast and packed away before it was our turn to motor into the lift and get hauled out of the water for the last time this year. It was three years ago since we were last here and the boatyard was packed full with yachts, we were the penultimate yacht to be lifted, the last one would be lifted out on Friday. This proved to be perfect for us. We really needed to assess the copper coat damage and rectify it before we were put into the props, because the bottom of the keel was in desperate need of re-coating with at least 4 coats of copper and then it needed 4 days to cure. The yard agreed that we could stay in the lift for 4 days to allow us to prepare, put four coats of copper on and allow the keel to cure before being put on the blocks. In the end we only had 3 days curing, but hopefully that will have been enough time for it to have gone off enough.
The yard were very good at placing the props away from the rest of the areas on the hull that we needed to re-coat, so we now have time to prepare the hull and put on 4 more coats of copper coat to the areas that need it. The boatyard in Turkey have agreed with us a refund for the damage to the copper coat, so we can go ahead and order more copper to do the job that we now wish we had done ourselves in the first place.
Then, as if that isn’t enough, while trying to get the sails down in the dark, the deck light failed. While Chris was up the mast taking the old light down, he noticed a potential problem with the babystay fittings. It looked very much like the terminal had cracked. Our new rig, being only just 2 months old, this was not something we needed on top of the copper coat claim. We sent photo’s off to the yard in Turkey to ask what we should do and they got straight back to us advising us to get the rig checked by a rigger and they would reimburse us for the cost of a new babystay and fittings. So as well as the long list of jobs to do as per normal boat work at the end of the season, we now have to get the rig checked and potentially try to get a new babystay and fittings made up.
On the bright side, the weather is still warm and sunny, the water temperature is still in the high 20s’c and Khalkoutsi is still as we remembered it, lovely people, good facilities for shopping and eating out, and the family who run the boatyard are very kind and helpful.
So that’s our next 15 days planned out, we fly back to old Blighty on the 18th November.
Muskie on dry land again being taken to her winter home.
Coppercoat area’s on the hull that need some touching up. The bottom of the keel needed more TLC before being put down on the blocks.
Sent from my iPad