Tuesday 17^th January 2017

Around lunchtime today we slipped the lines and Scott-Free left the F12 berth at Hope Island Marina for the first time since she drove into it in early June last year.  It was a short drive round to The Boatworks where Steve steered her straight into the haul-out slip, and in no time at all she was in the slings and out of the water.  Steve stayed on board to keep an eye on the wind generator and hold its vanes still as the boat was lifted.  If the wind had turned them at just the wrong moment they would have broken against the travel-lift.

The boat was soon in the slings and out of the water.                                     Steve held the wind generator vanes still to avoid damage.

As the boat was trundled away into the spray-wash area, Steve appeared from behind her with a worried look.  The propeller was in a bad way.  It seems that it had suffered from rather severe electrolysis, and would need repair or replacement.  The rope cutter which sits behind it was also badly damaged, and the dynaplate earthing anode was no longer on the hull. The propeller anode was also completely gone.  It seemed we had suffered more damage in the Coff’s Harbour storm than we had realised.

A worried Skipper after seeing the state of the prop.                                       The boat gets a well-deserved jet-wash.  The anti-foul was still good.

The propeller in a very sad state. 

The rope-cutter almost destroyed.                                           The white patch on the hull where the dynaplate used to be.

Once the jet-wash of the hull was complete, we had a good look at the rest of her underwater profile.  We found deep gouges in both sides of her hull, and some damage to the fibreglass around the bowthruster tunnel, which we assume also occurred at Coffs.

Gouges in the hull down to the gelcoat on the starboard side...                  ...and on the port side.

We already had a boat surveyor booked to look at Scott-Free for the insurance company, and his report would now serve a dual purpose as this was going to be an insurance claim.  Steve asked around the boatyard for recommendations for a company to assess the prop damage, and was told by everyone that Watson’s Engineering were the people to see.  So they are sending someone tomorrow morning to take a look.

In the meantime the boat was settled into her cradle and we were very impressed to be brought a flight of stairs instead of a ladder for getting on board.  So much safer.

Smart eh?  Much safer than climbing up and down a ladder.

The mood on board was a little subdued over supper, but no point getting too down over it.  Best wait to see what tomorrow brings.