4th Thursday on the hard

I hope this is our last full day ‘status’ report of life on the hard. There’s an expression : “Life is hard in the yard.” It’s true.

• Wrote a launch checklist.  Having played around with the underwater bits I want to be sure we catch any leaks as early as possible.
• Tied on new jib sheet protector.  This is a line tied from a couple of meters up the mast down to the deck to keep the jib sheets away from the mast and being damaged.
• Installed new clamshell scoops.
• Visited the Town Basin Marina to confirm our intended Friday (that’s today !!!!) arrival and discuss location.  Bumped into Darusha/Steve from Scream and Christa from Lileth.
• Tested the freezer.  Not exactly a hard task.  I simply turned it on.
• Put sea anchor away.  Even though it needs another wash we’ve properly packed it in the bag and stowed it ready for unhoped for use.
• Cleaned deck/dive locker.
• Connected other end of exhaust hose (ie, the end not ultimately attached to the new through hull)
• Helped install the new anchor guard
• Tested the starboard motor.  In doing this we had one of those “Oh No” moments.  The zinc on the end of the prop was wobbling and so was the end of the on which it sat.  Was the nut (the one we’d had pinned onto the shaft) on wrong?  Was the shaft bent?  I took two and a half expert oppinions and the general sense was the prop was running withing a hairbreadth of true and we had no problem.  Phew.
• Attached and raised anchor
• Collected the new sails.  In doing this I discussed options with the sail makers for the fitting.  End result is they’re coming to the boat in the yard at 7:30am this morning.  I took the sails as there was a possibility the boat may already be raised by then making it more awkward to get them aboard.

In the afternoon both Helen and I were both awash with fatigue.  Perhaps it was coming down from the adrenalin of the wobbly nut.  After three weeks of dust and dirt and being a day from launch, the possibility of being delayed was not a pleasant one.  But we kept on and energy did eventually renew.

One other event which could have been a lot nastier than it ended up occurred when I was taking a hard drive over to Tahina.  I took a short cut under the some boats and was just about to jump a ditch when the firm footing for my take off turned out not to be firm at all.  I plunged into the ditch arresting my fall with my shin on some rocks.  There were scratches and numbness down my leg but no extra joints.  The hard drive and my bones were intact so all else was secondary and a relief.  Karen and Frank tended to my condition by preparing soapy swabs to clean the dirt out of the wounds and giving me a big band aid (which later took off a lot of hair) for the main bash.  I refrained from taking any further short cuts for the rest of the day.

The external work is now more or less complete. The anchor guard is now in place and the anchor chute epoxied. We’ve had bigger screws put into the mast based and have had propspeed applied to the props and shafts. Bar one small section on the starboard side the sides of the boat have been polished.

The main entertainment for the day came from the launch of a multi million dollar power cat which didn’t go as smoothly as it could.  The truck bringing it to the yard fractured in a few places and they had one big mistep (it appeared) when they placed it on the ramp above high tide.  While it was interesting to watch from time to time our main interest in seeing it launch was to know there was no bloody great boat stuck in the ramp we’re due to exit on Friday (today !!!!!).

Towards the end of the day I dropped of a case of beer for the workers as a thank you.  Turned out to be very welcome as Peter is taking them down the river this evening for a ‘booze cruise’ and this will add to the party.

We finished the evening by sharing grilled sausages and veg with Dennis and Allison from Kalida.  We had a good time together and the evening ended off with their sharing some of the Fiji experiences and our taking notes on places to go.

Soon.

Today, if you hadn’t guessed, is launch day. The sails will go on. The polishing complete. The dinghy raised. The boat raised and rudders fitted. This afternoon we’ll be off.

Oh.  How can I forget.  I uploaded pictures of the concert/wetlands walk from last Sunday (you’ll need to go back).  And I’ve uploaded some pictures of the boat work.  Here.

I have a few more pictures to add and take so I’ll republish this album when it’s complete.