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Rigging and Bottom Work – Part 1

Part1-Featured

Today was the first day of a very anxious week. We need a week’s worth or more of major work on the boat. Last month, we had a professional inspection done of our standing rigging (the wires that hold up the mast). Several cracks were found in critical areas along with some advancing corrosion in others. Given that all our standing rigging is almost 20 years old, we decided to have it replaced. Since the boat needed to be pulled out of the water for this job, we also decided to have the bottom painted at the same time. It’s been 4 years since Paula and I painted it back in Maryland and we could tell when I last dove under that much of the original biocide had leached out.

We will post on the progress of the work over the course of the next couple of weeks or so as it happens. Today in part 1 the boat came out of the water and was washed and blocked. In the next post (Part 2) , the mast will be pulled off the boat in order to renew the standing rigging.

Part1-1
We just pulled into the haul-out slip at St. Augustine Marine Center. There was a lot of current at the entrance to this slip so we had to come in fast and then slow down quick.
Part1-2
The gigantic 100-Ton travel lift drove out and lowered its massive webbed straps into the water. The boat was then positioned over the top of the straps.
Part1-3
The straps are raised just enough to take on the weight of the boat. The lift operator then adjusts each of the four ends of the straps (with pulleys at the top of each strap) to center the boat and make sure it’s level.
Part1-4
Up it goes! The bottom was recently cleaned by a diver so it looks pretty good as it comes out of the water.
Part1-5
Now completely out of the water, the lift drove it a short distance to get it over land. It then got a power washing to get off all the slime and any barnacles. In this picture you can see just how big the crane is. Our 45′ boat looks tiny by comparison.
Part1-6.jpg
The bottom now washed, the lift drove the boat to the spot in the yard where it will be set down on jack-stands for the real work to begin.
Part1-8
Sitting nicely on the ground with the jack-stands holding it up. The travel lift now moving away to its next job.

Click here to read Part 2 of this job.

5 Responses

  1. All our wishes for a speedy dry dock adventure! Good luck! And to think… in around a year and a half I’ll hopefully be joining this world too!

    Reply

  2. Paula told me that there was a boat in the haul-out slip when you arrived and you had to jockey around until the other boat left the slip. I too had the same experience in Marathon. I don’t know if you remember the Marathon boat yard. There was very little room to jockey the wide 52 foot Defever. Ah the life of a boater.

    Reply

    1. Yes, there was a boat there. We were told ahead of time it might still be there and, if so, we were to pull into the empty slip next to the haul-out slip and wait for it to be moved. That’s what we attempted to do, but as we got halfway into the other slip, a couple guys jump on the other boat and started backing it out. The lift operator now told us to back our boat out and wait in the fairway for the other boat to leave. Then we were to immediately pull into the haul-out slip. All this was much easier said than done with all the current racing past the entrance to the haul-out slip. All of our maneuvers, as well as those of the other boat, had to be high-power and fast to overcome the current. Their was a lot of diesel exhaust in the air when all was said and done. Luckily no damage.

      Reply

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