Boatyard bliss

With the Port Douglas tourist season coming to an end Matey’s paid work dried up, which enabled us to contemplate hauling out before the wet season was upon us: a quick scrubbing back and repainting of the hull to keep the barnacles at bay — non? Hmmm — it’s rarely that simple. The proposed one week on the hardstand soon morphed into three.

Hauling out at the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron enabled us to have Ebb Tide propped up high, which gave good access to the centerboard casings. This turned out to be timely as a small hole was found in one. Best to find it before it becomes a leak! The centerboards were completely removed and the ropes were replaced. Amazingly, on the day prior to relaunching, we managed to get them back into position, with new ropes on and the pre-industrial rope and pulley system working smoothly again. This seemed an unlikely achievement at the time.

Glazed not crazed

Captain, on a whim, decided to order new windows. This created a few days’ extra work with the dismantling of the old, cleaning the gunk away, and installation of the new, but they have provided such joy Captain and Matey are both wondering why this wasn't done several years ago. It’s likely we’ll be celebrating the benefits of actually being able to see through windows for some time to come. If only we’d realised that good visibility was one of the main functions of windows … 

Wooden it be luverly

Matey embraced the task of varnishing all the interior wood. This included not just floorboards, but all cupboards, panels and wooden detailing; quite a job as it turned out, with the thrill of sanding the bits that couldn’t be removed inside the boat and the resulting blanket of dust that continues to reveal itself. The challenge and concern is that much of this wood had previously been treated with beeswax. The wax seemed to have evaporated from the more sun-exposed sections, while other areas required significant sanding. Whether the teak will happily accept this change long-term remains to be seen …

While Matey was labouring away at the wood Captain was having even more fun touching up the gelcoat, and the hull. Captain has decreed next time we need to water-blast the hull completely to take it back to its original gelcoat (i.e. remove all layers of antifoul).

Generally, we’re pleased with the result, with the new windows looking good even from the outside. After three fairly intense weeks a sanity break at Fitzroy Island and Turtle Bay reminded us why we live on a boat and made the boatyard bliss seem worthwhile. A week before the Xmas crowds we had Turtle Bay to ourselves and only a few other boats were at Fitzroy Island. A day’s sail and we were back at Port Douglas, with a warm welcome home.

At least we had a view of water and were high enough to catch some breeze

We managed one day off to go to Behana Gorge 

Once a naughty boy ...

Our freshwater bath at Turtle Bay