Out of the Water

Escapade had been on the water for just over a year and the time had come to check out ‘below the waterline’.

We had a couple of through hull fittings that had gone green (a sign of leaking). These needed resealing. Also, the propellor need checking as we weren’t sure that the pitch (angle of the blades) was quite right.

We left Escapade in the capable hands of the team at Fox’s  Marina to manoeuvre from her berth to the haul out lift. It was a little nerve racking, but they made it look easy!

Most boats have their hulls painted with an anti-fouling paint. This helps to reduce the growth and weeds and barnacles and makes it easier to clean the hull when things do grow on it. Traditionally, this is a special paint which needs to be reapplied every year. With Escapade, we had chosen Coppercoat instead. This is more expensive to apply, but should last up to 10 years without reapplying. It is also supposed to make it easier to clean off growth. Haul out was a chance to check how effective it had been.

We were very impressed! The hull itself was covered with a fine slime which could have been wiped away. Only the places not Coppercoated had growth: the sail drive, the propeller and the sonar heads.

(NB: As with any job on a boat, the haul out did lead to other jobs..we needed to replace the anodes on the sail drive and propellor!)

The whole hull was pressure washed and came out as good as new!