Hauled out again (at last!)

When Escapade was hoisted out in March, we noticed that there were a couple of places where the coppercoat had started to flake. We also noticed that, due to the increased equipment on board, she was floating lower in the water and the antifouling was not covering all of the underwater part of the hull. This was causing growth directly on the gelcoat which was very difficult to remove. We decided to have the water line raised to minimise this issue. It was too cold in March to apply the coppercoat and give it time to cure, so we had to wait until the weather got warmer and drier. We hadn’t expected that to be as late as June!

Whilst the copper coat is great for most of the hull, there are some parts of the boat that are not coppercoated. This includes the rudder shoe, the propeller, sail drive leg and the skin fittings. These things attract growth like weed, barnacles and even the odd mussel.  We need to clean them up, rub them back and repaint them with three coats of Trilux.

A messy job which takes time, but the end product is definitely worth it.

While out of the water, we took the opportunity to carry out some general maintenance.

One of these jobs was to replace the anodes. These are lumps of zinc which protect areas of the boat from galvanic corrosion. This occurs when two different metals are immersed in a conductive solution and are electrically connected. The anodes are sacrificial ie they get ‘eaten’ and, therefore, protect the other boat parts. They need to be checked and replaced regularly – usually once a year. This CAN be done while the boat is in the water, but it is obviously easier when she is out!

Of course, anyone who has a boat knows that there are always unexpected jobs that crop up…

While we were out of the water, we decided it would be useful to clean out our black water tanks. We put in some cleaner, left it to soak and then tried to empty it out. Nothing!! The hoses need unblocking. This involved Martin filling the tanks with cleaner and me standing under the boat to catch the water with a bucket. All good fun!!