17th April - back in the water - life on the hardstand

Thursday 17^th April

All is well – 2XS is back on the water, where she belongs!  We have achieved everything we had hoped.  The antifoul is thickly coating the bottom, and has crept up the side to a better level.  The dinghy is now fat and not flat… (cough…for the moment…)  The trampoline net is well on the way to being secured in a better way.  We are mildly exhausted but pleased with this speedy work.

We also found an unexpected leak, in the keel.

I took ages to drain out – drip drip – but as soon as it had calmed down a bit, Pete sealed it up with araldite.  The strange looking shell-like thingy is…an anode.  NOT to be painted… And oh dear…the collar around the propeller shaft is also an anode…which I painted by mistake.  On both props, to make matters worse.  I know I wrote about it yesterday, but I didn’t have the courage to take a photo.  This is how it looks AFTER I have spent a lot of time scraping and scrubbing with various implements, none of which worked very well at all in removing the dreaded antifoul.

It was quite interesting, living on the hardstand for a few nights.  Very different to being on the water in the marina.  All of the boats on the hardstand are high and dry, getting work done, or all covered up waiting for their owners to return.  Or not…

Some of the boats look as if they are there for the duration, gently disintegrating on their stands.  The boat opposite us looked a bit shabby too but it has been partly transformed and is now gleaming, glistening BLACK.

It looks very impressive.  We watched Mark

Mark and Rachel in more leisurely moments

and his team working in a most disciplined manner, transforming this boat.  VERY hard work, with the sun beating down so mercilessly.  The paint dries almost as soon as it has left the sprayer.  But…if you want to get your boat painted – come to Rebak and get Mark and his team on the job!

We went down to the beach bar at 6pm.  Pete said there was no way in the world he could walk that far (500 metres or so…) but that he would just be able to make it on his bike.  Oh thank heavens for these bikes.  They make life so much easier, especially in this baking heat.  I took my iPhone, thank goodness, because one of my hornbill friends landed right in front of the bar in the greenery, looking impossibly cute.

It then jumped onto the beach and hopped along the sand very confidently, not at all bothered by the nearby people.

The rest of today is going to be much less strenuous than our hardstand days.  I have made two of the beds for our much-anticipated guests, arriving Saturday 9.30am.  This might not sound like hard work but…it necessitates a cold shower both before AND after…I am very sooky, in the heat.  The other bunk also needs to be prepared but…this is what it looks like right now:

And usually the bikes are up there as well.  No room for a boy at all!  We will have to rearrange things, just a bit…

My other domestic achievement of the day has been trying to find the yucky smell in the fridge, and then eradicating it with vanilla essence.  I can’t say I get all the horrid jobs – look what Pete did, for HOURS!

Finding a mouldy lemon, which had carefully disguised itself as perfectly healthy by only being mouldy on the underside, was really a very pleasant task compared to grinding away the growth on the bottom of the keels.  I started doing this job, very confidently, but I found it impossible.  Holding a grinder up above my head while lying on a plank while dirty dusty STUFF fell into my eyes, nose, mouth, set me coughing and retching within minutes.  I don’t know how Pete did it so bravely for many hours.  He is made of sterner stuff!!  I know I did help with the hardstand jobs but I reckon I can only claim about 25% of the achievement.