Hauled, Cleaned, Repaired, and Splashed

On the Rail

One of the main reasons for heading back here to Virginia instead of going straight to New England was because of the haul-out facility here. Since we are a catamaran not every boat yard with a travel lift can haul us because of our wide beam (23' 7").  Before we came up we checked around Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, but while there were many places to haul us, they also were a lot more expensive and often wouldn't let you do your own work. Some of the ones that did, were quite expensive compared to what we had experienced here last year.

Rail that Hauled Us

The yard here has a railway system that basically pulls your boat out of the water on some wooden rails. Your boat just sits on the rails while you do your work (or have it done) and then they just slide you back in. We were here last in October, but have to haul again because the guy that helped us with our saildrives (the motors that run the propellers under the boat) didn't tell us we needed to change the seals in them (long story). So, we had water seeping into the motors (which we knew was bad) until now. And, much to our surprise, when we pulled her out of the water, both of the saildrive boots had fallen off!! They were still attached to the saildrive, but they were no longer sealed to the boat! Cripes! My personal opinion was that he used the 3M marine glue 5200 (good) but didn't use the fast-set kind (bad) and we were not out of the water long enough for the glue to set.  When we redid these saildrives, we decided to put stainless steel channels on the boot to help hold it in place and used the 5200 fast-set glue which only needs 24 hours to set.

Boot Not Where it Should Be

Boot Where it Should Be

While we spent the winter in Charleston, SC in a marina (Bill was working) the water there was so shallow that we were sometimes sitting on the muddy bottom which wore away more of the bottom paint than in other areas. So we bought 1 gallon of bottom paint to touch up some areas and repainted the waterline, rudders and keels.  Being in marinas tends to corrode the sail drive zincs, so those had to be replaced too.  We did find 1 blister (water that has seeped through to the fiberglass) and repaired that as well. 

Cooper Coloring Props

We heard that if you "paint" your saildrive propellers with a sharpie (not sure if color matters) that barnacles won't stick to it.  We thought it was worth a shot; the grease that was put on the last time didn't help very much.


We were out for four days and it being out of the water just reeks havoc on anything else working normally. We couldn't stay on it - the marina was a working yard and there is no water available so not much cooking can happen.  I have to say the boys are such good troopers that I can't believe I lucked out with totally uncomplaining happy boys. They were very content to play legos, help work on the boat and do school in the car (a little reluctance there).  The days are very hot and uncomfortable in Virginia now, so we tried our best to be done as soon as we could, but it still took 4 days.  Luckily, Bill has a lot of points with Marriott and we were able to spend a few "free" nights in a hotel, and the rest, well, we do have a Westy. 

Getting on the Boat

Cool and Quiet Reading Spot

Marshmallow Man Painting the Rudder

The other things that we have been trying to do (and had hoped to do out of the water) was to put a graphic and our boat name on the side of the boat in that big huge white space.  We finally got a quote from someone however it was too late to have it done while we were out of the water. So, we are debating what to do now since we have until July 10 (or so ) before we have to leave here. 

Graphic to be On the Side

Still planning to head north soon, but nothing definite yet, but it's doubtful we could last the summer here without melting.