There is much to do, before a boat is ready for storage on the dry: toping up all tanks with water and fuel, emptying the waste tanks, removing all things, that could rotten during the storage, removing the sails, the soil cover, some lines, removing some electronic equipment, cleaning all parts from the salt, that has built up from the spray of the ocean, washing and deflating the dingy, flushing the engine, the AC-unit and the cold machine with special fluids to prevent them from corrosion, changing motor and gear oils, etc. Some of these tasks are tough jobs. Removing the sails can be hard work - I would estimate the weight of the sail clothes only at slightly more than 100 kilograms.
Last week, we gave Tranquilizer a special treatment - we waxed and polished the hull. In addition, the bottom got painted. Take a glance at her fantastic look!
When cleaning uno after a cruise, you will always discover some minor parts, that needs to be replaced mostly as a precautionary maintenance. Many things, such as an oil change, do sound to be an easy job. But on a bot, there are different routes in place... There is no way, on how you could bring an oil pan underneath the engine, to drain the used oil in to. There is very limited accessibility to every thing, especially for a guy like me! So everything takes considerably longer, than you would expect it from the experiences you might gained, while working on a car or motorcycle. But if you have done it once, you know the tricks and what tools become handy for some jobs.
But we wanted to spend all our remaining time in the boat yard. When ever we worked on the boat in the morning, we headed for the beach in the afternoon. The weather is just gorgeous. On some days, I went to the boat yard early. Beatrice followed later with the car. I took the Harley for the ride to the boat. It's always just pure joy, to ride the harley on the wide roads, hemmed with various palm trees.
