Our 2023 out of water maintenance continues. We have had a mix of good and bad surprises in Week Two at The Boat Works, but have progressed well and have now entered the reconstruction phase.

Dinghy Davits

The first job to have been ticked off is the new davits. Shine Stainless Steel Fabrications used the mount of the old ones, welded the taller right-angle tubes to that, to give us the height and clearance from the stern of Anui. We are happy with how it looks. The davits are sturdy, there is no scaffolding at the back so they are not objectionable nor blocking the view! The dinghy will be lifted in place when we are back in the water. For now it just sits under the bridge deck.

By the way, we have received some good news about the recalcitrant dinghy outboard: the top and lower part of the leg soaked in goop for a few days and have come apart, so Sea Tech Marine are able to change the impeller and we won’t need a new outboard. Phew!

Major work with the mast step

OMG what a horrible job. The sickening sound of Ryan at 143 Boat Building cutting then ripping out rotten timber went on for several days before he got it all! The rot had spread right underneath the two winches which had to be removed.

The worst bit was trying to take off the electric winch you can see in the picture which we use to raise the mainsail. Unfortunately, its base and bolts were fused in place and would not undo. It had to be attacked with an angle grinder. It looked like a crumbling piece of old gear once it was all out. 23 years of service in a marine environment will do that! It goes without saying we are up for a new Harken electric winch as we could not get parts for the old one. It has been ordered and is being couriered over from Italy. Ouch!

It was a relief when the slow process of rebuilding the mast step started. It involved epoxying in a new marine ply base, saturating the timber in Everdure epoxy, fibreglassing, then painstakingly sanding to get it all level, bogging the low bits, sanding, priming a couple of times and soon painting will start. Each stage needs a day to get done; it has taken the entire week to complete, but we are getting there! The 143 Boat Building team has been at it in very hot conditions… they are hard workers.

Resin injection against delamination

This is probably the least invasive repair for this haulout! Ryan drilled an inspection hole where the deck was delaminating at the back of the port engine hatch. We were all glad when it showed everything was dry and healthy under there; the top layers of fibreglass just needed to be glued back to the foam layer. Ryan proceeded to drilling small holes, injecting resin and fastening the layers together with screws! Once dry, the screws were removed, the area resealed, sanded and primed. Next it will be repainted.

Re-entry hatch

Wade removed the leaky hatch and tidied it up, but from then on the 143 Team took over to clean up the base where it affixes to the hull; they bogged, sanded, repaired the damaged frame and the whole lot can soon go back on, to be primed, painted and the hatch put back in place. The photo on the right is our starboard hatch, which was repaired a few years ago and shows what it normally looks like, and obviously the port one under repair is on the left.

Mast & Rigging

Craning the mast back up and rigging the boat of course could not be done until a solid mast step is reconstructed. So Anui is still looking like a crab without its gear up.

It is likely the standing rig will be back up next week. In the meantime though, SK Yacht Rigging have fitted the diamond stays and shrouds onto the mast and spreaders. Check out the shiny new turnbuckles! They look like jewels and are pricy like jewels! The guys have done as much as they can while the mast and boom are down; they have improved the way the spinnaker halyard is fed out of the mast and made a few other changes to the fittings. The various stays (forestay, backstay, cap shrouds, etc…) which prevent any backward, forward or lateral movement of the mast when it is up are ready to go, so it will be quick once the mast step is operational.

For now the mast sits on its trolley under the bridge deck as the yard has filled up with boats and space is at a premium!

Miscellaneous Jobs

As always we have handled a few jobs ourselves: the hulls have been scrubbed in preparation for the antifoul, the dinghy is cleaned up of all the algae and tea stain and looking much more presentable (citric acid and elbow grease do wonders), we have threaded the dinghy lifting lines for the davits as well as the wires for the stern light and AIS aerial. The BBQ is scrubbed and de-rusted, the marine toilets and seven winches serviced, the anchor chain swapped end to end, all the steel fittings on deck have been cleaned of rust with phosphoric acid. There has been more cleaning of upholstery to get rid of wood shavings, fibreglass dust and other itchy nastiness, and while it was not too hot the spare bed quilt got repaired. Chris even planted some new herbs to replace our dead ones. We have been busy, everything takes ages, it is hard yakka in the heat and our backs are complaining bitterly!

As for Bengie, she has been for daily outings under supervision very early in the mornings before the heat is too bad! It is safer that way, as between errant dogs and cane toads, there are a few nasties that could hurt her. Back on board she has found the least uncomfortable spot to be: in the cabin on the galley floor, just opposite her food and the air conditioner! Might have to join her!

We have caught up with other boats we know also having work done: Alidade, Roo Bin Esque, even Take It Easy and our Gold Coast friend Bill on Zed had us over to his place last week end, so it was nice to get away from the shipyard for some downtime.

There is still a bit to do: obviously 143 Boat Building and SK Yacht Rigging finishing their existing jobs, but as well as that there is the antifoul, and the repair to the cockpit floor and sugar scoops which have dents to be filled from too many tools dropped. Both of these jobs will be tackled at the very end, and the final painting of the cockpit and sugar scoops may well be done once we are back in the water so we don’t muck up the paintwork with grubby feet from the shipyard!

People ask us how much longer we are here for. The answer is “longer”!