And so it begins...

New flooring in the salon and steps down to galley:

The old carpet, installed in 2009, was beyond yucky. I used a carpet cleaner on it at least once a month, but I think carpet is gross. Here's proof, we moved the end table and could see the original carpet color. 

Thank you Robbie's Maritime Center

Robbie's was great for our haul out. The people were wonderful. Our stuff, no matter how much we left out, was never touched. We felt safe and supported throughout our bottom job. Robbie's is great!! 

We're glad to be done with all that hard work though. 

More haul out pics

Notice the number of paint blisters that we ground, faired, sanded, sealed, and painted!!! Hundreds!! (If, for any reason they fail and pop off I may just cry myself into a catatonic state).

The haul out

Well, the 14 days in the yard certainly kept me busy. The work was tremendous, the sore muscles would have kept me up at night except the exhaustion overruled. The only work we haven't completed is painting the decks. EVERYTHING else is done!!! Yup, shiny new thru hulls and seacocks, a smooth painted bottom, and super clean running gear. 

The amount of time and effort required for each of those tasks (in 90 degree high humidity with nothing but an extension cord and a garden hose) is indescribable... I'm glad it's over...and I'm proud that we did it with minimal help. 

Anticipation

The anticipation is building as we prepare for the big haul out. My parents have graciously offered up their trawler for us to stay aboard while Hope is on the hard, we were able to take out a decent loan to cover expenses, and a big shipment of parts arrives at West Marine on Tuesday (the Defender order comes later in the week, I think).  I'm not looking forward to the hot work, but I know it will be so rewarding as we finish each project. 

Every weekend now is devoted to preparations in some way. We think, that if we can do and find everything we think we need, then all the things we've overlooked won't be such a burden when the time comes. I'm sure we'll spend a large chunk of time going to west marine and Home Depot during the haul. 

Well, time to sleep a bit. Tomorrow brings with it a non-functioning water pump for the air conditioners. Glad we have 2 pumps. Redundancy is nice, but I'm worried we will overheat the ac units if we were to run all 5. Shouldn't need them all till August, but broken things bother me. As most boat owners know, there's always something that needs attending. A visit to West Marine is in my near future...but when isn't it? :)

Gearing up for a haul-out

Oh boy.  The words no boater wants to hear.  Haul out. On the hard.  In the yard.  It's a boat, after all, and should be floating happily in the water.  Except when it needs a bottom job.  Ugh.  So, Hope will be hauled out the first of June and put up on the hard for a month (hopefully less).  She's in need of some extensive and expensive maintenance.  The items on our list are no surprise, we knew they would need replacement and repair at some point.  The time has come.  We will be doing most of the labor ourselves.  I'd better find a good pair of coveralls and a NIOSH approved mask.

Here's the list:

• bottom cleaning, grinding, then painting with multiple coats
• upper decks sanding and painting with multiple coats of AWLGRIP
• upper decks traction areas repainted with textured Awlgrip
• replace all thru hull fittings 
• replace all seacock valves
• replace the packing glands
• replace the...I always forget the name of the thing that allows the shaft to spin
• replace all sea strainers (the ones on the engines are HUGE and cost $1500 each)
• install 2 new air conditioning units
• replace all air conditioning water cooling system hoses
• replace all head waste directional valves

Needless to say, I took out a substantial loan today.  I'd rather be taking a vacation, but this list has to be completed.  It's not optional work.

Pics of Hope...the before

So I found some of the "before" pictures of Hope.  Some things haven't been changed much, while others (watch for the mustard yellow formica in the 3 heads) have changed greatly.

Forward Head BEFORE

Forward Head AFTER

Forward Head AFTER

Owners' stateroom looking aft BEFORE

Owners' stateroom looking starboard AFTER

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Owners' stateroom looking aft AFTER

Owners' stateroom looking forward AFTER

Owners stateroom port side BEFORE