Scott Michelle Voyage: Bye Bye Boatyard

Monday, December 5, 2011

Bye Bye Boatyard

Malaika hauling out

Malaika up on the hard

Yay!!! Thanks to our friends Aaron & Greer from SPYBO Marine, I have wifi today & can show you all the work we've done to the bottom of our boat. Since we had to haul out anyway, we did several projects--don't plan on hauling out again for a long time. It actually only took a couple of hours to fix the little leak. Aaron & Scott have spent most of the past 2 days & nights repairing the rudder. During our marine survey before we bought the boat we were told the rudder had 2 soft spots & would need to be repaired in the next couple of years. Aaron has alot of experience with that so we went ahead. What a job that was. "Glass work" (fiberglass repairs on a boat)is a slow, messy, tiring project. Scott & Aaron spent 2 very long days & nights on the rudder. We patched up the bottom paint, got a powerwash, put new zinc plates on.

Being in the boatyard sucks. There are chemicals everywhere, the sound of sanders & grinders starts about 7am & continues through out the day. We have to climb up a long ladder to get on & off the boat--which is a little difficult with Jib. I can't wait to "splash" (get the boat back in the water). This is the 1st time in 4 months we've slept on land. It feels weird. We're splashing in a couple of hours during high tide & then we're going to tie up to a mooring ball outside of the City Marina. We plan on leaving Tuesday or Wednesday. We are going outside & heading to Lake Worth. About 200 miles . These will be my 1st overnighters. Either Greer or Aaron, who are both licensed captains, are coming with us. It's a long journey to do without stopping. It will be a great learning experience for Scott & I before we cross to the Bahamas...by ourselves! I can't believe it's really happening. Everything we've done the last 6 months.... We're so close!!!