It is time once again for the annual haul-out. Actually, this year we took the decision to take Scarlet out of the water a couple of months earlier than normal to address any issues as soon as possible pending our plans to sail to the Med this year.
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| Scarlet's home for the next 4 weeks
The underside looked to be in good shape but on closer inspection, the anti-foul had started to blister in a number of places where the pre-purchase survey was carried out. I suspect that the paint was scraped away to the gel-coat to get a moisture reading and the patches were just painted over without being primed. Not a big deal but it would mean extra work to 'feather' the edges and apply a couple of coats of primer. The inside of the bow thruster tunnel was also looking a bit 'scabby' so I used a shave hook to remove the flaky paint.
Thruster tunnel and one of may flaky survey patches on the hull.
Most of the paint in the tunnel now out and the edges of the survey patch now feathered in readiness for a couple of coats of primer. I removed the thruster blades to make access easier.
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Before After |
Once the survey patches were taken care of, I wet sanded the hull by hand and cleaned the residue off with a mild detergent. The weather by now, had turned very cold and the day time temperature struggled to get much above a few degrees C. This meant waiting for the weekend when it would be warm enough to apply the anti-fouling (Hempel Tiger Xtra). Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and the first snow of the year arrived.
Thankfully a few days later and most of the snow had gone and the temperature finally rose above freezing.
One issue of concern was only spotted at the last minute just before Scarlet went back in the water last year and this was a hairline crack at the top of the rudder. If the crack was left it would almost certainly result in water ingress and weaken the area around the rudder stock. In order to get to the area to repair the rudder, it first needed to be dropped by about six inches. Thanks to Matthew Yeomans of Mathews Boat Care, the repair went smoothly as you can see from the pictures below.
It is not easy to see but take my word for it, there is a small hairline fracture close to the rudder stock.
As far as we could tell, little or no water ingress had taken place which was a great relief.
The finished result below
The rest of the work was straightforward and a week later, all was done. All that remained was to have a long soak in the bath, anti-fouling gets everywhere and pop Scarlet Lady back in her mooring.
In the coming months the original lead acid batteries will be replaced with Absorbed Glass Mat versions and we are considering fitting a Walder Boom Brake
As soon as the weather improves, we will have a series of shake down cruises before leaving for Plymouth in May.
