…And here we are again in another place altogether doing a thing we know how to do. The big job this time around is the bottom. Wait…that’s always the big job!!! Hmm, I see something I don’t like on the bow down there. This is Ray. He runs the yard at Eastport Yacht Center and drives the TravelLift. Not only is he very good at what he does, we get the feeling he really loves it. After hauling out so many times, you kind of get used to the mechanics of the thing. Put the boat in the straps, haul her out, power-wash, and jack stands… Just like that, you got a great big project on your hands. We mentioned last time that it’s been a while since we hauled her out of the water for the “full-meal-deal”, meaning replacing what sea-cocks need replacing, repairing the hull, and, of course, a new bottom-job. Traditionally we scrub the bottom with a few griddle-bricks, clean her off with some 216, and slough as much Trinidad SR on her as we can afford, but this time we wanted to do it up right! First order of business was the packing gland. We’ve had too much water coming in from around the prop shaft for quite some time now, and it’s given us more than a few bad moments. Rather than continue hurting ourselves on the engine trying to get to the packing nut and failing to move it once we’re there, we disassembled the exhaust system, pulled the cockpit drain hoses, and got right on in there. A short time later…and I mean 4 minutes later, if that…the packing wrench turned the packing nut and we gave a coordinated cheer. (No high kicks, though.) Another incredibly small period of time later, we were[…]
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