Hauling out is probably my least favourite part of owning a boat. It costs a lot of money, you are on a bit of a schedule to do work as every extra day costs you even more money, staying aboard the boat in the yard is miserable (I believe ‘shitty treehouse’ is how I’ve described it before) and at least around by me the nearest yard is miiiiiles away.

For all these reasons plus the fact that I like putting things off I didn’t plan to haul out till summer (I justified it as the days would be longer so easier to get work done), however the schedule bumped up a bit when I started removing some of the old marine head (toilet) hoses. I closed the intake seacock, took the hose off… and water continued dribbling in. Uh oh. Basically, this meant I had a hole in the boat I couldn’t shut off, and the fact that the seacock was leaking suggested that the inside was someone rusted out a bit. Meaning the whole thing was at risk of crumbling.

Bugger.

For a temporary solution I put the hose back on and ran it up to above the waterline with an extension hose added on, and then tried to haul out asap in order to get the thruhull pulled. Which wasn’t easy – all the boatyards were jammed solid for weeks as were any marine services people, but by phoning around a lot I managed to get a spot at Canoe Cove.

The trip up went flawlessly and we got yanked out on time

haulout1 haulout2

In between haranguing the marine service people to help me glass over the two thruhulls (I also decided to do the old marine head outflow, because it was gross and while one less hole in the boat is good, two less holes is even better!) time was found to do the bottom of sooner

Look at the size of the boat under the waterline! That’s a full keel for you. I was kinda dreading it but it actually turned out easier than Gudge’s fin keel – there was a lot more to paint (2 gallons was just enough for one coat), however you didn’t really have to get ‘under the hull’ like you did with a fin keel so it was mostly like painting walls and Rob (my dock neighbour who generously offered to help), Liz and me banged it out in a mornings work.

Eventually my constant nagging persuasive and gregarious nature won out and I got Blackline to help me glass over both thruhulls.

First they had to be removed, this is the leaking one for the head intake (note it is also placed right next to the batteries)

They were removed with a lot of swearing (and I had to resort to cutting the thruhull off with a Dremel cutting blade in one of the cases)

The condition of the one above was ok, it’s Marelon which doesn’t corrode but the condition of the bronze intake was pretty rough.

Felt really good to get it out!

Once they were out, Blackline came and did an excellent job glassing over both the holes.

The other main thing that needed doing was replacing the PSS dripless seal that was looking a bit rough

Raven marine came and did this and the engine align and then completely overcharged me for the amount of labour hours – I was right there dudes, come on. The guy did a good job though, but still.

Finally all was done and Sooner was back in the water except… I forgot to put on the zincs! Arghhh.

Until a diver could come and put them on I rigged up a wire to my prop shaft internally, then led it to a zinc that I put in the water.

Then I could finally relax, with an engine that didn’t vibrate the boat, two less holes and a lot less seawater intrusion!

And, the best news of all – I don’t have to haul out again for at least a year (touch wood). Did I mention I hate the boatyard?

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