"On the Hard" in Southport

Sue checking the keel where SHE ran aground. For
some reason, all the paint was missing!

We took the boat down the ICW two miles on Tuesday March 23 to be hauled out.  We tried to time our arrival for slack tidal current, so we could have at least some chance of getting into the narrow slip for the Travelift.  We made it on our second try, so that's not too bad.

A bit of a climb to get aboard!

The haulout went smoothly with no unexpected surprises (like dropping the boat!)  Our initial walk-around showed that the hull was very free of barnacles, so the periodic bottom cleaning which we had done through last summer served us well.  Most importantly, I thought that in general we had fewer large bulging blisters on the fiberglass hull than I've seen on previous haulouts.  Maybe the fact that we've been in cooler waters for the past year (Chesapeake Bay) has reduced the severity of the blisters.  But make no mistake; this boat was built in Taiwan in 1987 (during a time when inferior resin was used in the fiberglass lay up), so it will always have some blisters.

Sue is earning her new title of "Lead Barnacle Buster".
That anode on the prop shaft (near her head) might
need replacing!  The red/blue paint on the keel are
the 3 coats of paint from last haulout.

We spent the rest of the week starting to work through our list of things to do.  The major effort for us is to closely inspect the boat below the waterline for needed repairs.  And then to clean the barnacles and crud from the hull & running gear.  And then to knock off the old zinc anodes & get ready to install the aluminum anodes for use in fresh water this summer.  And then to closely monitor the boat yard workers as they do the chores that I just don't want to mess with anymore.

We'll have just 2 weeks to finish our own list of chores on the boat, before we hit the road again for 2 weeks to Florida, then to New Orleans, then to Birmingham AL, then to Chattanooga, and finally back here.  Still hoping to splash the boat around April 22, but I have yet to see a schedule from the yard.  Just hope my yard experience doesn't turn into a nightmare like John & Susan's boat in Mobile AL.  Their original 3 week yard period turned into a 9 week horror story!