Bahamas Expedition—Three Days “On the Hard”

Days 6, 7 & 8

Let me just take a moment to reiterate how awesome it was seeing our boat (and other boats) being picked up out of the water, transported throughout the boatyard and gently placed back into the water like a cross between a smooth chess move and Tetris. We watched man and machine unite to accomplish this feat multiple times over the last few days.

The kids loved it too—they were entertained as if it was an exclusive REAL LIFE version of Mighty Machines!

In the previous post I mentioned that the boatyard used two straps for our haul-out. Check out this boat—12 straps were necessary for transporting it!

You’ve got to keep in mind the fact that we’re totally new to boatyard life—We entered the world of boating a year ago (in April) and all of the work we’ve done to our boat(s) was doable while in the water via our marina. We had not hauled-out until now. Here are some other neat photos from the yard:

These are some of the stands they use to prop up the boats:

Moving right along... On the hard means to be on land. Some boats are stored on land while not in use (we saw five racing sailboats in our yard that we were told ONLY launch when scheduled for use). Other boats are put on the hard specifically for repair. Many people do not enjoy time on the hard. There’s even a song about it on Spotify!

We put our boat on the hard to make a repair and while she was out we did a thorough evaluation of all other on the hard-type projects to be done—and we did them all in three days! The projects included:

• Replaced stuffing box hose and packing
​• Changed engine intake thruhull
• Painted from water line up
• Scraped barnacles from bottom/sanded/repainted
• Realigned engine with prop shaft
• Changed zincs
• Spit-shined prop
• Organized, worked on various non-crucials, etc.
• More provisioning, laundry, etc.

Barnacles—you ask? Those little stinkers were a chore to remove! (Thankfully, Josh the Diver had cleaned a majority of the growth about a week prior to our departure.)

Kyle handed me a scraper about five seconds after the boat was set and had me go at it. A few professionals working nearby gave me some pointers and I did not stop until every last one was annihilated! My arms got some serious excercise!

Zion wanted to help scrape, but due to a simultaneous sanding project behind us we didn’t want him out in the dust.

In the process of tackling the stuffing box, Kyle removed the propeller and was able to really get it scraped then sanded.

Also note the decayed zincs—they are the two objects in the image below that look like bagels with bites taken out of them. He replaced those!

Kyle also sanded the hull.

Then, he got out the black gesso and 9-inch roller and started in with all his Bob Ross references.

It was SO nice to know the boat had been been made over from top to bottom! Look at her now!

Once we saw that the work could be wrapped up we arranged for a time to splash—I think you know what that means! ;)

An hour or two before returning us to the water, the crew moved our stands so Kyle could paint underneath them. It’s common to paint then hit the water even within a short amount of time.

Soon after, we were back in the water and said our goodbyes to the CBBW team and some new friends we met who also had kids!

​Click the image to check out this time-lapsed video of Plan B in transport!