Haul Out Time at the West River Yacht Yard

Mary T was hauled out on March 31 for cleaning and painting. There was considerable marine growth on the bottom including squiggly worms. I've never seen that before. How come the fish don't eat them? Anyway, besides the worms, there was a small hole in the skeg that required filling with epoxy putty and glassing it over. We had figured we'd be out for two weeks but, thanks to adverse weather, it took exactly three.

We had the yard staff do the sanding and the waxing. We did the painting. For those who care about such things, we used Petit Ultima 60. We were disappointed with the Micron Extra that was our previous paint. Hopefully this Petit coating will be more effective.

The guys at the yard did a great job of sanding and waxing. We are very pleased and would recommend them to anyone. All the staff there are friendly and helpful. Even the guys at Engines Unlimited, the shop on site, whom I pestered with exhaust hose questions even though I wasn't a paying customer, helped us out.

The aforementioned hose was bad and had to be replaced. That was a two day job that required that I dive into narrow lockers and under parts of the interior that I didn't know existed. We had Mike Previti survey the Mary T as a precaution and so we could shop around for better insurance. His keen eye saw that this critical hose was cracking in places. Boats can sink or people can breathe exhaust fumes if this hose breaks down. So, we were happy to replace it. It's just that it's 11 feet long and 2.5 inches wide. That makes it very difficult to flex it into place. Fortunately, I had been doing stretching exercises for a few months and was up to the task.

In addition to the folks that work at the yard for pay, we'd like to thank Charlie Gilles and Wayne from Saltar, who offered valuable advice (and tools) regarding the hole in the skeg. We'd also like to thank Billy Locke, the West River Yacht Harbor Dockmaster for the use of his West System 407 low-density filler.

On Tuesday, April 21, Tim Keating helped me move the boat to Shipwright Harbor Marina in Deale where we will stay until it's time to go. We'd like to thank Tim, Viki and Annie for hosting us in their home while the boat was on the hard.