HAULING THE BOAT OUT IN GUATEMALA

Most cruisers haul their boats out of the water every 1-3 years to have the bottom sanded and painted, as well as to check and/or repair anything else below the waterline. The last time I had the boat out of the water was two years ago. That was to repair the keel I damaged when I hit the wing dam south of St Louis. At that time I was just in too much of a hurry to deal with any painting beyond the repair.

There are only three places on the Rio Dulce where boats can be hauled out of the water. However, one marina's lift is too narrow and another can only lift boats by the center, which isn't how Starship was designed to be moved. So we needed to go to the boatyard on the other side of the bridge.

Even though there is a very cool historic Spanish Fort and a huge lake to explore beyond the bridge, we had never taken the boat there. That's because about 20' past the highest part of the bridge, which isn't a problem, is the lowest part of the power lines, which is a big problem. So, as SOON as our 70' mast clears the bridge we have to make a 90 degree turn to the left, proceed towards the shore until your within just a few yards of it and then make a 90 degree turn to the right in order to go below where the power lines are high enough. It's a pretty tense couple minutes. 

Now to put things in perspective, these two photos are of how the boat was hauled out last time. This was in Alabama. 

Here's how it's done in Guatemala. The boat is floated over a metal carriage with wheels that sits on two rails. The carriage is pulled up the rails while the boat is pushed forward and centered by four guys in the water with masks. 

Once the rudders make contact with a couple wood planks laying on the carriage, the stern is braced with a metal bar and chunks of wood are stacked up to support the bows.

The guy in the lower right hand corner of the photo runs the levers, that turn the reels, that move the cables, that pull the carriage and boat out of the water, very very slowly.

It obviously works though. Boats much larger and heavier than Starship are here.

Delana likened the blocks of wood supporting the bows, to the game Jenga. 

The huge tug next door was also supported by Jenga blocks.

Once out of the water and secure, the next step is to use a high pressure washer to remove any plant/animal growth, as well as compromised paint. What's nice about keeping the boat in fresh water during hurricane season is that the growth that takes place when the boat is in salt water dies in the fresh water and visa versa. This saves a couple bottom scrubs, which take about an hour and half every month or so when cruising.

This boat (Workshop) happened to be at the yard. I first met Workshop and his Italian owner in Isla Mujeras, Mexico almost two years ago. Vito is doing a complete refit of Workshop and hopes to get back in the water in February.

I was hoping that once hauled out, the work would just involve repairing some minor hull damage, sanding the anti-fouling bottom paint a little, putting a coat or two of new anti-fouling on and replacing the saildrive (transmission) seals. However, most likely because the bottom hadn't been sanded and painted in over three years, there were probably a hundred tiny (less than dime size) water filled blisters between the paint and the gelcoat. Gelcoat is the shiny, smooth, usually white surface you see on the hulls of most boats. It covers the fiberglass. 

Because of the blisters, all of the paint, including both the anti-fouling and barrier coats, needed to be removed down to the gelcoat. If you don't remove the blisters, they get larger and work their way through the gelcoat and into the fiberglass.

While the boat was "on the hard" we stayed in one of the thirty-some little one room cabins at the marina. They're simple, inexpensive, convenient and have air conditioning.

The cabin provided Delana a large cool space to do some sewing projects, including sewing a strip of sun resistant material onto the foot of the head sail.

And of course there were still the pool parties,

and yoga classes three times a week. This is my first real effort at yoga and I can honestly say that I have not received any benefits yet. Everyone says to just give it more time. 

There's conversational Spanish classes following yoga,

and the marina has the NFL package. The Sunday before last, the Vikings were on one screen and the Packers on the other. There are also movie nights.

And of course, there are always Friday night happy hours.

 Meanwhile back at the boat, they removed all of the paint from the hulls, as well as the saildrives and props. 

Earlier I mentioned some minor keel damage. It turned out to be more than minor, but not too serious either. I caused this about a year and a half ago in Honduras when we were misinformed as to what bay to enter to get to the fuel dock. We ended up getting stuck in a very narrow pass through the reef. It took us over an hour and help from a local fisherman to get out. The repair involved removing any wet material, filling the cavity with foam, covering it with a many layers of fiberglass, applying gelcoat, putting on barrier paint and anti-fouling paint, with sanding between each step.

Two coats of gray barrier paint is applied to the gelcoat. It's purpose it to prevent water from getting to the gelcoat, as well as to provide a surface for the anti-fouling paint to stick to.

Then each hull was raised so the bottom of the keels, as well as where the Jenga blocks and straps were, could be painted too.

Gelcoat is being applied to the keel repair.

While the boat is out of the water, is a great time to change the seals in both saildrives. The seals prevent sea water from getting inside the saildrives, as well as gear oil from getting out. The propeller and hub slide onto this spline.

On the right is a seal and on the left is what we fount next to it. It's fishing line that had gotten between the prop and saildrive, Then it got hot and melted into the shape of the seal.

Here Tyrone is cleaning out the saildrive before putting everything back together. It's a pretty easy process, so I think I can do it from now on. Tyrone was a marine mechanic in the States. He even spent some time in Fon Du Lac, WI. Anyway he's been in Guatemala working on a fixer upper boat for the past four years and figures he has two years left. He also has a salmon fishing boat in Alaska where he goes two months every year. Once his boat is finished he wants to sail the Northwest Passage. No thanks. Ice bergs and polar bears wouldn't be for me.

Carlos is just wrapping up the first coat of anti-fouling paint.

The saildrive is painted with a special aluminum primer paint before the anti-fouling is put on.

Eleven days later all the work was completed, including two coats of barrier paint and two coats of anti-fouling everywhere, except the water line, rudder and leading edge of the bows and keels, where three coats were put on. She looked great and was ready to go back in the water.

But first the tortilla lady came by, so everyone took a break.

Going back in started just fine, as the carriage and boat rolled back towards the water.

Then a cable broke.

So close, but yet so far.

This had obviously happened before. Without hesitation the crew got a compressor, a couple air hoses with regulators and a rusty chain.

Three guys, two with air hoses and one without, along with the chain all went in the water.

The guy without an air hose pretty much swam directly to the bar next door and had a friend bring him a beer. 

I'm not exactly sure what they did, but 30 or so minutes later we were moving again. Once the Jenga blocks started coming to the surface I knew we were floating.

Now the scary part, going back under the power lines and bridge. As you can see we need to come pretty close to shore to get below the wires. We were back at our slip at the marina 15 minutes later.

In conclusion, we really feel good about the condition of the boat's bottom, as well as the saildrive seals, so should be all set for another couple years, assuming I don't run into anything.