Deltaville Boat Yard

Well on Oct 2nd we arrived at Deltaville to anchor out and go check in for our haul out. Everything was set and they were expecting us for the haul out on Thursday 3rd. We were first in line so we got up early and as soon as they were clear on the slings we brought Moosetracks around to the lift. We had a disappointment straight off as we could not be hauled out backwards as was usual in St Petersburg and this meant we had to remove our forestay (the front sail). It was a short wait while Devin loosened the rigging to drop the head stay with furled sail. Well after that it went pretty much as planned for the next 4 days, so here it is in pictures...

Coming out of the water - pretty dirty

Hull looks badly stained too - the Chesapeake mustache

Pressure washing removes the slime - starting to transform

The hard part of living on board is the high ladder entry

Scaping and sanding the bottom in preparation for paint

The temp was 75F so it was hot thirsty work

Multiple barrier coats where gel coat showed through

 

First coat of paint

Second coat and moving jack stands too

After cleaning the hull 3 times, now starting to wax it -
easy to see the waxed side?

The full crew was hard at work

Little poop got a clean hull too!

On the 4th day when disassembling the propeller shaft to remove the front of the dripless shaft seal assembly, problem number 2 showed up, the screws would not come out! So the issue gets huge as we now have to remove the shaft completely to replace the housing. This means taking the rudder off the boat, not something we want to do very often as it means paying to lift the boat up again (read expensive). We order parts to be FedEx’d overnight. While we do this we also had ordered some spare seals which can be left on the shaft in case this needs replacing again we can do it in the water! Well the next day the parts arrive but too late to start, so we waited another day. The next day we have the yard mechanic and the lift over and off the rudder comes and we remove the shaft and replace the dripless shaft assembly. So then it’s back together again and lower Moosetracks back down. The only good part is we can move the blocks under the boat at this time so we can paint that spot before tomorrows lift into the water.

 

The rudder and propellor are off

Putting it all back together

All ready for re-launch

The next day we get picked up and put back in the water where we belong and Moosetracks sits nicely on her lines again.

Lifting for the last time

Almost in her natural domain

Isn't she beautiful!

Back where we all feel we need to be

So we are on the service slip because we have to align the shaft and engine since we took the shaft out. The boat will usually sit for 24 hours to settle before doing the alignment as it is very critical. We also have to re-assemble the headstay and tune the rigging. But as you can see it’s raining cats and dogs now so maybe tomorrow we’ll get a break.

Great day for it!

Hope your home is as well cared for as ours, she looks beautiful now with gleaming paint and waxed gel coat.