Up, Up and Away ….. Oct 2012

01 – 04 October 2012

We have set aside October as “Maintenance Month” (yuk!!!), getting Balvenie ready  for another cruising season.  We have quite a bit to do so have decided to haul out here at Shelter Bay Marina and get things underway.  We have been having vibrations while motoring in high revs for a few years now and after much discussion, debate and research have decided to replace our existing 21 year old Maxprop propeller with a new Maxprop.  This has been a major decision as these run into the thousands and we have to get it air freighted from Washington.

So the prop was ordered, the lift out booked and around came 01 October.  The morning was clear and still,  just the ideal conditions for leaving our berth and motoring around to the haul out dock.  Things didn’t get off to such a good start though when we buried our keel in the muddy marina bottom as we were reversing out of our fairway.  Just a minor hiccup and after a fair amount of to-ing and fro-ing skipper had us floating again. 
Follow the pictures to see what hauling out is like – for all of you boaties out there you’ll know that feeling when the slings tighten and your pride and glory gets hoisted up and then dangles in mid air! – it doesn’t seem to get any less stressful even when you’ve done it a few times.

Its the first time we have had anyone dive on the boat to make sure the slings go in the right spot, (this is our 6th haul out) rather brave we think as there is a resident crocodile in the marina, we saw it one evening and it is big enough to be taken seriously. Maybe Victor feeds the croc so its never hungry!!



Once lifted we just hung around in the slings while the bottom was given a scrape to get the worst of the barnacles off and then water blasted to remove the slime and any crustacean still hanging on.  Then it was time for a drive across the yard to our “patch” for the next week.



All the supports are put in place under the hull and Balvenie is made secure before the slings are lowered and the travel lift drives away.

Definitely time for a coffee!