Moving along at a Snails pace

As mentioned in the last post, we had a good crossing of Albemarle Sound and anchored in a beautiful anchorage called the "Pungo River Anchorage" at about mile 127.  Next day up and out early hoping to make Oriental, NC at about mile 182.  Due to shortened daylight hours and our snail pace we don't expect to make it much farther than that.  Oriental was one of the areas we had researched as a possible place to get the bottom painted.

Early morning fog as we are leaving the anchorage.

Sights along the way - R.E. Mayo Seafood dock.  At mile 157 on the canal-like Hobucken Cut.

And now you know where this story is heading.  Broulee in the well at Sailcraft Service, a boat yard, up Whitaker Creek, Oriental, NC.  The captain couldn't take it anymore (vibration from prop, slower speed per RPM)- a decision was made to haul out and check the prop, scrape it and put the boat back in and move on, planning to haul out again somewhere in Florida and paint the bottom.  That was plan A.  After further discussions we decided to haul out, scrape prop, and have the bottom repainted.  Rates are much cheaper here and the weather is predicted to be in the 70's for the next few days.  And Active Captain reviews has Sailcraft with 5 stars and glowing reports, so, good ratings, lower pricing, 4 days above average temperatures, boat needs some work, sounds like it was meant to be.

Early haul out on Tuesday morning - if all goes well we will be back in the water Friday morning.

A yes, here's the culprit.  This picture is taken after they had already scraped off some of the crusty critters - the prop and rudder were covered with them.  The captain has some work to do.  The bottom of the boat looked pretty good, just a little bit of scum - the paint job actually still looked pretty good.  Last done at River Forest, Moorehaven, FL in fall of 2011. Lesson here is 14 months at Atlantic Yacht Basin, while they call it fresh water, more likely brackish, is too long. Now don't take this wrong. We liked Atlantic Yacht Basin and may return, but not so long in brackish waters. 

Oh the boat yards, such a major part of the boat life. So this will be our home on stilts for the next few days - should be fun getting Izzy on and off.  One of the reasons we decided to have the bottom re-painted here was they had a stair of sorts that might make it easier for Izzy to get up and down which allows us to stay on the boat versus having to live in a motel.

Whaddya think?  Can she do it?

Of course she can - with a little help from a friend.

However,

getting down, not so good.  Rick is getting his daily workout carrying her down the steps.  She puts her faith in his care just draping her front legs over Rick's arm and patiently waiting for the last step.

All fresh and shinny - ready for it's paint job.

As long as we are here for a few days we rented a car for a day and drove up to Atlantic Yacht Basin to move our vehicle further south (a three hour drive) plus it's nice to have a vehicle here.

  

Took this picture for our grandson Cooper.  A few days before we left Minnesota he was asking us how does cotton grow.  Well here you go - just happened to pass a field of cotton.

  Wednesday turned out to be a rain day - it was supposed to quit by 10:00 A.M. - it didn't.  We are now a day behind - looks like a Saturday splash.

Today, Thursday, started out not so good - "they" claimed that the fog would clear by 9:00 - and it did!  Back to work for everyone.

While the yard was getting a second coat of paint on the bottom, Rick got to the buffing of the hull - some days it is better to not have a bigger boat.

Fresh paint on the rudder and prop. As mentioned earlier, River Forest had done the bottom paint in 2011. They sanded the rudder to bare metal and apparently put a primer on it and the prop and then bottom anti-foul paint on both. Rick did not like the painted prop, but it was done. On this haul out the rudder primer was failing as multiple areas were blistering and falling off. Made it very easy to scrape off the rest.  In past haul outs Rick used Viny-Lux on the rudder, an Interlux etching primer, with good results, so did the same thing this time with anti-foul paint over that. And on the prop Rick has always used Cold Galvanizing Compound, an aerosol spray of zinc compound by  Rust-Oleum. OK, don't laugh, it works and is only $7.00 per can at Home Depot. The crew put the second coat of bottom paint on today and tomorrow they will move the stands and paint those spots.  So far we are really impressed with this place, a full service or DIY yard.  Updates to follow.