Haul out. Caution not for the squeamish

[Ozzie]

Last week was haulout. Tide was high enough, my mate Mike Court750 was available and the water temp in Lake Mac was still above cryogenics use. We arrived at the ramp, not really a ramp where I'm moored and dunked the trolley to check the depth, looked feasible. I canoed out with a line and pulled the 563 into shore getting stuck twice on the mud bank. My keel, held up by the rear anchor line was still about 20cm down and I think it was the problem. Fortunately, with a swim and a bit of course correction we managed to find the deep spots and soon had her on the trailer no issues.

Suddenly issues, the concrete ramp was covered in seaweed and the trailer wheels were in soft sand so no go on the haul. We disconnected the rig on the jockey wheel (fortunately a wide power wheel) and moved the car up the ramp and used the tie down as a short tow line . We were off.

Fifteen minutes to drop the mast, secure the rig and stow the canoe. Ten minutes to home and straight into the pressure wash and scrape down while the barnacles are still thinking its just low tide and have not dried out.

Ian B, the following pictures are grotesque and should be avoided Because I moor in a very weedy (secret) area most of my growth is weed with a few barnacles. I normally scrub through the season but have been too busy with offspring, music and houses to sail much this last summer so it looked fairly gross.

The good news 30 minutes later and the bottom was clean, ....ehrrm.. back to smooth and ready for a 2pack prime touchup and antifoul. The entire scrape off filled one 9 litre bucket, plus garnishing



I know this is a gross topic for trailered TS owners but from leaving home to picking up Mike, haulout and cleanup to a cup of coffee ...Three hours and a dollars worth of petrol. I will now have an enjoyable 3 weeks bringing the boat back to pristine nick so I can stick it back out in the elements again Nuts? .... maybe but for the time (and whats left of my back) I save hitching, launching and rigging plus the time I get to spend just canoeing out to Spritzig II and staring at the rigging I would not change it for anything.

Progress reports and pics to follow

[Yara50]

Ozzie
You can't frighten me- I had a boat on a mooring for 25 years, with sometimes 18 months between slipping. Mind you, in those days they had antifoul paints that worked- bit of a brush occassionally and it could last the distance.

[Ozzie]

Yes Ian, oh for the days of good antifoul, as used by Capt'n Cook

http://www.copperantifouling.com/copper/index.html

interesting link

Marine growth is never worried me that much. I spend more time in a year moving pelican poo