Week 1 of our 2020 hardstand program coincided with a nationwide run on Toilet Paper as the Wuhan Pneumonia panic was setting in. By week 3 it was re-badged as Covid19 and social distancing protocols in place. The Galley Restaurant at the Boatworks was only serving takeaway food and and closed on weekends. Site meetings were being held twice weekly to consider contingencies if there were confirmed cases of the Virus among staff at the yard, contractors or boat owners. International sailors arriving to reclaim their boats were on the last flights into the country ahead of mandatory self-quarantine. International airlines were stopping flying. Actor Tom Hanks and wife were hospitalized locally, having probably contracted Covid19 before their arrival in Australia. We were in a hotspot and the question on everyone’s lips was would Queensland move to level 4 restrictions? Would The Boatworks be forced to close?
Telltale blue showing through the more recent black layers.
Mixing 3 weeks of accumulated boat yard fatigue with this intense emotional background was less than easy. Our original estimate of 3 weeks work was definitely going to extend by at least another week. Our Selden rigging turnbuckles were yet to arrive from Germany and looking less likely to do so. The Stainless Steel fabricator kept stalling too.
This painted pebble, a gift from a granddaughter, was kept in my pocket.
Rubbing it kept me calm.
Our next and always our last DIY project, was to re-do the anti-fouling. At this point we knew our destiny was either to take our scheduled ‘splash-back’ booking on Monday and deal with renewing the anti-fouling later; have the rigging replaced in-water and have the new bowsprit constructed while in the water too, or do what? A visit from the International Paints rep (the manufacturer of our anti-fouling paint) forced our hand.
Prepping for sandblasting.
Storing Zofia out of the water for 3 months had allowed our anti-fouling paint to dry out quite significantly and amplify a problem. We had in the previous couple of years noticed a few small areas of our anti-foul paint come off in slabs. These then needed patching and filling to enable a smooth finish. The cracking and flaking was now substantial. The paint rep’s assessment was that at some point the preparation sanding had been inadequate, leaving some of the ablative layer intact. Subsequent paint layers were simply flaking off as the accumulated layers became heavier! Gallingly it was evident this occurred between 2 blue layers; coats applied back in WA when we used to pay to get Zofia anti-fouled. On expert advice, the recommendation was to bite the bullet and strip it all off back to the gel coat. It’s not an uncommon thing to do every 10 years or so.
In the sandblasting shed; wrapped and ready.
In the face of all this delay and escalating anxiety, and not to mention cost, can one get lucky? Well, yes. We still had the Monday ‘splash-back’ booking, meaning that the boat lifter and team were allocated for our use. The yard was busy and had we not had the booking, a further delay would have been probable. The dedicated sandblasting shed was not booked out either. The ‘sandblasting’ specialist was available too. Furthermore, we would be saving ourselves $2,000 while spending $7,000. Sound crazy? Hysterical even? Our rigging and mast was already down. At any other time it would cost $1,000 for the crane plus $1,000 for the riggers to remove everything in order for Zofia to be put in the sandblasting shed. Trying to remain upbeat, we persuaded ourselves it was an excellent opportunity after all and prayed hard we’d get everything done before the boatyard got shut down. Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The Bloke without a boat to work on.
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