Eidos ... bottom paint and launch

So she’s back in the water now ready for the season. A bit of varnish topside, fill up with provisions, water and fuel – let’s go sailing. Yeah!!

Price of four bolts

View from the hatch
Eidos' cockpit during haul-out

While in the middle of the Atlantic two years ago, I decided to tighten a loose nut on a bolt holding the binnacle to the cockpit floor. Instead of tightening, the bolt sheared off - completely rusted. That left three bolts holding the steering wheel in place plus four screws on a metal covering sleeve making the whole assembly impossible to access for repairs at sea. I should have thrown the whole thing over the side right then and there.

Instead, we checked to make sure that the emergency tiller was easily accessible from the cockpit locker, lashed the binnacle to a cockpit winch and prayed for the steering to hold for the remaining 2,000 miles to Portugal. It did.

Once back near land and faced with only day sails, I got slack and ignored what could have been a huge problem when (not if) the remaining bolts broke and I lost my steering. My excuse? I didn’t have a large enough screwdriver to take off the covering sleeve. Until now.

Seeing that the boat was hauled out and I knew a trustworthy mechanic, I asked him to do the job. Change four bolts – what could be simpler, right? I could have done it if I had a big screwdriver and the muscle to turn it. Not!

The job turned into a maze. To take the four rusty bolts off, Albert and his helper had to take of the covering sleeve over the bottom part of the binnacle. Of course the whole bit underneath was corroded, not just the bolts, because water in the cockpit drains that way. So they had to disconnect the chain, the cable, the wiring, and take apart the entire assembly before they could access four measly bolts.

About ten hours later and 300 Euros bill, it’s done and in working order again. And for what? Just to have a wheel instead of a tiller? Whoever thought of this “improvement” should have their head examined and be made to spend ten hours in the space under the cockpit in 30-degree heat.

My advice? Never buy a boat with wheel steering.

Changing four bolts
Another world away from the boat yard.

Day Two of haul out

So here is day two of the haul out. Eidos is getting the power wash treatment and what a difference it makes – she still has some paint left! She has a bit of damage at the bottom of the keel where someone ran aground in Florida (Moi? Never! Well, only once or twice). Anyway, this has to dry out and then will get plugged up with some fibreglass. Meanwhile she needs a light sanding to get the hull smooth and one of the thruhulls has to be replaced.

The other photo is a view of the boat yard and marina – Eidos is way in the back under the white crane. If you’d like to see more photos, go all the way down this page to the Flickr slide show and click on MORE!

San Feliu de Guixols, Spain - Eidos haul out - before

Finally, I have given in and hauled Eidos out. My wallet is screaming in agony but Eidos is smiling, “it’s about time.”

It’s been almost three years since she had her bottom painted and I only scrubbed her in the Bahamas two years ago while she was in the water, timing it with low tide and letting her settle on the bottom so I could do it standing up rather than swimming. However, that only got the top two feet cleaned.

And then last winter, we were on the Guadiana river for a few months, which helped to discourage the salt water critters from hitching a ride on her and encouraged the river rats which got off when I returned to the Med last spring.

But as you can see from the “before” photos, she definitely needs the exfoliation treatment. I’m thinking that I do too, but can’t afford it now. ;-)