the reality, part two

for the uninitiated, cruising and living aboard is NOT like camping -  tadhana has all the comforts of home!  however, this all changes when the boat is hauled out and blocked in a boatyard's gravel parking lot.  there is dust - lots of it - and because it is spring, there is pollen and it is EVERYWHERE.  you simply cannot keep anything clean plus your ability to wash is limited when the boat is on the hard.  this is when living aboard becomes very much like camping and if camping isn't really your thing, then you are in for a mostly unpleasant experience.  not to mention the fact that the boat feels dead - the movement that you have been used to is gone.  it is really only tolerable for a few days.  on the first day out, not surprisingly, one is mostly discombobulated.  your boat has become a treehouse and getting on and off is a production made all the more complicated by the presence of a dog who needs to do her business outside and cannot get up and down the ladder by herself.  consuelo ABSOLUTELY detests being carried and for the first few days, we were having some real problems with her cooperation until i figured out to turn the ladder around so that when she was carried, she would be facing the swim platform on the way up. dogs, apparently, also have control issues!  who knew?  everything is disorganized, stuff is misplaced and everything gets dirty no matter how hard you try to keep it under control.  you can't really cook because you can't really wash.  we ate a lot of fried chicken and take-out chinese and used paper plates.  quite frankly, the best solution is not to live on the boat AT ALL while it is being worked on, however, that option is reserved for people who have the $ to spend on such luxuries.  as it was, we were already doing our own work to save money.  in any case....

it took 12 days from haul to launch - glass bead blasting to bring tadhana's bottom to bare fiberglass,  four coats of epoxy and three coats of bottom paint.  in the meantime, the weather did not cooperate.  we got rain and wind, mud and pollen.  everything was dirty - the boat, consuelo, and us.  painting got done in between thunderstorms. we were constantly tired and sore and out of sorts. in the middle of all of that, my work computer died and i had to do an emergency purchase.  the new machine was delivered quickly but no one was around to sign for it so that got delayed and then there was the matter of setting it up, configuring and customizing.  i hardly needed that inconvenience on top of everything else.  let me just say that the whole experience was miserable, and though i understand that it's all a matter of perspective, i.e. we weren't sick, hungry, homeless or dead, it was, nevertheless, a relief to get back in the water with our now bullet-proof bottom that will, hopefully, not need too much in the way of maintenance for a while.  oh, but wait!  once we got back to our slip at regatta point, there was the big cleanup yet to do!  at the end of the day, trust me, ibuprofen helps.  

the following are links to photos of the bottom work done that i posted on facebook. 

the haulout

tadhana in a skirt

bare bottom

first coat of epoxy

and it is done!