Back in water

22 September, 2006
Coral Cove Marina

We finally made it back in the water, which is a huge relief. The bottom painting took much longer than expected, and was certainly a grueling effort, but it's done and the bottom looks fabulous. No more nasties growing on our hull. We also replaced the cutlass bearing (through which the propeller shaft exits the boat), etc. So, we should be in great condition now.

There were a couple of things that made yesterday interesting. The first was that the travel lift showed up earlier than expected and we didn't have much chance to plan before we were off the boat and the boat was in the air. That's when it decided to rain. Hard. All of our windows were open. When we were finally able to get a ladder and get on board, all the cushions were soaked, the floors were puddled, etc. Luckily, it looks like we had no major damage.

Then, shortly after we were in the water, still tied up to the lift dock, I turned on the engine and checked that cooling water was coming out of the back. Nope. Nothing. Jill saved the day by suggesting that we check the impeller. After so long out of the water, it had dried out and the stresses of priming the system had destroyed it. We had a backup in place in 10 minutes and all was again well.

Today we are finishing up a bunch of little things to prepare for our journey back to Grenada. We plan to leave sometime this weekend.