Up on the Hard in Grenada

Well we are up on the hard in Grenada. Yesterdy we motored from True Blue Bay to Prickly Bay and Spice Island Marine Services - approximately 40 minutes. Griff did a fantastic job of backing into the slip, always difficult with a crosswind blowing. Then there was the question of where to place the lift straps so they wouldn't rest on the propeller shaft. At one point I thought Griff was going to go in head first as he leaned over the edge of the boat to see where the strap was sitting. After Mystic Journey was out of the water it was time for a power wash of the bottom and the first chance to see how badly the paint was pealing and what the effect of having the anti-fouling off the bottom would have. After the powerwash almost all the paint was off the port side from waterline to keel. That side of the boat also had a lot of growth on it where the paint had peeled before. Obviously the anti-fouling does work.













After the boat was placed in position and up on supports Griff and I spent some time peeling off paint from the starboard side as well. It peels off just like wallpaper - just get it started with a scraper and then pull.

Last night and the next two nights we spend on the boat (our apartment isn't available until the 16th). It was amazing how it still felt like the boat was rocking. When walking on deck we were still holding on to the shrouds and other supports for support. I think part of that was because we had lifted our stern anchor the night before we left True Blue Bay and had spent a rollier night than we had the past week.

Today we were up bright and early and got started on the boat work, I did some more paint stripping and Griff started removing things on the deck. At 9:15 Frankie arrived with 2 workers, Jerry who will be doing most of the deck work and another fellow who started by washing the topsides (the white part above waterline) and then helped Jerry with the teak removal. While they were doing that Griff and I removed all the hardware on deck, hinges on hatch covers, cleats, guides for ropes etc. This was quite a feat, the temperature was 34C with very little breeze and since some of the things were bolted through the deck Griff spent part of the day flat on his back in the hatches. After 5 hours of work by the four of us the majority of the teak is off. Jerry said tomorrow the rest will be off and the deck ready for sanding and the primer coat. We're not sure how many coats of the Awl-grip paint will be required on the deck.

Before After