kcrane
Well-Known Member
Decided to give the boat a clean before a cruise to the west county, so booked a session at the Cowes Boat Lift. Was a bit blustery when we arrived and a little intimidating to get lined up, but not too bad once you nose in and are between the large arms.
The list itself is a bit nerve racking when you are wondering what's stopping the weight of the boat being taken by the props, but all makes sense once you see it lifted.
Confidence is helped by all of the equipment being shiny and new. There's a ladder to climb down one of the arms, not for the faint hearted.
The antifoul and anodes were done in February, so I was assuming quite a bit of fouling. In fact it looked in good condition. So much so that I wondered why I was bothering with the lift, but at now I know that assuming future year's are no worse, it will go a season without any attention. The anodes in particular looked brand new.
Before:
The guys doing the cleaning were diligent and pressure washed, followed by scraping and when rubbing down, finally another wash.
After:
In all we were in at 3:00pm and out about 4:00pm and off to Yarmouth.
The weather was better than expected, particularly sea state, so we kept going across to Poole.
As it was still not too bad and we were running at 28knts, we slipped around St Alban's ( a bit rough for a short time) and arrived at Weymouth in time for dinner. Harbour staff at Weymouth very friendly.
Only downside was surfing down the swell in the following sea at speed saw us push the bow down (I slowed up to avoid stuffing the bow) but we were regularly pushing out very large amounts of water either side. The portholes weren't tight enough for the pressure this caused and we got water in the front cabin... not terrible, but damp carpet to dry out!
Next challenge, round the Bill and on to Dartmouth...
The list itself is a bit nerve racking when you are wondering what's stopping the weight of the boat being taken by the props, but all makes sense once you see it lifted.
Confidence is helped by all of the equipment being shiny and new. There's a ladder to climb down one of the arms, not for the faint hearted.
The antifoul and anodes were done in February, so I was assuming quite a bit of fouling. In fact it looked in good condition. So much so that I wondered why I was bothering with the lift, but at now I know that assuming future year's are no worse, it will go a season without any attention. The anodes in particular looked brand new.
Before:
The guys doing the cleaning were diligent and pressure washed, followed by scraping and when rubbing down, finally another wash.
After:
In all we were in at 3:00pm and out about 4:00pm and off to Yarmouth.
The weather was better than expected, particularly sea state, so we kept going across to Poole.
As it was still not too bad and we were running at 28knts, we slipped around St Alban's ( a bit rough for a short time) and arrived at Weymouth in time for dinner. Harbour staff at Weymouth very friendly.
Only downside was surfing down the swell in the following sea at speed saw us push the bow down (I slowed up to avoid stuffing the bow) but we were regularly pushing out very large amounts of water either side. The portholes weren't tight enough for the pressure this caused and we got water in the front cabin... not terrible, but damp carpet to dry out!
Next challenge, round the Bill and on to Dartmouth...
