After a 6 month lay-up at The Boatworks in Queensland, we have finally returned to our Bossa Nova.
Our boat has been well looked after in the storage yard with Neville visiting in March to check up on things as well as getting ahead on some jobs.
Friends ask, “what have you got to do, your boat isn’t that old??”. They must be non-boat owners. We boat owners know that no matter how old your boat is, there’s always jobs. The ones we knew about and the ones we didn’t.
We are thankful our storage ‘plan’ did include a road trip to Qld. Neville got through as many jobs as he could which was a great headstart and more importantly he spotted our teak cockpit floor’s issues. The black caulking was perishing. Black dust was all over the teak and threatening to get inside if we walked in it. The bad news was it had to be replaced. The manufacturer accepted their product was faulty (lasted 3 years instead of 10) and replaced it ($400 worth), but, of course that didn’t cover the labour of digging it all out and recaulking. Some jobs you just have to pay for! This was one of them.
We had some wins too. I eventually got Neville to agree that getting our boat professionally polished was smart. The Bossa is looking schmik! I also found a dinghy boarding ladder for our snorkeling adventures. I had been online several times with no luck. Found one on on one of morning walks. No one has to watch the beached whale (me) trying to clamber in to the dinghy anymore (not a pretty look).
I was referred to a You Tube video on how to do it by my son Tim … “How to get into a dinghy if you are over 50″ …
I might be over 50 but I don’t think I’m a chance! Have a look, it’s a scream!!
Our big jobs included a new battery charging system. Should speed up our charging process. Neville is most excited about this one. And his most recent purchase, a Gardena waterflow meter, seems to be giving him the most joy. He can measure how much water is going in to the tanks rather than relying on our tank meters which do seem to be tempera-mental.
We have now finished our long list of “to do’s” and we have anti-fouled . We “splashed” at 7 am this morning. The sealift is amazing. All happened in 15 minutes.
So 10 days of jobs, sunny warm Queensland weather … so who’s complaining?!
(It has just started raining heavily. The forecast is for two days of heavy rain and thunderstorms. We are snug in a marina.)
We have a ‘new look’ blog this year. To view a photo in a larger size simply twice touch or click the individual photo … and …
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Happy Sailing, hope you are way North of the bad weather! All is well in Evans street.
cheers Judy J
Been wondering how the storms affected your launch – hope your marina is very snug.