Days 232-235: Best Laid Plans

Galesville Harbor Yacht Yard (on the hard)

September 4-7, 2022

The weather for us has been pretty amazing – we haven’t had very many rainy or drizzly days for most of our adventure. Of course, when we need it to be dry, it rains…

Lailia was hauled out on Friday (when it was sunny and warm). While she was in the straps, she was power washed. Since she was out of the water and this boat yard allows for DIY work, we decided to paint her hull.

She clearly needed the wash. She also needs another coat of bottom paint. John painted her in 2019.

Prior to painting, Lailia need a light sanding. Since the bottom paint has a very high concentration of copper, a dustless sander needs to be used. We don’t have this technology so we needed to have boatyard folks do this for us.

There was a three-day weekend between when we hauled Lailia and when she could be sanded. The weekend was beautiful, by the way – sunny and warm.

Tuesday started badly. John’s wrist swelled up, got hot, and was very painful. The urgent care doctor diagnosed him with gout, which is pretty uncommon in wrists (it’s usually in toes). John has to take some prescription anti-inflammatories and wear a brace.

The weather was also difficult, although not as bad as forecasted. Instead of flash flooding, we had lots of clouds and drizzle.

Not much happened with Lailia on Tuesday. John was dealing with his wrist and I did some homework for some professional learning sessions.

John was able to get enough pain relief to allow him to sleep last night – an improvement over the previous night.

Lailia was sanded this morning. Muriatic acid was used to clean stains from the boat hull. The when hosed off the acid interacted with the copper in the oid boottom paint and turns it a funky yellow-green color.

To remove the muriatic acid residue, John and I used Dawn dish detergent, lots of water and scrub brushes. This should provide a clean base for the bottom paint.

We’re hoping for a few things: that John’s wrist continues to heal and that we have some dry weather so we can get the bottom painted. The forecast for tomorrow is much dryer plus pretty comfortable temps. That will make it easier for us to wear the protective gear, although we’ll still be pretty sweaty.