Thursday 7 Oct, re-launch 2021, HHN day 8: Life raft and back stay piston collected, Amazon orders rolling in, 5 thru-hulls removed, and dinner with the gang. Production has started!
We were both wide awake by 6am. Seems like we are going backwards on jet lag! But good to be up early because we want to head to Baltimore and Annapolis on a collection trip. Before we head off, I must alert Phipps Boat Works which thru-hull mushrooms to cut out in case they come while we are away. Freddy, who cut the last 9 out, comes to the boat to inspect. Such a nice guy. He seems all too familiar with cutting out Hallberg Rassy thru-hull fittings! They apparently do quite a business with this brass-to-bronze changeover by HR owners like us.
Yesterday was rainy and extremely humid. Today, by contrast, is sunny, dry, and a pleasant air temperature for once. A lovely day for a drive, and by 9am we are on the road with Ray’s pickup. Not only are we collecting our own life raft, but we are also taking Pirate-Paul’s up to Baltimore for service. Paul, a self-declared pirate from Australia, bought an older Hallberg Rassy 49 and is now in the middle of refurbishing it here in Herrington yard. Or rather our friend Ray is refurbishing it… with Paul’s help 😊
By 10:30 we have arrived at Vane Brothers Marine Safety in Baltimore and already have our newly serviced Avon 6-man life raft in the pickup ready to take back to Cloudy Bay. We spend a bit of time talking to Neno before we leave. Neno had serviced our Avon raft and he had also somehow managed to search the globe looking for a new hard case for it. He said the raft was like new, but the case was all cracked. And by policy they were unable to repack the raft into this original but damaged container. Zodiac (France) had purchased and took over the British firm Avon several years ago. And sadly, they seem to have stopped supporting Avon products. Neno said he has several perfectly good Avon life rafts that cannot be repacked because he can no longer get parts for them. This makes us all the more grateful that he managed to find a new case for ours. I vow not to stand on this new one, in the future.
On the way back we stop at Bert Jabins Boat Yard where Annapolis Rigging it based. This is a very different yard to Herrington. No landscaping or manicured garden, just lots of fancy boats, fancy money, busy, dusty and crammed. Oh, and expensive! About 50% more costly than Herrington. Given the time it took us to get the backstay hydraulic cylinder serviced, you might imagine the rigging shop would be bustling with activity. But actually, there’s no one there. Maybe it was lunch time.
Eventually, Jay (the head guy) came in with his dog, like it was a Sunday afternoon, and gave me our cylinder. Raw, totally unprotected and bear threads. I can only hope the seals inside were actually changed! But it did feel good to get my hands back on it again, and apparently all in one piece.
On the way back to the boat I could not resist a stop at Starbucks for my favorite double-chocolate-chip-frappuccino with added mint and cream on top. Only in America could you drink such a mouthful of words! This guzzillion-calories iced drink was past delight from when I used to work in Houston and is still hard to resist whenever we pass a Starbucks in USA.
Back at the yard, it feels like Christmas. Our Amazon orders are starting to flow in. There must have been at least 4 or 5 packages waiting at the office for us. So lots of unpacking and checking all was delivered correctly. And lots of projects now to get on with. The “project cupboard”, where parts for future projects are kept, is full again. Ready for endless tinkering once we get cruising. Or, endless “faffing” as Oana likes to call it 😊
While going through all our goodies, Freddie arrives and immediately starts cutting out the thru-hull fittings. He uses a bit that is actually designed for a milling machine, to cut keyways in metal. But mounted in the end of a drill it neatly cuts a groove inside the mushroom-head of the thru-hull and he then simply chisels the head off. This allows me to wiggle the fitting from the inside of the boat and extract everything that needs to be removed.
In just 40 minutes we have all 5 thru-hull fitting assemblies removed. The next job is to get inside the boat, and using a wood chisel, chip away at the plywood backing plates. Not an easy task given where the fittings are. Most spaces are barely big enough to swing-a-cat, let alone a hammer. After an hour, all the backing plates are removed, and the inner surface of the hull sanded clean, ready for the new backing plates to be installed. That will be tomorrow’s job.
While tidying up for the day, we look through the items which were removed from the Avon Life Raft because they were out of date. Some flares, batteries, sea-sickness pills, and a few sachets of drinking water. We decided to have a taste of the water, to see what we would be subjected to if we actually used the raft for real. I wish I could describe with words Oana’s face. She took a sip then immediately declared “don’t bother launching the life raft” and that we should sell it because there was no way she was ever getting into it if she had to drink that water, she’ll die of dehydration anyway 😊. And I guess if Oana goes down with the boat, then I should keep her company, right? So, anyone want to buy an unused Avon 6-man raft?
Early evening, we head off for the good’ol Dockside restaurant where we have a table for 8 for dinner. Mike and Rebecca from Dark’n’Stormy (HR53), Ralf and Wiebka from Flora (HR43), Pirate-Paul from Lovely Blue (HR49), Ray and us. Where a good evening was had by all.