Using a tiller, we gently steered Antara into the Dempo Shipyard this Monday morning. A hectic morning ensued with what seemed like all dockyard hands, a 50 ton crane and a Safety Manager!
The better part of the day was spent settling her down. We then took off her injured rudder and hosed her hull. It was a pleasant surprise to see her hull looking more like a baby’s bottom rather than festooned with ‘billions of blistering barnacles’.
The next day, the Aquarius crew scraped off the old blue paint and the Dempo team used a power spray to clean the rest of the gunk off her hull. The rest of us serviced the propellor, took off and cleaned the insides of the shaft, removed all the NRVs (non return valves) in order to replace them. NRVs have a nifty little flap inside which flips open into the sea when we flush the tank, use the kitchen sink etc; but, it stays shut when the sea water pressures it to allow entry into Antara.
Day 3 was spent first masking the top deck and then putting primer on the sides of the boat. It’s hard work, in almost 40 degrees of sunshine.
Day 4 we had the MMD Surveyor drop by and certify that the hull, the propellor and shaft, the rudder were all a-ok. One major piece of paperwork signed off, phew!
That brings us to Friday. But Antara is cloaked in grey, as her weekend looks busy. No TGIF for her yet. The primer was scraped and filler used to even her surface.
Saturday, we paint her Azul. More about that in our next newsletter. Or, you can always follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more frequent updates.
Enjoy your weekend!
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