Sailing Around Australia; Rushing on the Gold Coast

Boatworks, Coomera, Gold Coast QLD

5/7/2014 Rushing on the Gold Coast

Easy Tiger arrived at the Gold Coast in company with Bossa Nova on the 19^th June ready to be lifted out of the water on the following Tuesday. That was the day the rush began.

As Easy Tiger hadn’t been lifted out of the water for three years or more, we expected to have quite collection of weird and wonderful creatures that had glued themselves to our hulls. We had decided to lift out at the Gold Coast as ther are far more facilities specifically for boats like our Fusion 40. We had been making a B line for the Gold Coast since our sojourn in Sydney.

Usually non trailer-ised boats or that is those boats like Easy Tiger that live in the water full time need to lifted out at regular intervals to clean off all the sea life that sets up home by sticking on to the hull. These “cling ons” can affect the performance of the boat as they create a lot more friction and slow the boat down. Plus, they like growing inside holes such as engine cooling water inlets and that can create big problems.

Since our last haul out we had also been compiling a list of jobs to do “when we haul out”. This was a good way to put off many jobs until later. Only trouble with that is that later actually arrived, with that list now grown to more than 70 items.

On our arrival at the Boatworks we were ushered into a marina berth. No sooner were we tied on we leapt off the boat to do a tour of all the businesses complete with our list in hand.

After seeing the trimmer, the fiberglass guy, the mechanic, the stainless steel guy, boat cleaners, then to the office to book in and booked the courtesy car, ready for the dozen or so trips to good old Bunnings.

The first night we retreated to the customer lounge, armed with promises of quotes and work completed in good time. The lounge was where we were able to enjoy the kitchenette, lounge suites and the heater. That’s right on the Gold Coast it was quite chilly in the evenings.

Tuesday’s lift time came round quite quickly. I was quite nervous about what we might find once Easy Tiger rose out of the water. The guys would use the Sea lift machine which lifts the boat from underneath and in between the two hulls. Usually we have been lifted out in a Travel-Lift which has big bands that wrap around the whole boat and lifts inside a big cradle.

I needn’t have worried too much because Clint and the Boatworks crew were fabulous. The Sea-lift fitted under Easy Tiger easily and within 5 minutes Easy Tiger was out of the water revealing her nether regions.

Leanne and I were very surprised to see how clean Easy Tiger’s hulls were. After three years without replacing the anti foul, after a couple of underwater hull scrubs and maybe because we have been on the move for a couple of years there was a small gathering of barnacles near the back transom steps only.

After a pressure wash, the Sea Lift was expertly maneuvered and Easy Tiger found her new home for the next few weeks on the concrete yard.

That’s when the rush went up a gear.

Leanne decided to take on the hull work, which would involve sanding off the old antifoul paint, prepping and masking then applying 3 coats of new antifoul.

I took on the engines. The engines had been soaked in salt water at some stage and since then had become quite rusty. The engine mounts were nearly worn through as well so they had to come out. After negotiating a price with the mechanics I did as much of the work as I could.

Leanne’s friend, also named Leanne offered to come and help which was really appreciated. I am not sure that she felt that she had made such a good decision after a couple of hours of sanding black dirty dusty antifoul paint.

The girls turned black after a few hours of sanding, then spent an hour in the showers trying to get it off.

For the first week we were dismantling and stripping back. It was quite depressing to see everything being undone, wondering whether it would ever go back together.

Finally, the in the second week on the hardstand, we started “mantling” rather than dismantling. We now have a new washing machine installed and the walk in robe is sporting new shelves and baskets.

After 2 weeks though the rush is still on in our minds but the bodies are starting to wither. Also the trades we have engaged are starting to wither. “Oh just got to go and look at a job”. No sign of them for another two days. Plus a couple of days of rain set us back too.

Encouragement has come form ticking off the finished items on the list. Hopefully the list will run out before we do.