It's a HARD Life!

Well, we made it to the yard.  Monday dawned early and we prepared for our exit from the mooring field.  After getting to shore for a quick bit of exercise, we grabbed an early lunch aboard and dropped the mooring ball at 12:25 for the 12:30 Bridge of Lions opening.  We made good time to the yard where they had had an unexpected problem with a boat in the lift so we settled onto the dock and enjoyed the sunny day.

Pulling into a lift bay can be tricky business with any current and since we missed our slack tide opportunity with the delay, we had a bit more of an eventful haul.  No problem, just a little more to get excited about with the current pull and Moonshadow's heavy hulk.

The yard here is quite impressive really.  After being hauled, we were thoroughly power washed and blocked in our space.  Every step of the way, the yard maintained its meticulous standards.  Every area is completely cleaned after each job and the staff are professional and friendly.  What a nice surprise!

So we got right to work pulling the first thru hull before dark fell.  A thru hull is where any drain or water intake makes its way through the hull - in other words, the connections between top of the water and bottom of the ocean!  These, of course, are quite important!  Being that our girl is a rescue (think animal shelter!), it wasn't surprising that all of the thru hulls on the boat were leaking and worn.  We feel pretty good about getting this fixed, needless to say!

The first thru hull and another transponder came out with relative ease giving us hope for those yet to be done.  Yesterday was all about exactly that.  We now have 7 thru hulls out of the boat and another hole ready for our new depth gauge (another important MUST HAVE for a boat with 5+ feet under the water!).
We found a new problem needing attention but have contracted the yard to get it done while we're here so the engine will be in fine condition for our journey as well.

I spent the day at first helping Rob before he got into spaces where two couldn't go and then I took advantage of the gorgeous sunshine and warm weather and pulled all the cockpit cushions off the boat for a good bath.

At the end of the day Rob looked like he had been run through the ringer!  A Home Depot/West Marine run was required to we dinghy-ed across the creek to Hurricane Patty's and ran our errands before returning for some happy hour beer and wings and heading back to the boat.  We took our space heater into the showers and had a warm, hot soak after a long day of grinding, sanding, cleaning and otherwise busting knuckles - getting ready for another day (or two or five!) of what is still to come.