Wittring (life's been good to me so far)

Shiny new propeller

SUNDAY 1 SEPTEMBER

I signed off the last blog update saying I wasn’t looking forward to putting the first coat of tar on the baseplate of the boat on Sunday.  As well as being uncomfortable on my back in a cramped space I was concerned that I would get covered in the stuff.  To lead up to it I painted the remaining side first so I could defer the job as long as possible.  As it turned out, the underneath went relatively well and not only did I manage it without getting too achy, I got very little tar on me.  I hoped I hadn’t spoken too soon as I still had a further three coats to put on.

The positioning of the dry dock is very fortunate as it runs north-south.  This means one side of a boat is in the shade during the morning and one in the afternoon.  There are also tall trees next to the dock so the whole boat is in shade by 4pm. 

I had several comments on the previous update that the link I provided to the Sarralbe stork webcam isn’t working.  I have now corrected that and here it is again if you’re still interested.  Stork webcam.  

MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER

It looked like being yet another sunny day but before we started work Alistair drove me to Sarreguemines so I could do a food shop for the week while he went to a DIY store.  We were back at the dry dock by 9am and noticed that clouds were building up and then felt a few drops of rain.  Clearly it wasn’t worth putting tar on either of the boat sides in case it started raining properly.  Instead, I got on with putting a second coat on the baseplate.  At least by putting a second coat on it meant I’d be halfway through. It started drizzling after a little while so, to keep in the dry, Alistair also started painting his baseplate.  By the time we’d both finished, the rain had stopped but there were still some clouds around so we both got on with inside jobs that needed doing.  My main task was to replace the stove glass which had cracked at the end of last year’s cruising.  Neither Karen nor I were sure how it happened so I can only assume the door had been closed on a log that was laying a little proud and didn’t budge.  Unusually for me the job went smoothly and was much quicker than I thought it would be too.

TUESDAY 3 SEPTEMBER

I started at 7am on Tuesday, a whole hour earlier than usual, because I wanted to get a second coat on the left-hand side before it was in full sun.  After that I got a third coat on the baseplate and then felt like a change of tasks.  Alistair felt the same, so we decided to clean our front and rear fenders.  Compared to when the boat’s in the water, taking fenders off in the dry dock was simple.  When in the water, it’s so easy to drop tools overboard or any of the chain links that attach the fenders to eyes on the boat.  Ironically no tools or links were dropped while we took them off.  We got the pressure washer out and gave the fenders a good clean and then removed our weed hatch covers as they needed blacking too.  We’d had to leave them in situ while cleaning the undersides of the boats otherwise the water from the washers would have flooded the engine bays.

Neat line of clean fenders

Our boat is called Chalkhill Blue and Alistair and Sabine’s is called Vector. Some people refer to ours as CHB hence the meaning on this temporary piece of graffiti.  It’s not painted but written using the pressure washer.  It did make me ponder whether it can really be called graffiti as in a short space of time it will disappear.

It’s not graffiti – honest!

While the boat is in the dry dock it sits on supports which means the part of the baseplate that rests on those supports cannot be blacked.  To fully complete the job means refloating the boat, moving it backwards or forwards a metre or two and then draining the water out so the previously unreachable sections are visible.  To do this properly the tar I've applied needs a few days to go off, otherwise it could get damaged when the boat sits back on the trestles.  Monday felt like a good day to do the job as I could get a fourth coat on the baseplate and for it to have gone off by then.  Alistair called up VNF and they agreed they would flood the dock first thing on Monday so at least it feels like we’re nearing the end.

WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER

It rained quite hard in the early hours but was just a drizzle when it was time to start work.  In order to keep dry there was nothing for it but to put the fourth and final coat on the baseplate.

Baseplate with four layers

Another major job was to replace the propeller as the current one had suffered a couple of dents that were large enough to produce some vibration when we were driving which clearly was going to end up causing some mechanical damage.   Alistair had managed to borrow a propeller puller of the right size...

 ...and it wasn’t long before it was starting to do its job.

Puller on and damaged blade at the top

The whole task was simpler than either of us expected and the new one was soon on:

Karen generally does the meal planning and cooking in our relationship which means I’m not so good at it when I’m on my own.  As well as providing a healthy diet Karen batch cooks some meals so we have a good supply in the freezers.  When I left for France she provided me with some of these meals to make my life easier on the boat.  All I had to remember to do was take a meal out of the freezer each morning so after a long day’s cruising, other than cooking some rice or pasta, there was very little food prep to do.

Karen’s so good to me that she’s even provided meal plans for while I’m over here which also includes some that can be batch cooked.  Each morning, I look at the meal planner so I can look forward to the evening meal after a day of exercise in the dock.  For example, tonight it’s roasted vegetables and salmon which I know is not a meal for batch cooking, but any leftover roasted vegetables will be used in my lunchtime salad tomorrow.  Unbelievably Karen also converts the meal plan into a shopping list to make my life even easier when going around the supermarket!  

THURSDAY 5 SEPTEMBER

With a dry day ahead I was able to get one more coat on each side while Alistair put a final coat on his baseplate.  The picture below shows the benefit of the north-south orientation of the dock.  The righthand side of Chalkhill Blue is in full sun after I painted it before it was too hot and the lefthand side of Vector is completely in the shade.  

Later on, I carried out some inside jobs such as replacing the sealant around the wood stove while Alistair did a couple of welding jobs.  I’m really pleased he has his welding equipment as I have four anodes that need welding to the hull, and he’s kindly offered to do it for me before I leave.

Wittring lock from the boat