Haul out in Nanaimo

Its been 3 years since we last hauled out Adventure, so after some back and forth discussions, we decided that it was time. Kathy did her normal methodical pricing comparisons of the various boat yards in BC and found Stones to be responsive, located near a city center, and reasonably priced. Kathy didn’t want to be in the boatyard very long. It seems she was a bit jaded from our last haul out, which lasted ONLY a mere 14 months. “I’m NOT doing that again!” she said sternly, as if I was to blame.

We had a short list: paint the bottom, lube the prop, paint the prop, lube the thru-hulls, polish the hull, change out a broken electrical switch, change out our motor mounts, wax the hull, and, lastly, have a real mechanic inspect the engine. Not knowing what to really expect, we arrived a couple of days early to Newcastle Marine Park, about 15 minutes from the boat yard, and started preparing for the haul out. This is where things started to go sideways.

Problem 1: Stones boatyard is a Yanmar dealer so we assumed (never assume) getting engine parts should be quick and easy. Kathy called the boat yard and we talked to them about getting motor mounts for our engine. After 33 years we decided it might be time to replace them. Because it’s an older engine, the boat chandlery didn’t have them in stock. I was incredulous. How could that even be possible? ETA was 2 – 3 weeks.

Problem 2: The wrong bottom paint. We have Pettit hard paint on Adventure. The yard had Pettit ablative paint, which is not the same. We prefer hard paint over the slimy ablative but it’s a debatable topic. We told the yard that we had a hard paint before we arrived but didn’t, apparently, emphasize it enough. When we talked to them it was clear that they didn’t have hard paint and couldn’t order it (it’s not allowed in Canada). They told us if we could get it, they would apply the paint. We accepted the challenge – I put my best person on it. I settled down to a quick nap knowing that it was all taken care of. After an hour of calling around, Kathy was unable to get the paint in a reasonable period of time. It would have to go through customs. I wasn’t used to Kathy failing and contemplated letting her go, but after a brief cooling off period, I gave Kathy an opportunity to create a new plan.

Even though we couldn’t get the bottom painted or the engine mounts replaced this round, we thought it necessary to still haul the boat. We had hit a log or two in the last year and we wanted to inspect the bottom. We were pretty sure our zincs were still intact but they needed to be replaced. The prop needed to be inspected because it had also hit a log on our very first passage from San Francisco.  

Monday morning we woke up to 18 knots of wind. We had been instructed by the boatyard that we would probably need to back into the dock but to call or text that morning. I looked at the wind conditions as Kathy texted the project manager (PM) for updated instructions. There were none. Our hopes of just pulling up to the dock were dashed. I looked at Kathy afraid, “You’re going to have to back into the slip.” I used my hands to demonstrate the backing in motion. Kathy rolled her eyes. Despite my obvious fear, she pushed past me and started the engine.

We texted our PM and told him we were on our way. As we approached the dock I began to give Kathy instructions, in soft reassuring tones, on how to back in. She told me, somewhat harshly, that she knew what to do and being quiet would be much appreciated. The wind was blowing us hard onto the dock. Kathy gunned the engine and turned the wheel as she tried desperately to gain steerage. Our PM leisurely walked down the gangway and I, with a dock line held loosely in hand, closed my eyes and prepared my body for the inevitable violent collision. But then, in Captain Ron like fashion, Kathy regained control of Adventure and brought her along the dock so well that I merely handed the dock line to our PM and then stepped casually onto the dock.

And so, having averted disaster once again, Adventure was hauled out of the water. The first thing we noticed is that our PropSpeed paint was no more. Kathy and I looked at each other. “You backed in with the prop like that?” I asked. Kathy blew on the backs of her fingers and rubbed them on her chest. I often think she forgets that it’s the lines person that makes the helms person look good. Maybe next time I won’t hand the person standing at the dock our lines and we’ll see how well she does.

Kathy suggested that we maybe could have the prop painted and I, in a Star Trek-ian mood said, “Make it so”. Kathy walked away and I was now alone as the yard manager approached.  I instructed (begged) the yard manager to have the prop painted even though we hadn’t originally requested it. He smiled and said, “No problem.” I went back to Kathy and told her the good news. She responded in a very direct manner, as if she was in charge, “When?” I looked at her with shock and confusion.  Kathy had done the research and determined that the hard paint on the bottom could only be out of the water for 72 hours. I decided to make up an answer rather than admit my mistake. “Soon.” I smiled doing my best to sell the lie. 

After the yard guys pressure sprayed the bottom they got us a stair platform and we boarded Adventure. We had purchased a recommended lubricant for the thru hulls and after some heated discussion decided to start with something simple. With Kathy down below and I inside the boat we quickly realized that we had no way to communicate.  After various knocking on the hull failures we decided to take a moment, break out some headphones, and call each other.

The next task was to replace an old breaker switch on our panel. I unplugged us from shore power, turned off all our power, removed my wedding ring, and, very carefully, replaced the breaker. I did a great job but then I got distracted and I didn’t turn the power back on correctly. It seems Adventure was running off the starter battery, which became apparent when Kathy took it upon herself to start microwaving things.

Next, we decided to change the transmission fluid. Our oil extraction pump didn’t have a tube that would work and Kathy quickly disappeared as I was explaining how we could modify the current system. Annoyed, I sat there alone with the extraction pump waiting for her to return. Kathy had a new hose in her hand that she’d been hiding and quickly brushed me aside to install it. “It’s not about who gets credit,” I tried to explain to her but she seemed uninterested. Anyway, I was able to successfully extract and add the new fluid.

I then secretly worked my way downstairs to check with the yard manager on when the prop would be painted. I wasn’t sure how much longer my “Soon” time estimate would last. I looked at our prop and it was already prepped for painting. Those yard guys were like ninjas. I hadn’t heard or seen them but somehow work was being done. I wasn’t able to find the yard manager, but I at least had “Soon” evidence and decided it was good enough.

The polisher came and introduced himself later in the afternoon. He would start in the morning and it would be best if we washed the boat. As I often mention to anyone who’ll listen, washing a boat is like washing 10 cars. It usually takes me 2 days. Kathy fixed me a bucket of warm soapy water and we then did a Keystone Cops act in trying to wash it. Kathy would wet down the deck and then wait for me to start scrubbing. If I wasn’t moving fast enough, she’d rinse the deck and me with it. I tried to take the hose and show her the correct way to do it, but she wouldn’t give it back. “Just tell me what you want me to do,” she would say as she held the hose an arm’s length away. A soap towel slipped out of my hand and somehow hit her. I tried to explain that it was an accident, but she still sprayed me. Women.

The next day we were awoken by the rhythmic sound of machinery next to our heads. “Wake up!” I yelled. “We’re late for work.” Kathy yawned and said, “Leave the polish guy alone. You’ll just slow him down.” I quickly got my work clothes on and went below. The polisher was a very nice older man who was kind enough to explain his process for polishing. I asked lots of questions and he was a good teacher (we were paying him by the hour). “But the most important thing about polishing you need to know…” he started to explain. I hung on to his every word. But then Kathy yelled from above, “Sean! I NEED you.” I excused myself and ran to Kathy’s aid. It was then I learned that it was all a ruse: I was bugging the polisher and I needed to let him do his job. No! I never did find out the most important thing about polishing. He did a great job and the hull hasn’t looked this good…EVER!

Stones boatyard is a very busy place. In 2.5 days we saw boats constantly coming and going. The yard manager, a very busy guy, was always available when Kathy wanted me to ask him a question. It seems our bottom had some scrapes on it from when Kathy may have hit a log, or two. I asked him if he could do some touch ups and he had the idea of using some different color paint so we’d know where the touch ups had occurred. Once again, I think late at night, the yard ninjas touched up the scrapes. Stones boatyard is awesome. I can’t say enough good things about them. I would often catch the yard manager between projects on other boats and ask him to do something. It always got done no matter how trivial. The staff is friendly and helpful and we’re very appreciative.

Finally, it was time to splash.

The yard manager gave us the last splash of the day so we could run through some tests before driving away. Once in the water, we turned on the chart plotter and instruments. None of the instruments came on. No depth, no wind, no AIS. “It has to be a fuse!,” I said stalling to disguise my inner terror. I sprung into action. I grabbed a screwdriver and started undoing the closet shelving that hid the NMEA 2000 instruments.

After successfully dismantling the closet, I realized that this is not where the fuse is installed. It then occurred to me, after Kathy suggested it, that it must be in the electrical panel. I opened it up and observed a mass of wires and fuses…that weren’t labeled (wasn’t that Kathy’s job?). I went to work and eventually found the one marked, in Kathy’s handwriting, NMEA 2000. I pulled the fuse out and it was fried. “See! See!” I said to Kathy. “All we need to do is replace this and we’ll be back in business.” I grabbed a new fuse between my fingers, pointed it towards Kathy and said, “Watch this!” I placed the fuse in its holder and turned on the switch. Nothing. (Note: you should never say “Watch this!” no matter how confident you are that it’s going to work), I checked the fuse and it was blown. “It’s not my fault!,” I declared to a very unencouraging audience. I disconnected and reconnected everything on the NMEA 2000 bus and eventually isolated the Airmar DST810 depth transducer. It had gone rogue.

Kathy, confident as ever, decided we could make it back to our anchorage safely and started the engine. Once secure on a mooring buoy, she had me contact Airmar support. “It’s a waste of time,” I protested. “They’re not doing anything. It’s 2 years old.” She pushed the computer in my direction and I reluctantly complied.

Kathy spent the next hour calling various marine stores trying to find us a replacement. She quickly found a marine store in Nanaimo that had 15 of them in stock. As I was congratulating her on a job well done, they called back to tell us they checked the serial numbers with Airmar and found that all 15 were on a recall list. Kathy then found Pacific Yacht Systems in Vancouver City had a working DST810 they could overnight to us for $20CAD. Our order in, we jumped for joy and congratulated ourselves. And then I saw on the computer an email from Airmar. Our DST810 serial number was part of a batch with a known MOSFET issue. Just give them an address and they would send us a new one. Kathy had spent a lot of time with Pacific Yacht Systems coordinating our purchase and now had to cancel our order. This was difficult because they were super nice and very helpful.

We’re currently waiting an extra 3 days for the part to arrive to Stones Boat Yard. They were kind enough to accept shipping for us. Hopefully, that fixes the issue and we’ll be on our way.