This week has been an exercise in persistence. I had imagined that I would be finished scraping the old anti-fouling paint off of both hulls several days ago, but it ended up taking 12 days! That’s a long time to be pursuing a monotonous and physically demanding task on one’s own, and as with anything that requires persistence, there have been moments of triumph (namely seeing the final patch of old blue paint disappear) along with moments of, well, “despair” would be too dramatic, but shall we say, “moments that sucked”.

I would have preferred to use power tools to remove the old paint, but the sandpaper on the electric sander became gritted up with paint almost immediately, and continuously using a grinder on the hulls seemed pretty hazardous not only due to the fumes but also because one false move would mean that I was down to the fiberglass. So I used a tungsten-bladed paint scraper and my brute strength (ha!). Some areas of paint seemed to be baked into the gelcoat and also required the use of a delightfully toxic paint stripper that turned the paint into a tarry substance that still had to be scraped off but was much less stubborn. 

Scraped down to the old green anti-fouling paint

I think it’s safe to say that I will never again volunteer to do a bottom job on my own, but I’ve managed to earn the respect of some of my neighbors here in the boatyard, (one of whom thinks it best not to arm-wrestle me after watching me scraping away day after day), and I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished product within the next week. Tomorrow I will do a final sanding of the hulls to prepare them for the epoxy-based barrier coating that I hope to apply on Thursday. I have to wait until a professional drops by to re-fiberglass a couple of small spots. One is a gap at the base of the starboard keel that was not water-tight and had to be ground out, and the other is a small abrasion on the starboard rudder that resulted from a fishing line getting trapped around the prop. After the barrier coat, I will apply three coats of fully ablative, Altex anti-fouling paint, and voila! There are a few other things that Dallas identified as needing to be done while we are out of the water, but he has assured me that the worst is over. It’s all downhill from here.

I haven’t had too much time to play lately, but I did take a day off last week to hang out with friends that dropped in from Raglan. They didn’t have my new phone number (I had my cell phone stolen from the changing room of the pool), but someone at the marina pointed them toward the boatyard. At 9:00 p.m. after a long day of scraping, I arose from my prostrate position out in the cockpit to try to figure out who was calling my name in a French accent from the other side of the slipway! Those of you who have seen our New Year’s pics might remember seeing Antoine who got the party started with his funk music and animated dance moves. Anyway, he showed up with his friends from England and the Czech Republic, and we went for a “catch up” (as kiwis say) at the pub. The next day we piled into my mate Marty’s 4×4 for a tour of some of the local sites–an active gold mine, hot pools created from spring water, and a lovely community garden established in an old quarry with a great view of the Mount. It was a beautiful day, and I welcomed the opportunity to spend it around cool people after spending so much time with me, myself, and I!

Antoine was happy to discover the worth of his weight in gold

They have to dig out 70 tons of rock to get 12 grams of gold dust!

Vinnie and Gabriela in front of the old pumphouse

Just another beautiful day on Waihi Beach

Mmmmm...sweet nectar

View from the top of the quarry park

In truth, while daytime has been devoted to solitary boat work, I’ve been in good company most evenings. Martin and I continue to play music together, sometimes at the marina restaurant where we have access to a piano, and sometimes in the company of Anna, his very agreeable new crew member from the Netherlands. I’m also still going to yoga and enjoying the hospitality of Matthew and Goeril who are always up for having me over for dinner and a DVD afterward. With that said, I am anxious to start spending evenings with my husband again! Only two weeks left until he returns…