March 11, 2013

antifouling, whitianga marina

by James Burwick

Whitianga Marina travel-lift in the foreground with Whitianga's Scenic & Historic Reserve and Whitianga Harbour
in the background.  The marina participates in the New Zealand Clean Marina enviornmental program.

Down to the business of removing the old antifouling on Anasazi Girl.

It has been one year since the boat was last slipped onto the South African Navy Dockyard's hard-stand in Simons Town.   During that refit, I gave her a super thin, 3 liter coat of antifouling.  It’s much easier this time to get back to the layer of primer.

A Girl’s spot at the Whitianga Marina is super clean.  The natural environment surrounding it is quite stunning and very peaceful.  My mind works better when everything around me is clean and organized.  Maybe I am a bit neurotic like Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets.  I love his obsessive scene with the bars of soap.

Work has been a combination of wet sanding & dust-free machine sanding with a vacuum suction.  There is no fairing material on the hull, just a coat of primer over the carbon prepreg.  So I try to move slow, working deliberately and methodically, putting the pain in the box for later.

I don’t feel the aches in my body until I return to our Kiwi sleep-out.  When I finally stop moving and lay on a bed that my entire family fits on, what an appreciation I have for the simple comfort of a soft mattress.

Underside of Anasazi Girl's bow with half the anitfouling from South Africa taken down to the primer.

Anasazi Girl's autoclave carbon fin keel & lead bulb.

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