I woke up just after sunrise today as I think it will be a busy one. “Zanshin” gets splashed sometime today and I have to be there when the Travelift arrives in order to put the finishing touch on the bottom paint where the blocks are currently located. Then get the fenders set up for the dock, the slip where I’m slated to go is still occupied with another boat so I might be put elsewhere which means that the fenders might need to go on another side. I always get a bit nervous when it is time to fire up the engine for the first time, since it doesn’t always fire the first time around. Then I need to navigate to the dock and attach myself to it without doing too much damage to the topsides or the dock (luckily, the strong SW wind that has been blowing for the past two days has died down to a light breeze, so I am optimistic about surviving the encounter with the dock. Once all that is done I need to checkout of the hotel and finally use the last hours on my rental car to finish provisioning. As I write this I’m drinking a self-made Cappuccino aboard and watching the charging process finally come to an end. The system was still charging the batteries when I came in, but the charge has tapered off to about 6A and that low rate coupled with the float voltage has finally triggered the Xantrex monitor to read FULL – after two full days of slow charging. Soon I’ll know if the bank can keep that charge. The manual refers to an equalization charge for the A400s, and I can reset my charger to deliver that charge; but perhaps being at the dock under charge for 2 further days might be a viable alternative to the harsh overcharge that battery equalization forces upon my already mistreated battery bank.
I still see the occasional small ant scurrying around, so I will have to get ant traps or poison as well as search for the nest while I clean up the boat.
Although they told me at the yard that “Zanshin” would splash sometime before noon, it wasn’t until after 14:00 that the Travelift was ready to head out towards my empty corner of the boat yard. The guys got a kick when I told them I’d race them to the boat on foot, since these behemoths move ponderously at best, even when empty. As things would have it, they ended up winning the race since I made a detour to the boat yard office before watching them lift and move the boat. Once in the water I checked for leaks and then tried to start the engine, to no avail. After a bit of trying and starting up the generator to make sure that the starter battery had enough juice I wasn’t sure what to do next and the boat yard guys headed off to get the next boat while I was stuck in the haul out pit. Andrew, the guy waiting for his offshore passage making ship to come in, came by after his dive on the wreck of the Rhone and helped me on getting the problem diagnosed. I did remember that the engine had a pre-heater and fired that up, that seemed to do the trick as subsequently the engine coughed and hiccupped a bit before chugging away in regular diesel fashion. Andrew then helped me get the boat out of the slip and dock it on “A” Dock – fortunately there was lots of room and almost no wind, so getting onto the dock was no drama.
After attaching power and cranking up the interior air-conditioning, I got the bimini up, but then Andrew dropped by once again and with two people working in concert the rest of the canvas was a piece of cake. After that bit of work it was already time for sun-downers and dinner.
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