We've had a busy weekend - the annual clean of the hull below the waterline, followed by a fresh coat of antifouling paint, plus a polish of the propeller and the blue hull.
Rather than the expense of being craned out of the water, use the old-fashioned but very effective scrubbing grid alongside the Dartmouth quay. As the tide recedes the boat settles onto her keel on a raised grid of wooden timbers - it's just vitally important to make sure she leans into quay, against her fenders. Maunie has a slight tendancy to list to starboard so on Friday we had to move anchor and chain onto her port deck and rig a line from mast-head to a bollard ashore to get her to go the right way; she settled down without a bump on the very smooth water.
As soon as the water level began to drop, Graham had the pressure-washer on deck with the hose and lance down in the dinghy to clean 12 months' of slime and weed from the hull as it emerged. You get about 8 hours of no water on the scubbing grid so you have to move quickly to get the hull clean, dry (easy with the sunshine and light wind) and paint a first coat of paint on the high-wear areas around the waterlines and on the leading edges of the keel and rudder.
Friday saw us manage to keep to schedule and we floated off at about 8.00pm to return to the mooring.
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