Putting Maunie aground (deliberately!)

Regular readers will know that the yachting equivalent of the 10,000 mile car service is to hoist the boat out of the water to do some important hull-cleaning and servicing. Usually it's an expensive process using a 'boat-lift' crane in an expensive yard but yesterday we used a much more traditional and less-costly way of getting at Maunie's bottom. We put her aground..

Alongside the old wooden pier at 07.30, half an hour after high tide

Four hours later - very important to have her leaning towards the pier as she settles onto the beach!

The view from Doug's boatyard

Maunie looking good after some scrubbing 

The main job we needed to do - replacing the corroded bolts that are used to mount the zinc anode (which protects the expensive propeller from corrosion). They go right through the hull so it's important that the seal is good!

Doug's Boatyard uses a very old system of rails and trolleys, complete with a turntable, for hauling boats ashore

The winch is from WW2, with an electric motor coupled to an old car gearbox. One can only think that the health & safety police will get to it sometime but it's a lovely, ingenious system.

The downside of drying out between tides like this is that you have to work fast, with the water coming back in awfully fast. However we managed to get everything done and, at just $30 for the use of the pier and a hose, it was a bargain!