Duet Takes a Bath before Departure


Before we take the boat south we needed to wash the bottom and change the zincs (pieces of metal attached outside the hull to capture stray electrical .current and prevent corrosion).  This means the boat needs to be lifted out of the water, which is a stressful experience, rather like seeing your house up on jacks.

The first step is to drive the boat into the area where the yard travelift can raise her.  This area is about one foot wider than Duet but fortunately the yard team has done this many times before, even if we haven't.
Once she's in the lift, she is raised into the air and driven over land.  This is even more disconcerting than fitting her in the lifting area because the slings which support her creak.  She weighed in at a svelte 48,000 pounds on the lift, with no fuel, water or beer on board.  As this point, brave people can walk around under her.
In this side view you can see Duet's port stabilizer, the fin which sticks out from the side.  These are Naiad stabilizers, controlled by a gyrocompass which senses motion and moves the fins to counteract rolling from side to side.  They are worth their weight in gold in a seaway.
Duet is then washed down with a power hose.  It makes a great deal of noise and spray flies everywhere.  If you're smart you stand on the upwind side while this is going on.

The power washer takes off barnacles, scum and anything else which has attached itself to the bottom of the boat.  A clean bottom can add half a knot to Duet's speed.  The same might be said of some people.
While the yard team is at lunch, Ron and Nancy change the zincs.  Duet has 7 zincs, some of which don't want to come off.  This is a fire drill, with both of us rushing to get them changed before the yard team comes back and needs to put us back in the water and haul out the next boat.

This picture also shows her massive rudder (it is only slightly smaller than Ronnie) which has a steel shoe at the bottom connecting it to the boat.  Her propeller is protected by the keel in the event we find the bottom..
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