Foul weather anti-fouling

Clearly, time for Cetol and a power wash. Not seen: Cat pawprints and leavings.

The Other Boat, clearly neglected over this Main Boat-focused push to finally relaunch, demanded her due yesterday. Last week, I removed the largely shredded canvas tarp. A product of Keeble Canvas of Belleville, Ontario, it had lasted about 12 years, which is, I am told, about two years beyond its expected lifespan.

Uncovered in the sporadic sunshine. The yearly hull polish is keeping this 40-year-old topsides bearable.

That lifespan might have been shortened somewhat by the exposed location of Valiente's winter yard, which is beside a dusty recycling depot with a constant and slightly ironic flow of diesel-powered, soot-spewing garbage trucks. The effect on the decks and canvas is obvious: "smoot" is everywhere, and it makes no sense in what is in essence a waterless, unpowered parking lot to attempt anything more than a token remediation. The inside isn't bad, thank goodness.

Does this bug you? It bugs me, even if a lot of my "green thinking" arises from the expression of the Scottish gene.

When it comes to tarping boats over the winter, many people opt for either "nothing", which in my view would undo all the core replacement I did at the beginning of my stewardship, or for the increasingly ubiquitous "white shrinkwrap tarp". The expense of this over a 10-year span exceeds, significantly, I think, that of the canvas tarp option, but it's the horrendous, dumpster-busting waste of it that puts me off, even if hauling the heavy canvas up ladders is rough on my ever-aging frame.
  

You'll have to imagine the howling wind. And the howling cats.

My boat partner, Clive, overcame his own shoulder issues to buff the hell out of the hull. On the inside, I installed and connected two new Group 27 batteries, installed a new, post-impeller pump "basket filter", which required the removal of the alternator just to reach the buried hose barbs on the block. We than did a gratifyingly successful test fire of the engine. The near-instantaneous ignition may have lasted a mere 15 seconds (the time it took to run the non-toxic coolant out the stern), but it's a joyous thing to know your winterization and maintenace regime was...so far...correct.

There's a limit to applying anti-fouling in the rain. This is about it.

Nice shine! Heavy overcast! Cat pee!

I have a bit more work to do in this area, but the boat's only a couple of hours from being able to be launched.

We can't get into the summer dock until April 15th or so, and so I'm back down to Alchemy to resume the drive to launch on April 27th. More on that soon.