When we bought the boat, the survey (equivalent to home inspection) found a number of items that our insurer wanted to have corrected. Some were pretty trivial, like reinstalling a handhold that had been removed.
A couple were significant. There was an old repair at the front of the boat at the waterline. Insurance wanted that fixed. And there was a gouge in the keel where the boat had run aground. The surveyor recommended a repair to the “fiberglass” on the keel. (Turns out there was none—it was just lead). And the surveyor noted some “excess play” in the steering. (Which felt fine to me.)
WE found a couple of items we wanted to repair before we headed away from the great boating infrastructure that is Florida. Every large boat has some “thru hulls”--holes in the bottom of the boat that are there on purpose, for things like water intake to cool the engine, water intake for the generator and air conditioner, and water outlets for things like sinks. They each have a valve to open and close them. But if one of those fails, then you’ve got a hole in the bottom of your boat.
Our through hulls looked OK. But they have spacers, and some of those spacers were wood. Bad idea. Some of the wood spacers were damp and breaking down. If one of those spacers fails, then you’ve got a 3/8 open area around the thru hull. Very bad. 
Here they are all fixed.
So we decided to get all that fixed. Can’t fix the keel or thru hulls or waterline repairs while in the water. We had to haul the boat onto land. That requires a really powerful lift. Our boat weighs about 27,000 pounds, weighed on the lift. Some boats weigh a lot more. And it takes a crew of 4 to get the boat out, moved, and propped up properly on land. As you can imagine, a crew of 4 and an expensive lift don’t come cheap. So we spent a bit even before anything had been repaired.
Then, when it came time to haul the boat, the marina made it, seemingly, as difficult as possible. First, we had to dock the boat temporarily and drop our jib (front sail.) I guess there is some risk that, in high winds, they can come unwound and damage themselves and nearby boats.
Then, they made us pull the boat into the lift BACKWARDS. I was still learning how to “park” the boat in forward. Parking in reverse???
Well, nothing to do but do it. Tinho (brother in law—a boat expert) had told me a story about a boat on a previous day that had really botched its approach to the lift, multiple times. So, I thought maybe I wouldn’t be the worst approach they had seen…
Actually, it turned out better than I thought. The crew told me my approach was “average.’ Even if they were being kind, I’ll take it.
After the boat was settled on land, Tinho spent 4 days working on it. I helped as much as I could. His expertise was priceless.
And on valentine’s day, we re-launched the boat and headed straight for the ocean for a celebration sail. Wind was very light, but it was still a fun way to spend valentine’s day!
This is Tinho Dornellas, the boat wizard fixing the thru holes!
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