Gyatso in the slings on launch day -- a
clear, crisp fall day in Maine.
When we first purchased Gyatso in October
2005, we were anxious to launch the boat and get underway to Annapolis and then
Florida since it was late in the season. We wanted to move aboard and work
on the boat over the winter months. We decided to leave the existing
bottom paint until we reached St. Augustine, Florida, where we planned to
haul-out and complete the first phase of refit projects. We have
hauled-out and painted the bottom every year whether it needs it or not.
After three years of regular maintenance, we seem to have gotten on top any
lingering problems, and now we can get away with painting it every two years.
After
arriving at St. Augustine Marine in February 2006, David went to work
repairing the barrier coat in a problem area on the port side. In this
area, the bottom paint and barrier coating underneath were cracked and peeling
away, exposing bare fiberglass. He used a grinder and a sander to prepare
the surface and then applied a two-part barrier coat in the problem area before
painting the entire hull with two coats of Trinidad red bottom paint.
Due
to environmental controls in the yard at St. Augustine Marine, we connected the random
orbital sander to a dust muffle and a shop vac to reduce
airborne toxic particulates. We were more than happy to comply with the yard's "Clean
Marina" policies because it also reduced David's direct exposure to
the toxic paint particles. However, we both agreed that it was a really
nasty job, especially repairing the problem area, and decided it would be the
last time we did this job ourselves -- better to leave it to the professionals.
One
year later in April 2007, we hauled-out at Rodney Bay in
St. Lucia to re-paint the bottom in preparation for our transatlantic
voyage. We decided to raise the water line by about one inch.
The previous year's work to fix the barrier coat seem to have solved that
problem. A light sanding and careful taping at the waterline were
all that was needed to prep the hull for two coats of Seahawk red bottom
paint. We contracted the yard to do all the work under David's
careful supervision.
A
close inspection in St. Lucia revealed new problems with the barrier coat and
bottom paint on the rudder. With qualified staff in the yard to undertake
some additional repairs, this was as good an opportunity as any to address a
moisture problem we had noticed when we first purchased the boat. Cracks
where moisture was seeping in were sealed up, the aft and bottom edges of the
rudder where reinforced with new fiberglass and the whole thing was given a new
barrier coat and two coats of bottom paint. After
just one week, Gyatso was ship-shape and the hull and rudder were ready
for the Atlantic crossing.
After crossing the Atlantic, we hauled-out and
painted the bottom again in April 2008. Although we probably could
have gone for another 6 months with the Seahawk paint from St. Lucia, we needed
to haul and store the boat for a few months while we returned to the U.S.
We contracted with the yard in Sotogrande, Spain for a very routine prep and
paint job which lasted for two seasons.
While hauled-out in Marmaris, Turkey in 2009-2010,
we contracted with Demir Marine Services at Marmaris Yacht Marine to apply a
barrier coat and two coats of SeaJet bottom paint which we expect will last for
two years.
