Boats. Sometimes I just sit and shake my head at the amount of work it takes to keep a boat going. I owned an airplane earlier in life and let me tell you, airplanes are a cake walk. Boats just never stop asking for more. And then throw in a dumb-ass owner who loves new toys and it is a recipe for lots of sweat, blood loss, and swearing.
In preparation for the next two months there were a few important task that needed to be completed before returning Strikhedonia to the water. Number one, and the reason for hauling out at Gabriel’s yard in Guaymas, was a new bottom paint job. I had Baja Naval, in Ensenada, do bottom work twice in three years (July 2014 and October 2016) there were bonding issues so I knew I wanted to take it back to gel coat and build it up again. Then I would know exactly what I was working with in the future.
Bare bottom, she feels quite exposed in this picture
Stern view of the bare bottom
Primer coats, I lost track of the number of primer coats.
Great looking bottom paint!
I was extremely happy with the quality of work Alejandro and his helper put into our bottom paint job. I was told stories of the sanding being done in August in 130 degree temperatures while wearing a Tyvek suit. For the life of me I can’t figure out why they didn’t wait until the cooler weather in October. But things are done differently in Mexico.
Undoing all the work that was completed at the beginning of summer dominated much of the four days Strikhedonia took to be recommissioned but a couple of additions were also in order.
I should have done this earlier but I added markings every 10 feet (alternating florescent orange and florescent green) and a special pattern at 100 feet. This should make deploying the correct amount of scope a little easier and more accurate than our windlass chain counter.
I decided to go with the mantra that if the anchor looks ridiculous then you know it is the correct size. Thus an upgrade to a 65 pound Mantus anchor. What can I say, I like to sleep well at night. Good news is the anchor roller I designed was strong enough and the bigger anchor actually fit better.
Mantus makes some rock solid, dependable products so I tossed a few extra bucks to them to replace my old locking chain hook.
A couple notes about Marina Guaymas
1. It has been said by many others, but I have to say it again – this is a working yard which means hot and lots of dirt. Sand blasting shrimp boats next door doesn’t help…
2. The work done on our boat was excellent. I was there to see each step and it was meticulously completed. I can definitely recommend Alejandro. **NO LONGER RECOMMEND, see update below**
3. We were very happy with the security and location in the yard at Marina Guyamas
4. For catamarans the haul out is from the shrimp boat yard’s lift. It is quite expensive at $300 USD haul out and another $300 USD launch. In talking with Muskoka (Lagoon 400), they did a quick haul out at Don Jose in La Paz for the same bottom paint (sand to gel coat). With labor, haul out/launch, and dry storage they paid a few hundred dollars less and were equally happy with the quality of the work.
5. When factoring in the 5 months of dry storage and haul out/launch it was still a good solution for us, but next season we will be keeping Strikhedonia in the water in San Carlos.
**UPDATE December 2018** The bottom paint job did not hold up as well as it should have. After 14 months in the water, there was no bottom paint on the front of the rudders, exposed areas along the hulls, and 40% was gone on the mini-keels, plus there was damage where the straps were applied when launched. I purchased 5 gallons of paint which should have been plenty to put three plus coats. I suspect that the bottom paint was thinned and the extra was sold to another customer. Also the saildrives were not properly painted resulting in zero protection after one year. See this post, for the correct application of saildrive anti-foul by Rick’s crew at Marine Services Mazatlan.
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