Haul Out

It has been three years since we had Sabbatical's bottom painted with anti-fouling paint, and the current paint is wearing through, making it difficult to keep the hull clean. Having heard good things from other cruisers about the work of a company called Total Yacht Works, at the Singlar Marina Boatyard in Mazatlan, we decided to have them do the bottom job for us.

We had to wait a few days at El Cid Marina for an opening in the boatyard. While at El Cid we made arrangements to have our interior upholstery redone--new cushions and new fabric. We also arranged for a canvas expert to resew and make repairs to our dodger (to fix some damage I caused when I installed our solar panels and replace some broken threads). We are impressed by how inexpensively we can have work done here. With luck, the upholstery and dodger should be completed while the boat is in the yard.

We also had a chance to reconnect with Seth, Sophie and Casey from Liberty. They are passing through on their way to the Sea of Cortez. We had a great evening sharing Mazatlan's famous cuisine--barbequed camarones with cerveza.

For exercise, we have been doing a lot of kayaking. We toured the very extensive waterways inland of the marina complex where the El Cid Company is developing condominiums and houses. Never have we seen so many infinity pools in such close proximity to one another.

We also kayaked to Isla Pajaro (Bird Island) which sits invitingly about a mile offshore, just outside the entrance to the marinas. There was a strong swell coming from the west, creating steep waves over the bar at the entrance channel, but once we got over those, it was an easy paddle to the island. Once there however, we encountered the following rather contradictory sign.

Hmmmm. Welcome, but you shouldn't be here. We stayed on the beach, took a few pictures, and paddled back. Here is the view of Mazatlan from the island

Our haul out was scheduled for 10 this morning. Because our holding tank was full, we got up early and left the harbor through the entrance channel in order to discharge the holding tank off shore. We encountered some steep waves as we motored over the sand bar at the mouth of the entrance channel, but we weren't too worried about it.

After dumping our waste three miles out, we headed back to the entrance channel. As we approached the entrance, we encountered some large swells that seemed to be coming in sets. We also saw what appeared to be breaking waves at the harbor entrance. Coming out through the channel we saw Patricia Belle , a classic 60-foot schooner that is well known in this area. As the schooner approached the bar, I saw it suddenly stop, turn, and start backing up. At first I thought she had run aground. As we got closer, I realized that the skipper was afraid to exit through the breaking waves, and was turning around in the narrow channel to reenter the harbor.

What should we do? I didn't want to be late for our haul out appointment. On the other hand, if the skipper of a 60-foot schooner was afraid to cross the bar, it seemed wise to be careful with our 33-foot sloop. I slowed down and got ready to radio Singlar Marina and tell them we would need to reschedule. While doing so, I noticed that the seas had flattened out--we were in a lull. I looked behind us--no swells were coming. Figuring this was our best chance, I gunned the engine and headed for the bar at full throttle. As we approached the bar, I saw some large swells rolling in from the west, but we beat them across and motored into the channel with no problem at all.

Just inside the entrance, near the El Cid fuel dock, we passed close abeam of Patricia Belle. Skipper and crew were all staring at us. The skipper yelled that we must have had a "hairy" time crossing the bar. I yelled back that we had timed it for lull and had had no problem. He shook his head and said (Claudia can verify that this is an exact quote): "well you're a better sailor than I am." I doubt that is true, but we did manage the entrance pretty well. Our familiarity with the wave sets, from having kayaked through the entrance the day before, probably helped. A short time after we entered the channel, the Harbor Master "closed" the marina entrance--which means that boats were no longer allowed to exit due to the danger of breaking waves.

We got to Singlar a few minutes early. The Singlar staff waved us into the lift, placed straps under our keel, and lifted the boat out of the water.

Bob Buchanan, the jefe at Total Yacht Works, examined the bottom carefully and recommended that we have all of the old paint removed. He said there is a thick layer of paint, from previous bottom jobs, and that the paint is beginning to separate from the underlying gel coat, with water penetrating between paint and plastic. I was able to remove some large sections of paint with my fingers, which seemed to confirm what he was saying.

We agreed to have all the old paint removed. The staff will then apply two coats of epoxy primer (a barrier coat) followed by new Proline ablative paint. This should put the hull in better-than-new condition. The good news is that everything else on the hull looks fine--and that the work can be done here much less expensively than would be possible at home.

While the boat is in the yard, we will take an inland road trip to Guadalajara.