So another season is about to begin, the yard here in Ardvasar is buzzing with excitement, and a little trepidation. The last 2 weeks have seen glorious weather and allowed folks to get on with their long lists of jobs. Sea Orchid is looking ship shape now but looked decidedly sorry for herself when I first arrived, after a long damp winter. Focus or work has been the hull, areas of old flakey antifoul have been scraped back to the GRP, sanded, and primed before two coats of antifoul all over. The keel too has been ground back to bare steel where there was rust, treated with rust remover and primed.
The launch process involves the use of a clever trailer which picks up the whole cradle. It took some tricky manoeuvring to extract it from between two other boats with literally a couple of inches to spare either side. Then at low water it’s towed out into the bay and deposited on the mud where we sit and wait for the tide to float us off the cradle. Simple and effective but one is a little anxious as the tide rises since if there is an issue with leaks or engine there is no way back, you have to go ! All was well and I motored round to Armadale bay where I had hoped to pick up Stephanie and Martin’s mooring, as they have just departed for 4 months. However the mooring has not gone back in yet so I took one of the visitor buoys. Later on a guy from the moorings association called me to say that the mooring I was on had just last week been condemned by the diver, following inspection. So I moved onto another nearby. Good to be afloat again but it was a bumpy night as luck would have it, as the wind went round to NE, straight down the Sound.
Work in progress
Armadale Bay
The Adventures of Sea Orchid 