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After loads of hard work Melody's plump hull was gleaming and she was ready to go back into the water. We gently lowered her down and our spirits where lifted when she gracefully entered the misty bay and kept afloat. We motored her across to the Saldanha Bay Yacht club where she would stay until we were able to bring her down to Cape Town and around to Gordon's Bay.
Viv
First published on offtheline.co.za
Finally the Jotun Marine paint started being applied, layer by painstaking layer. The summer Saldanha heat was almost unbearable but again, thankfully, our blind determination helped override the strong desire to hide in the shade and drink ice cold beer. So we pushed through and were rewarded with a sexy "new" Melody as a result!
Photos first published on offtheline.co.za
As mentioned in a previous post, in between all the hardstand work on Melody's hull, we managed to queeze in some fun and a little bit of sailing on our tiny tender. We had very relaxed New Year's Eve "celebration" (mostly sleeping from exhaustion from all the work) in Yachtport's yacht club, which e had all to ourselves because aparently no one else in their right mind works in a shipyard over the Christmas/New Year holiday season ;)
Thank you to Yachtport for trusting us with their brand new beautiful facility. It made for a welcome retreat from the chaotic boat work!
Photos first published on offtheline.co.za
A few shots of the gritblasting process, to take all the old crusty paint layers off and start fresh on clean steel, with all the correct primers and commercial shipping grade paints.
Photos first published on offtheline.co.za
The next step was to lift old Melodious out of the water and have her grid blasted and repainted. A gruelling task and living on the hard for two weeks was a blow to everyone's morale. The Yacht Port SA in Saldanha Bay, however, definitely made our stay far more bearable for which we are grateful. In between all the hard work there were plenty of memorable moments, we managed to have a sunset sail on Mini Melody, our tender boat - Carla's first sailing experience! As well as celebrating the arrival of 2011, well at least we tried. All of us, but Chris and Wilhelm, fell asleep before mid night - a little embarrassing at our age but HAPPY NEW YEAR anyway! Unlike most of the world we woke up on the first day of the new year feeling fresh and ready to paint and when looking at what we had accomplished, it was definitely all worth it.
Viv
First published on offtheline.co.za
