There’s an old saying that goes “Ships and sailors rot in the harbor.” While we’re in the shipyard here in San Diego, Sea Dragon is definitely doing the opposite of rotting, but some days her crew struggles a bit. We’re nearing the end of our nearly month-long haulout, and we can’t wait to get back in the water. It’s been nice living “normal” lives for a while, but we’re ready to have Sea Dragon afloat once more, where she belongs.
While we’ve been out of the water, here are some of the projects we’ve been working on:
Had our 12 scuba tanks serviced!
Refilled our Medical Oxygen and renewed our medical kit
Serviced our 4 6 person Zodiac SOLAS life rafts, our Spinlock Deckvest PFDs, our immersion suits and fire extinguishers
Replace the batteries (surprisingly finicky – 8 rechargeable AA batteries soldered together in series) on the tracker, so you can always tell where we are on the website (LINK).
Rust-busted over 40 spots in the bilges – Critical to keep a steel boat’s paint in good shape to prevent corrosion.
Re-varnished a lot of interior trim.
Replaced the lower and middle rudder bearings and fully inspected the rudder, skeg, and stock.
Re-painted the rudder’s partial skeg
New Bottom Paint – We’re continuing to use water-based bottom paint, as it’s much nicer to apply, easy to prep & clean, and better for the atmosphere.
Replated one section of hull and stringer underneath the starboard head – too much dripping from showers over the past 20 years!
Marked our 400′ of anchor chain
Replaced the bolts on our 125# Mantus Anchor
Removed the propeller and shaft, carefully inspected both, and re-installed with new cutless bearings.
Inspected and replaced three of the top keelbolts that attache the keel to the hull, and all of the bottom keelbolts that attach the bulb to the keel. Every one came out in great condition, but needed to be inspected for corrosion none the less
This week we’re going to be finishing up paint work and then moving on to rigging, deck cleanup, and general voyage preparation for the summer. Look forward to sailing with you all soon!