Lifting & Hull Work - Albatros from the Outside

 

Albatros from the front, she means business!

Albatros was lifted on a beautifully sunny August morning, it was time to see what her hull looked like! Having only seen photos before from the survey we were anxious to say the least. We knew there was some form of osmosis and blisters caused by her sitting in the water, stagnant for the last two years but other than that, we were clueless. How many blisters would there be? How big would they be? Would there be any issues with the state of the propeller, the rudder or even worse the rest of hull.

We waited anxiously as the crane operators went about their business and lifted her out of the water. Luckily it was a calm, still day, and after removing the shrouds and some of the rigging, Albatros was safely on her cradle for the foreseeable future. It was still quite hard to see the condition of the hull as there was a large amount of weed and guck on her. This was soon power washed off along with some old antifoul and there she was. Our boat. From the front, she has a very intimidating structure and you can tell she is made and designed for blue water sailing in all conditions. The hull really wasn’t as bad as we were expecting (thank goodness) and with closer inspection, there were about 5 patches that needed our attention this year.

Out the water, after a quick power wash

Next year, we plan to take Albatros out of the water for 3 or 4 months, pop even the smallest of blisters and completely repair any damage she had. But for now, we wanted to concentrate on the most serious ones. We were desperate to get her back in the water safely and enjoy her to sail for the winter season. If we were to lift her for 4 months, we wouldn’t be able to sail her until next spring, and a caravan with sails is not what we were looking for.

So, our plan for this year? We were hoping there wasn’t too much repair work to do to the hull, and luckily there wasn’t. We wanted to get all the painting and protecting for the coming year done as quickly and efficiently as possible to avoid any bad weather that may crop up. Day 1’s plan was to pop and file the largest of the blisters and give them a day or so to air out. This according to the experts is enough for now, if more attention will be paid on them next year. Also, day 1 we needed to start sanding. Boy what a tough job that was. The hull is about my (Jess’s) height, 5ft 3 and so with my arms stretched I could just about reach the water line, but the keel was the issue for me. I had to squat down with my arms outstretched holding a very heavy sander. Matt is over 6ft tall, so he was able to sit and do the keel, which was fine by me. We soon picked our rolls, I started at the back of the boat, Matt at the keel and we did the front together.

Sanding… gosh we massively underestimated that!!! It was a messy, noisy, and difficult job. One that took a couple of days to complete. We also didn’t realise quite how messy it would be. We learned that next year, we will need respiratory masks, goggles, and any protective wear we can get our hands on. When I started sanding the old antifoul the dust got everywhere and it was only after we’d done it, we realised it is actually very toxic. We took it in turns every 10 minutes or so to have a go at sanding. With only one sander and very tired arms, I was happy for the respite after my allotted 10 minutes. We did this for pretty much the whole of the first day. Matt inspected the hull and we thankfully realised there were only a few blisters that needed attention. Matt burst these and we sanded them back to being smooth. Day one was complete. We both had antifoul dust is our hair, in our eyes and up our noses. It was most defiantly time for a shower!

Day 2 – Epoxy. The first job of day 2 was to finish the sanding we hadn’t completed the day before and clean the hull of any remaining antifoul dust. This fortunately didn’t take us long and we were then tasked with epoxy filling any holes that had been previously popped. We were terribly lucky with the weather, being the middle of September, we a bit unsure if the weather would hold out long enough for us to complete and dry all that needed doing but luck was on our side. We mixed the “International Watertite” epoxy filler, only a couple of scoops of each the filler and hardener were needed and within a half an hour Albatros was all filled and ready to set. Once the epoxy was on, the amount of filled areas was much worse than it looked. It needed just 24 hours to dry before we could apply the first coat of primer! With half the day left, we decided to go for a walk into the local village of Brouwershaven and grab some lunch.

The epoxy hardened exactly as expected and with a quick sand and another clean down, Albatros was ready for her first coat of primer. There are loads of antifoul primers on the market, but after a long search, we decided International Primocon was the one for us along with Uni Pro 250 in rouge for the antifoul. We wanted to keep Albatros red under the waterline so went with a bright red to compliment her navy cabin. We found the primer very easy to use when paired with a small foam roller and brush to get in her nooks and crannies’. Matt and I went back to our stations and started to paint. It was a beautiful greyish silver that made Albatros look like the was ready for battle and we both breathed a sigh of relief as the first coat was finished within a couple of hours. We planned out when the next coat and the first and second of antifoul needed to be completed and realised it would only take us a couple of days with the drying time included. Only 6 hours between coats as it was a clear, blue, sunny but breezy day. Day 3 would see us complete the Primocon layer and apply the first antifoul!

Primocon coat on!

By the end of day 4, the antifoul was done and Albatros was very close to being able to go back into the water! The only thing she needed was a new anode. We purchased one from the Chandlers next door and fitted it within a matter of minutes. We stood back and took a look at Albatros in all her glory, all ready for the sea again knowing she was protected for at least another 12 months!

All ready for another year

We decided to spend a few more days in the Netherlands than planned once the hull work was completed. When we bought Albatros, she was quite dark and dreary inside and we knew some modernisation was in need. We moved onto the interior intending the make her look as beautiful on the inside as she did on the outside.
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