The moat, and a bar. What a lovely place to pass some time!
We were welcomed back to Elburg by blue skies, budding trees and a very long list of tasks. We opted to stay at the beautiful Hotel Elburg for the first couple of nights while we organised the boat to become habitable once again. As it turned out, this was a very wise decision.
Staying our initial two nights in town at the Elburg Boutique Hotel was a good idea. A soft, made-and-ready bed was the best way to deal with jet lag.
After a good night's sleep, we walked the kilometre and a half to the boatyard to see how our girl was doing.
Tucked safely at the back was Chinook!
And just like that, we are back aboard!
We both agreed that as much as we love the Mornington Peninsula and Canmore, we were excited to be back aboard Chinook ... even if she was in a cradle on the boatyard. It isn't her natural environment, but it does allow access to her hull and bits below the waterline that need attention from time to time.
Barnacles in the bowthruster tube. We need to get rid of these.
More barnacles around the speed and depth sensor. Maybe that's why we were getting funny speed readings.
When we beach Chinook, the centerboard box sits on the sand and we can't clean off the barnacles. That bottom paint is looking a bit flaky, too.
Changing anodes on the propeller will keep it in good shape.
A new downwind sail - a Code Zero. All the cool kids have these! Notice the black halyard hanging between the boats, ready to hoist this big fella onto the foredeck. It weighs over 30 kg (66+ lbs).
On coming aboard, we discovered the lights in the main cabin and the navigation lights were not working and Sean spent many enjoyable hours trouble-shooting the issues.
Well, if things are already broken, I can't make it much worse, right?
Big thanks to Vincent at Garcia for spending hours on WhatsApp, helping to sort this out. No cabin lights would be an inconvenience but being without navigation and anchor lights is both dangerous and illegal!
Nice day to be on deck rigging the sails!
Attaching the foot of the jib with seizing wire. Don't want that to detach when it is not supposed to! By the way, notice some of our new ChinookWear?
Here we go, rigging the main sail, which includes re-running lines for the outhaul; reefs one, two and three; inserting and securing the five battens; attaching the main sail to the cars along the mast. Whew!
Jet lagged but happy
In and out of boat jobs, we managed to get out and about in this delightful town. The sun sparkled for a couple of days and the temperatures allowed us to run around in t-shirts during the day. But once the sun dipped, the temperatures dropped! Yay for our insulated boat and our trusty webasto heater!
Flowers and more flowers
Elburg has a long boat building history. There is a good shipwright's museum. Check out the old method for hauling boats out for repair!
And to remind us that summer is still some time away, the sun disappeared, the wind howled and the rain beat down. Fortunately, we had finished the jobs we needed to get the boat back in the water.
Not very happy weather approaching. Good thing we are on the hardstand!
Hail! We are seeing all the seasons most days.
With a barnacle-free hull, fresh bottom paint, a working electrical system and new, bright and shiny anodes, we were ready to launch.
The yard crew show their skills at moving and positioning boats. most of the boats are less than a metre apart.
From the cradle, it is a straightforward (for the practiced hands in the boatyard) to transfer Chinook into the slings of the TraveLift and to gently set her into the water.
So impressive!
We lowered the centerboard to check the mechanism and to apply antifoul paint to it. We don't get to see the boat from this angle very often!
Once we were in the water, we could finally test some of the systems ... like our new reverse-osmosis watermaker. We will spend the rest of the day checking the engine, safety systems and planning our next few months.
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