The time has come for the boat to go out of the water. It was actually the moment of truth, because I wasn’t really sure what to expect to find under the waterline which was covered in shells and seaweed.

At 8 o’clock two mariners came on a dinghy and towed the boat under the crane, but the moment we arrived, it started to rain, so I had to wait for a few hours… The whole thing took a bit longer than I expected, but when she was finally on the cradle I was relieved to find out that the hull was sound and that there is no sign of osmosis! YES!!

My friend Elvis came in the afternoon from Zagreb to help me and Maja was in the neighborhood, so we started scraping the bottom and then had a great pizza in Vrsar.

The next day, Elvis and I started early in the morning. First we sanded the hull, then sealed the keel to hull joint, put primer paint and at the end of the day we put the first layer of red antifouling. It was a lot of work for one day, so we rewarded ourselves with a steak tartar and a mojito later in the evening.

Elvis had to leave the next day, so I finished putting the second coat of antifouling and polished the topsides while the guys from the local yacht service replaced all the seacocks and valves, checked the propeller and prop shaft and installed new seals… and she was ready to go back in the water!!

A great reason for celebration… Bottoms up! 🙂