Back in the game.....

Persephone is back in the water at Mt. Hartman bay, completely repaired.....but I am getting ahead of myself.....

We were hauled from the water early last Friday morning (Jan 7th).  The work immediately began.  The challenge was to remove the propeller shaft from the transmission, and then removal of the flange (a metal piece that permits the round shaft to be bolted to the transmission).  The shaft flange and the transmission flange separated in about 10 minutes.  BUT, and this is a HUGE BUT....there was NO room for me to put a wheel puller in the space behind the transmission....so removal of the flange from the prop shaft was a monumental problem.  I read books, and got advice on line....after 12 hours of backbreaking labor (literally) I was able to free the shaft from the flange.  Suffice it to say, this was THE most difficult project I have ever attempted on Persephone.  Brutal ! My hands are still healing from the cuts and bruises......Re-assembly with the new shaft seal was a breeze.  So the problem that caused us to be hauled out was finally resolved.

While  'on the hard ' the decision was made to redo the antifouling paint on the bottom.  The entire bottom of the boat had to be sanded smooth before applying the paint (which cost $329.00 per gallon times 3 gallons !!!)  A coldie at the end of a hard day of sanding:

On Thursday afternoon Persephone got her feet wet:

Persephone being lowered into the water.....

Spice Island Marine was terrific and reasonably priced.  The weather was awful, with rain everyday.  The yard was a mud bog, so everytime we went up and down the ladder, we tracked gobs of mud aboard.  It took us two days to clean the mud off the the decks. (In fact, the travel lift got stuck in the mud while moving the boat immediately prior to our launch.  I was holding my breath that we would not be delayed due to a mud-stuck travel lift....But, we launched right on schedule and motored around to Mt. Hartman. 

We are ready to go !!  All we need is a weather window to give us moderate trade winds to move north to Carriacou.  That window may be as soon as tomorrow.....six month ago today, Persephone sailed into Grenada...it's time to boogie !!

THE CREW