Arrived and Cleaning
Well arrived in Croatia via Dubrovnik and took the bus up to Split which was a pleasant and relaxing trip in a nice air conditioned bus that smooched its way serenely along the coast line through Bosnia where were were efficiently processed in 5 minutes and out through to rejoin Croatia a few minutes later. Then the rest of the way all the way to Split bus station where I was mercifully collected by Marie, Milan's wife and her new car. Very posh. After arriving at Milan's and having dinner and catching up with all the news and learning of Milan's misfortune falling over and bruising his posteria Mlan's dad then drove me and luggage to Marina Kastela. Miss Elle was looking a little tired after what was obviously a tough winter. Rust showing itself on the stern and the paint work looking very jaded if clean. So a day of recovery and the business of arranging to get all the materials needed to haul Miss Elle and get her ready for hull cleaned, anodes and propellor sorted and a general check. However the greatest plans of mice and men. Earliest we could haul her was the following week. Well eventually she is out of the water but and for the past 6 days I have been working on polishing hull, cleaning a really tough black mineral type marine growth, sanding and priming and recoating some areas of copper coat where it was getting a little thin. On the subject of the black nasty marine growth. Ivica came down and reviewed quickly agreed a price, told me what he planned and also the reactivation of the copper coat. Sounded good. So in the mean time I started on the Ishine cleaning process. Full polish Ishine 3, then colour brighter with Ishine 4 and finally UV protector with Ishine 5 This took 5 days doing this on my own with a very delicate neck. Concurrently Tony who worked for Ivica came down with his big orbital sander. The impact on the black things. Nothing. Ok so I got out my Makita Multi-Tool. Very slow, Then tried 19% salt acid, Hose down and Multitool. No great improvement. Then Light bulb. Tony got the onboard portable compressor down from the lazarets and I got the needle gun I bought in UAE for derusting areas of steel much more preferable to grinders. And Voila, In 18 hours the entire hull was clean. So then sanding damage areas, priming, Copper coating, plus changing the anodes and cleaning propellor and shaft and applying a new propspeed treatment and by 31st May we were ready. 6 days. BUT, on the 31st April advised the yard office that I was ready to go back in the water tomorrow and a look of shock. "But sir, it is national holiday tomorrow." No worries luckily the manager is a very practical person so I get a day off today and Miss Elle will hopefully be in her natural medium tomorrow. Then starts the next phase of the seasonal refit and upgrade. De rusting and changing out the helm position teak decking and cleaning up the steal and repainting. Plus Lazarette door. So in the mean time a tidy up and getting all things back onboard ready for tomorrow....
