Life on the HARD

Monday morning bright and early Celebrian was lifted out by the travel lift and put on the hard at Abaco Yacht Services. While Celebrian was finding her summer spot the captain was in Green Turtle Cay renewing our cruising permit and the admiral was doing laundry. Everything on the boat has to be washed before we leave for the season... from the life jackets,wet suits ,snorkel gear, bimini curtains to the sails and seat cushions that have to be rinsed with fresh water. All of the blankets, pillow covers, any clothes that have been worn, even if only once, and all of the regular laundry has to be done. Salt is the culprit and anything left salty or dirty will mildew and we definitely do not want mildew. Rob had been kept busy doing all of the mechanical "summerizing" on Sunday....pickling the water maker, flushing Mr. Yan's rad and changing his oil, servicing the Honda generator as well as Mr. Johnson our powerful 3 HP motor and what Rob calls making love to our batteries...the heart of Celebrian's utility system. If you have ever lived off of the grid you will understand why this is such an important thing to do.
This picture shows Rob in the process of removing the 6 gallon hot water tank.
After he returned from getting our permit and we were on the hard it was time to get the deck clean and ready for the circus tent and lastly hoist Goldberry up on the deck. We were grateful that we had booked the cottage for the last night. The cottage is part of AYS and used to be rented out weekly to anyone; however they have decided to rent it out to their boat yard clientele and use the cottage yard for extra boats. It is very nice and has a full kitchen, huge screened in porch and is tropically decorated. It took the stress out of the last day in the yard knowing that we could get Celebrian all put away including the tent tied on and then relax for the evening. Last year Rob ran out of time to finish tieing on the cover and we had to leave. This year was much more relaxed and we had a pleasant evening in the cottage. The admiral even had a bath?!!The next morning we were up early finishing our packing and off to catch the 8:00am ferry for the journey home.