Sunriser

We spent 3 weeks on the boatyard in Cartagena in order to fix some issues, do maintenance and make some improvements. The haulout itself is always a bit scary, but went well. As soon as Sunriser was lifted out of the water, she was driven to land. There she was washed with high pressure and the propellors were, to our surprise, cleaned with hydrochloric acid (zoutzuur). She was then taken to her place for the coming 3 weeks. We stayed on the boat for most of the time, but also had a short trip to NL.

In the yard there where other Dutch boats: Rollercoaster from Pieter and Connie (& kid) and Stardust from Ronald and Elsine (@kids), so we had a BBQ the together the first evening.

Also next to us is Giriz II, a Dutch build boat from 1964 with a rich history of famous guests, Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas and the list goes on…..(according to Wikipedia).

In Cartagena it was a week of fiestas, where they reenact in 5 days all aspects of the battle between Carthagens and the Romans (which in the end the Carthagens lost).

The main reason for the haulout is a new antifouling (the paint on the bottom that prevents plants an cockels to grow on the hull). This is a major job as we have to remove all old antifouling first, before the new antifouling (coppercoat) can be applied.

But we also solved issues and made improvements. We try to do as many things ourselves, but the list was too big, and we still lack knowledge and tools to do it all. Some of the things we did you can scroll below.

With all the work done, Sunriser was ready to hit the water again.

And we were also more than ready to continue our journey, now pass the orca’s again towards the Canary Islands.