Today Dione IV gets hoisted on shore for a few weeks to complete some enhancements (adding a bow thruster) and her routine maintenance – underwater hull and top deck painting.
Highlights – the overview
We show up bright and early today, with no wind and some sunshine… perfect weather for removing the masts and hoisting Dione IV on shore. Each mast (main and mizzen) is attached to the crane with a sling and then hoisted up and transported to a location outside the work halls for storage.
Next, Dione IV is put into slings, carefully positioned, and hoisted up and onto shore.
One of the main reasons we’re here is because of blisters in the underwater hull paint. The primer is detaching from the steel more and more. The steel below is perfect still, but now we will remove all the old paint and apply new Coppercoat.
The first step is to pressure-clean the hull with high-pressure water. The next step is blasting with sand-like grit. Then the primer paint goes on before we finally apply the new Coppercoat bottom paint.
But before Dione IV gets her new paint, the welders will come and drill a HUGE hole in the bow (really? intentionally making a very big hole in the hull of the boat below the waterline?!!) to install the new bow thruster! But that’s another story…
Captain’s Log (T-84) – the complete story
Today, there’s no wind and it’s partially sunny. An excellent quiet day for taking off the masts. We arrive at the yard at 8 and we begin marking the tensioners of the stays. After that, we release the tension on all of them.
At 9, Yts shows up with his mobile cherry picker and he attaches a sling to the main mast. When the mast is supported by the crane, we release all stays and the furlers.
We have some trouble in getting the mast pin out and Yts has to get a hammer and a pin to hit it out. Good that I used Tef Gel on it when we mounted the mast in 2014. That makes it sliding easier now.
We lift both masts and tie everything together once the are ashore. After that, we store ‘m next to the building using a fork lift truck.
Next, Dione IV is hoisted ashore.
This is one of the main reasons we’re here… blisters in the paint of the underwater hull. The number of blisters has been gradually increasing over the last years. The last paint job has been done in 2011 and now, the primer is detaching from the steel more and more.
Inside these blisters is water but the layer of paint and Coppercoat is intact. If we open a blister, there is silver shining steel under it. No rust or any corrosion. Even Yts is surprised. That must be a terrific good quality steel, he says. Another thing that surprises him is the fact that there is no growth at all on the underwater hull. The Coppercoat does it’s job very well, he says.
Then, we lower the centerboard and Yts blasts the hull with high pressure water. Their high pressure is huge: 350 bar. With this kind of force, he blasts off a lot of paint. No problem, because the hull is going to sandblasted anyway.
He blasts off a lot of paint from the centerboard. The steel surface is too smooth to have a good adhesion for paint, Yts says. But again, we are surprised how nice and shiny the steel is… no corrosion after almost 20 years! The centerboard wasn’t re-painted in 2011 and had it’s original paint from 2005.
Then, she’s put on a cradle and set aside. Waiting for the welding of the bow thruster.
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