Sava is out of the water and in the yard in Tahiti. We’ve been having some issues the last few months and sailed to Tahiti a week ago to try to get stuff fixed. It’s taking longer than we thought but it’s okay because Sava’s getting better and we’re in paradise!
The ladder we have to climb to get onto Sava
Why We’re In The Yard in Tahiti
Initially, we hauled out to replace the stuffing box, which is where the prop shaft enters the boat. The stuffing box has been leaking seawater into the engine bilge whenever the prop moves, basically whenever the boat was moving. The leak began during our Pacific passage, and got worse the last couple months.
After almost two years sailing and anchoring in the Caribbean, Sava and her crew needed some TLC. Sava moved to Curaçao Marine for bottom paint and more while we moved into an apartment in town. We only took two weeks away from the boat, but it made a world of difference! During that time, we made our boat nicer to live on, which is good for all of us.
Improving S/V Sava
We’ve done a lot of work on Sava over the years, but we didn’t focus on cosmetics. Fixing the engine, batteries, watermaker and everything else was more important, but since we know how that stuff works now, we can make life on Sava better! While in the yard at the marina, we prettied her up inside and out! Since we made our boat nicer to live on, she’s like a new boat to us and we love her all over again.
Sava didn’t look terrible when we took her out of the waterBut the new bottom paint on S/V Sava is an improvement!
Cleaning Sava
We rented a one-bedroom apartment while Sava was in the yard, which meant a thorough boat clean. First on our list was emptying the boat: we took out all the food, defrosted the fridge and freezer, and scrubbed all the cupboards and storage lockers. We vacuumed the boat multiple times since we had shore power and did such a good job cleaning Sava I was almost sad to restock her!
Staying in An Airbnb
While Domino took a few days to get used to living on land, she eventually made herself comfortable.
Since our return to Florida post-Christmas, we’ve been living in a boat yard. Sava has been out of the water, “on the hard” in Fort Lauderdale for 8 days. And counting.
Why We’re On The Hard
The before photo of Sava’s bottom. She needs work!
We’re on the hard because Sava needs her bottom painted. Salt water, layers of paint, some heat blisters, all of it had to come off. Layers of paint were removed and then new layers will be painted on just like new. We knew we needed to get this done since the survey. This is good news.
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