For about a month, after we delivered our new boat from the Bahamas to Beaufort, North Carolina, we were sitting in a boatyard called Jarrett Bay. They are the best facility in North Carolina for hauling out catamarans because they have a huge (wide) lift. As is typical with boat ownership, what starts out as a basic maintenance visit to the boatyard turned into a much bigger than planned visit. Although our St. Francis 50 catamaran is ostensibly brand new – it was a demonstration boat for the builder and has been in the water for a year. We needed to do some basic maintenance like oil changes, props cleaned, and have the bottom re-painted. Not only that, but during the Bahamas passage we had two unexpected issues: 1) the batteries were not holding a charge as expected – although the builder had alerted us that there were issues with the inverter; and 2) the starboard engine had a problem with a water seal on the outboard drive. Several other mostly cosmetic things needed to be dealt with as well. Most of the issues were covered by warranty (including replacing the inverter), but there were delays in getting parts, labor, and getting the work completed. And to really complicate matters, there was tropical storm Hanna. About the time we were going to finish the work, Hanna was headed right for the Beaufort area – so we wisely chose to stay in the yard. But, this caused further delays especially when we wanted to get back in the water. There were many boats put in the boatyard, for protection from Hanna, that had to be put back so we could get out.
Here are a few photos from the adventurous few days described after the fold:
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