Haul Out in La Cruz

February 2014

We ended up making a somewhat last minute decision to haul out in La Cruz.  Most cruisers go down to Puerto Vallarta for haul out, because the word on the street is that it’s cheaper there, but unfortunately for Catamaran owners the travelift is not quite wide enough, so we are stuck with only one option in Banderas Bay.  The main reason we decided to haul out was the anti-fouling on the saildrives needed to be redone.  When we hauled out in La Paz, Tim had not intended to have them do anything with the saildrives, because the PropSpeed (specific prouduct used on props and saildrives) was still in good shape, but before he knew it the guys in the boatyard had sanded down one of them.  So, they ended up painting them with the same paint we used on the bottom of the boat.  I guess this wasn’t the best solution, since now, not even a year later, we had barnacles setting up shop within hours of cleaning them.  So, the plan for this haulout was simply to reapply PropSpeed.  When we hauled out in La Paz, we were pulled out on rails (like a train track) but this time we were lifted out by a travel lift.  It was a little unnerving seeing your house lifted well off the ground and then moved around within the boatyard.  There’s a video on the facebook page if you haven’t seen it already.

Once placed down on the blocks, everyone got to work.  This is one of those times when my princess status is revoked and I have to pitch in with all the manual labor as well.  We ended up deciding to repaint the bottom too since it looked pretty shabby and we were already out of the water and everything.  So, overall I think we were in the yard for 5 days, and they let us stay on the boat during that time.  Funny thing is everyone told us they didn’t let you live on the hard at that boatyard, that we would need to find a place to stay.  We walked around to a couple of the hotels, but no one had vanancies, so Tim decided to just ask nicely if we could stay, and they said yes!  Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.

The guy who we contracted with to do the work on Exodus was named Gabriel, and he isn’t the most well known one there in the yard, but overall he and his crew did a decent job.  Tim’s only regret is that he didn’t insist that he apply the PropSpeed himself, because when they were doing it late in the afternoon, it was a bit rushed, and wasn’t as meticulous as Tim would have liked.

Gabriel would sometimes bring his 6 year old son, Christopher, with him to the yard, and one day we invited him to play on Exoudus.  Communication was a little tough, but he had a great time playing with Alex and Brenden’s toys, particularly the hex bugs.  He asked questions like where to we sleep so Tim took him on a little tour and he showed him our cabin.  Christopher then asked where do I sleep (as in me, Deanne) but Tim had already started moving on and pointed out the bathroom to him.  Christopher was shocked, “en el bano???”  He thought Tim told him that I sleep in the bathroom.  Then he laughed and laughed.  It was so cute.

We were back in the water on 4 February ready to get out Banderas Bay and do some cruising again.