Haul Out Debacle

So its taken me a few days to write about this turn of events. Ben and I are taking it as a lesson in boat life and a lesson in fortitude.

We had been planning for the haul out day of August 11, 2021 for a least a month. Hauling out the boat and putting it on the hard for several weeks took a lot of coordination:

1. We had to have a place to stay as staying on the hard in August would be impossible which turned into 3 different air bnb and hotel stays to book
2. We needed a car because the marina was in the boonies; so Cuz John drove down so that we could use his car for a while, which meant we had to figure a way to get him back to Winston Salem
3. I booked a trip back to DFW for doctors’ appointments during this time. So I needed to get to Richmond
4. Our friend Ron was flying into Richmond to help Ben work on the boat while it was out of the water; Ben had to pick him up
5. We scheduled for the canvas guy to replace our stack pack while it was out of the water
6. We told the Cummings dealer we would get the hoses replaced to determine if that was really what was wrong with our generator
7. We ate up most of the food on the boat so it wouldn’t be sitting in the heat for long periods of time.

You get the picture; it took a lot of coordination to be out of our home for 2-4 weeks.

We were excited that we had located a haul out site where they indicated they were Catana experts. They had special fittings for their trailer so that they could haul us appropriately. We met with them and spent at least an hour going over what tasks we needed completed. We offered to bring the boat into the marina so that they could look at it since we were anchored in the river next to them, but they assured us this was unnecessary. So the date for the haul out was set and the planning began.

On the Friday before the haul out, we sailed to Deltaville to enjoy being on the water and at anchor again, knowing the boat would be out of the water for a bit. On Sunday we decided to take advantage of the north wind to make our way back to Mobjack Bay to be close to our haul out yard. We headed back south to meet up with Robert, a friend with a 1995 Catana who was in Mobjack Bay. We planned to meet up with him in the North River, but on the way down, our props were cavitating so much that the boat was shaking. We believed this was from barnacle build up. We had not had the props cleaned because we were hauling out shortly. So we diverted to the East River in Mobjack Bay, which was closer, and Robert came to meet us there.

We anchored in almost the same spot we had anchored several weeks ago when we met with Zimmerman’s about the haul out. Robert came over for a visit and we decided that in the morning we would take an exploratory dinghy ride and go into Zimmerman’s to confirm things and schedule a car to go into Matthews for lunch and grocery shopping.

During our visit with Robert, some folks in a motorboat stopped by for a chat. They had grown up on the river and were extremely friendly. Both couples offered to take us into town for  provisions. They shared where they lived in case we needed anything else. During conversation, they indicated they were interested in our catamaran because they were contemplating chartering one in the BVIs. We share information that we thought might be helpful to them with this endeavor.

Monday was a little hot, but otherwise a beautiful day to go for a dinghy ride. We went into the marina and talked with the yeard about hauling out Robert’s Catana later in the fall, and scheduled the car for Tuesday.

Then we went to look at a tide mill that was built in the 1700’s. George Washington had used this mill and later it was owned by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was an unassuming structure, but the history of it and the mechanics of how it worked was very interesting.

Robert invited us over for dinner where we had a wonderful rice, chicken, and mushroom dish. It was a warm night but quite enjoyable especially when we sat and chatted on the trampoline in the breeze after dinner.

Tuesday morning, we motored the dinghy back to Zimmerman’s. Since Robert’s boat was an older Catana and totally different underneath, he took pictures for them to review to assure they could haul him. It turned out that they could not haul him after all. This should have given us pause, but after so many assurances, we were undeterred.

We took their courtesy car into Matthews and went to Food Lion. I bought steaks as Cuz John was arriving later in the day with a car for us to use during the haul out. Then we ate lunch at a cute old fashioned malt shop. We lucked out that it was free dessert day. So Ben got ice cream!

The town of Matthews if like blast from the past. One thing to note though, it you ever go there, they are basically closed on Mondays.

If you want a cantaloupe just leave the money in the car.

Our AC had indicated a fault last night, so after we returned, Ben set out to clean the strainer and blow out the lines, suspecting that something had gotten in the through hull. We knew that Cuz John would be displeased if he had to sleep with no AC, as would I!

Ben got the AC working about 5 minutes before John arrived. He jumped in the dinghy and raced back to Zimmerman’s to pick up John. Robert joined us for a dinner of steaks and baked potatoes. It was nice to get to use the grill again because in the marina, this was not allowed.

Tomorrow was the big day! We were finally hauling out the boat to complete the long list of maintenance tasks we had compiled over the last month.

Haul Out Day! August 11, 2021

We awoke early and got the boat ready. We packed our bags and the food for the Air BnB where we would be staying until Friday when traveled to Richmond. Saturday we would take John back to Winston Salem so we could keep his car and then head back to Richmond. Ben would drop me at the airport on Sunday and pick up Ron.

We motored over to Zimmerman’s about 9:30 as we needed to arrive at high tide because the entrance to the cove had extremely skinny water. After tying up to the dock and unloading our luggage and food, they told us we needed to remove our two front sails. We were not sure why, but this was their policy. When we had met with them previously, they had communicated that they would take them down, but I guess that was not exactly right. We loosened the halyard for the screecher and tried to pull it down, but it would NOT budge. We loosened the other halyard just to make sure we had released the correct one. We continued to try to pull the screecher down but to no avail. So Ben decided we would try to lower the genoa instead. Without thinking, we began to unfurl the sail, but it became buggered up because the halyard was loose. Crap, now it wouldn’t come off either. Furthermore, we would need a rigger to unravel the mess as the halyard was twisted at the top.

The yard indicated they would still pull us out of the water. Then, they would contact a rigger to help with the foresails. Next, Steve, the manager floated under our boat to see where they would put “their special Catana lifts.”  His first question was, “Where is your shelf?” We had no idea what that meant. Then he asked if we were sure this was a Cantana? Well duh, I think we should know, right?! His next words almost made me sick, “I don’t think we can pull you.”

After wrestling with the sails for an hour in the heat index of over a 100 and making a mess of that, those words were most unwelcomed! I just simply got off the boat and headed to the air-conditioned lounge. I was flabbergasted, deflated and wondered what would happen to all the plans we had made that had to line up perfectly to pull off the haul out.

Ben joined me a bit later and began calling around to see if other Catana experts knew if a trailer could pull our boat out of the water. We had only been pulled by travel lifts previously, never a trailer. Steve returned and indicated that he could not get a hold of anyone from Catana in France as they were all on holiday in August. He further stated he was not comfortable hauling out our boat as it was different than the Catanas he had pulled in the past which were older 2001-02 versions. He also began telling us that we needed to get off the dock as he needed to put another boat in and had another boat coming in the morning. We needed to go back out and anchor. I could barely talk with him. I told him he had no idea how many balls we had in the air.

John was hot, mad, and famished. So we told Steve we would going into Matthews to have lunch and regroup. By this time, we were arriving at the conclusion that if the yard did not know how to haul out our boat, we certainly did not want them to pull it. However, we now needed to make contingency plans for all the things we had put in place (as listed above). We would definitely lose $400 on the Wed. and Thurs. night Air BnB as it was too late to cancel, but hopefully we could cancel the other two rentals, and so on.

We discussed things over lunch and decided there was no reason to stay in the East River. Ben called York River Yacht Haven and begged for them to allow us to return, which they said, “YES!” When we arrived back at the yard, we unloaded the luggage and food from John’s car that we had put it in earlier and reloaded it back on the boat. We went online, and it looked like we could get a rental car to take me to the airport on Sunday and pick up Ron. So John decided to head back to Winston Salem.

Ben and I left the dock at 14:00 and motored our way back to the York River. We were still in a state of shock regarding the turn of events. It was bloody hot and we were both mentally and physically exhausted. We had to motor the entire way as our foresails were a mess. Luckily though the sun was shining, and the breeze was refreshing at times.

As we sailed, I canceled the Air BnB and hotel and Ben began calling around to other marinas to find one with a travel lift who could haul out our size of boat. I also scheduled for Underboats to come clean our hulls and props. We couldn’t continue to move the boat around with these barnacle-ridden props!

We arrived back at the marina around 19:00 and with some finagling we got ourselves retied up to the non-floating dock. I was almost passing out from heat exhaustion, so I laid on the trampoline and relayed the debacle story to Irene who patiently listened while I ranted and raved. Ben finally came and told me I needed to move inside because a storm was brewing. Of course it was!!!

Day after Haul Out Debacle

Today was a new day and Ben and I began to remake our plans. However, an immediate wrench was thrown into the plans when the rental car place called to let us know they could not honor the reservation we had made yesterday. They did not have any cars available and neither did any rental places close at hand. Wow, now how were we going to get to the Richmond Airport on Sunday? Luckily, my cousin who lives in Richmond, graciously said she would come and get us and take us to the airport where Ben could rent a car. This was going to be a costly proposition as Ben would have to keep the car two weeks to come back and get me when I returned from DFW. However, Shelly and Don came to the rescue. We found out that Don was returning from DFW and would let us use their car both over the weekend and when I returned. Bless them!

I went to the laundry mat at the marina since I hadn’t been able to wash clothes at the Air BnB as planned. Ben walked over and talked with the marina rigger to see if we could get some help with our foresails. He called the canvas guy to redirect him from Zimmerman’s to YRYH. He even got a Diggs Diesel to schedule an assessment of our engines on Sept. 7.

In addition, Ben touched base with several other boat yards and it seemed that Cape Charles Yacht Center might be able to work us into their schedule in a few weeks.

By that evening as a new set of plans began to fall in place, when Ben and I were eating dinner, looking out over the marina we had just left, I had to ask, “Did that debacle really happen? Or was it all a nightmare and we never left?”

Feel free to complete the form below if you want to be added to the email list and receive notification of new blog posts. Your email will NOT be shared!