The Catamaran Adventures of Noel and Ceu

A New Look for Life Part 2

Current Location: Boat Yard at Monastir Port de Peche, Tunisia
Current Position: 35 45.35 N 010 50.14 E Click to view map.
Distance sailed since last post: 84 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track here

For the past two weeks we have been stuck on the hard in Monastir getting some work done – bottom painting, interior woodwork revarnished, a bit of a repair on the keel, some stainless steel work, and a new table for the salon.

It has been, shall we say, ‘interesting’.

These people seem to have concept of any attention to detail. Course stuff, like painting the bottom, they can do. But sanding down and revarnishing some wood so that it looks good? Hmmm.

How about this? They are going to paint the stripes. So they spend a whole day putting up some masking tape and newspapers so that they can spray it.They then discover it needs some filling and some primer. So they do that. Then the wind blows all night and rips the paper. So then the next day it is another hour or two fixing that.

Finally they do a nice spray-paint job.

Then they remove the masking tape. All done!

Except for where they sprayed beside the masking tape. So they had to remove that – and tidy up the edges on the stripes where the tape didn’t peel off correctly. It took four or five times of us pointing out to them things they had missed before it was finally finished.

And that was only the stripe!

Mind you, the stainless steel work we had done is excellent.

Eventually we got out of there with the boat looking reasonably good, only 5 days longer than expected.

We are now in Monastir Cap Marina. Tomorrow we depart on a 3 day excursion to the desert in the south, along with 7 others, all previously from Marina di Ragusa! It should be fun – I just wish it would warm up! Temperatures are about 20 deg C, with a cool wind blowing, so one is constantly chilly. But maybe that is because we stubbornly continue to wear shorts and T-shirts here in North Africa at the end of May. Twice we have had gales blowing through.

We will put up a post about the touristy stuff here as soon as we can!

 

Life Part 2 just hauled out. Bottom isn't too bad, considering it was 2 years since our last haulout. Good ol' Sea Hawk Island 44 antifouling

Life Part 2 just hauled out. Bottom isn’t too bad, considering it was 2 years since our last haulout. Good ol’ Sea Hawk Island 44 antifouling

Life Part 2 with a new look. The only antifouling available - International Cruiser Uno EU - was black. So we decided it was time to change the boot stripe from dark blue to grey. And while we were at it, we also did the upper stripes, since they too were peeling off. So, a new look!

Life Part 2 with a new look. The only antifouling available – International Cruiser Uno EU – was black. So we decided it was time to change the boot stripe from dark blue to grey. And while we were at it, we also did the upper stripes, since they too were peeling off. So, a new look!

A new, smaller, table, so that it is easier to get around it. As soon as we can track down some wood veneer, we will inlay a new marquetry picture made by Dad

A new, smaller, table, so that it is easier to get around it. As soon as we can track down some wood veneer, we will inlay a new marquetry picture made by Dad. Oh, and revarnished wood in the background.

 

2 Responses to “A New Look for Life Part 2”

  • Heidi and Elmer:

    The new table looks much handier. Hope you can get the veneer done soon.

  • Jessica:

    wow!! now isn’t that the most beautiful lady in the whole world!!?! … Oh sorry are we supposed to be looking at the table? Very nice 😉 xoxoxo love from your honeydew <3

Leave a Reply for Jessica