Our Grand Adventure

28th July 2025 – Grenada

Three things were adding pressure for us to get the boat back in the water ASAP.

1. The boat yard really wanted us out as we were in a spot that needed to be filled with long term storage boats.

2. The marina booking we had kept getting pushed back and it’s a competitive marina to get into (we didn’t want to lose our slip).

3. Going to the yard every day is exhausting; and getting onboard would be way better than commuting from our AirBnb!

So we really weren’t ready but we pushed super hard to get all the repairs done as soon as we could! This meant a hectic couple of days in the lead up to launch where we did a heap of things:

• Identifying a coolant leak, removing 200L of coolant, patching the welds, refilling the coolant, dodgy mathing how much coolant we needed to top up and then racing around the island before the shops closed to get another 60L of coolant to refill the system. (I might write this up separately as it was quite a mission).
• Patching up the coolant repair weld marks on the outside and repainting those spots.
• Installing a new depth sounder and cleaning / reconnecting the old one.
• New anodes installed on the hull
• Grinding the propeller back to get all the barnacles off
• Reinstalling the swim platform
• Identifying the leaking tank; siphoning all the water tanks twice and refilling to try and flush the rust out (accidentally refilled the leaking tank once which then leaked everywhere again!)
• Finding leaking valves and taps… and fixing with buckets underneath!
• Cleaned the bilge so many times we lost count.
• Trying to get the exhaust shield refitted
• Getting the fire extinguishers tested and certified.
• Attempting a fix on the engine temperature gauge which wasn’t displaying.
• Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.
• Putting everything away.
• Swapped AirBnbs

After all the welding work was done, we reconnected the electrical system and tried for a jump start only to realize the starter battery was too small – workaround was to jump start the boat from the house batteries. On start there was a bunch of smoke coming out of one of the inspection port covers; after a quick tighten it was all good. The engine temperature gauge wasn’t clear if it was working or not from the attempted fix!

We still had plenty wrong but time was running out and launch was imminent! We were worrying about missing bilge pumps, no water supply, the toilet wasn’t working, no bow thruster, no windlass and no idea what we were doing!

Launch Day!!!

Because the yard was keen for us to go; they said to just let them know when we were ready! We rushed around in the morning to be ready for a 3pm launch… then waited… 4pm, 5pm….

We were both getting very nervous! Then after waiting a long time it was all suddenly up on a trailer and rolling! Next it transitioned over to the slings and into the crane. (Scroll down for the video)

The original plan had been to leave it in the slings overnight to be sure there was no leaks in the hull – but this was upended at the last minute with an emergency haul out coming in – a Catamaran was being towed in by the emergency rescue boat, was taking on water and would have to be hauled out!

I think we were both PEAK ANXIETY at this point… What if it leaked? What if the engine wouldn’t start? How would we go getting it out the slings and round to the dock?

Crossing fingers and toes and vaguely feeling like throwing up we climbed onboard; one of the project guys arrived at the last second to help us maneuver it around to the slip (thank god!).

The engine started fine… and there was no water coming in! Woohoo!

After what felt like the longest and most stressful hour ever; we were in the slip, tied up and floating. I must admit I had a stress relieving cry after – it was all way, waaaaay more anxiety inducing than I ever could have imagined.

What a day – we made it to the end, we were both leaving the yard; totally exhausted but triumphant – and rounded the day out with a flat car battery. 🤦‍♀️