Our Grand Adventure

And the job that nearly broke me…

18th September 2025

The engine parts were NEARLY HERE!!! We had the update- they would be delivered this week! 

Suddenly, we were super keen to finish all the things! One of these things was painting the lazarette. 

The lazarette is a large storage area under the back deck. A lot of welding had been done in the hull in this area and we needed to protect the new steel with paint otherwise it would quickly undo all the repair work that had been done to it. Along with the engine parts, we were importing a face mask and specific organic vapour filters so I could safely paint in there with the extremely noxious paints needed.

Given that the parts were nearly here I decided to start the prep work for this paint job. How hard could it be right? There is only 8 steps to get it done…

• Step 1 – Empty Everything on Deck & Throw out all the rubbish
• Step 2 – Grind back any large rust patches
• Step 3 – Clean out Thoroughly 
• Step 4 – Put Ospho on Rust Patches
• Step 5 – Primer Layer 1
• Step 6 – Primer Layer 2
• Step 7 – Top Coat Layer 1
• Step 8 – Top Coat Layer 2

This turned into a pretty epic project that took me an entire week and really strained my every limit – physical, mental and emotional.

We had been treating the lazarette as our “decide later” location for pretty much anything and everything cleaned out of the other parts of the boat. And now it was later, and there was SO MUCH CRAP in there haha. We started going through it all and giving it away or disposing of it as I emptied it out.

Grinding back the rust patches and cleaning was ridiculously hot and sweaty work. There are a couple of fans we had running, but if the sun is on the deck its like being in an oven. With minimal room to manouever and small, cramped, hard to reach places it became a full work out to get into the tight spots, then hold position while working with drills and grinding brushes. 

If you like doing planks at the gym then go and paint a lazarette. Holy crap.

After the cleaning was all done, I painted on a layer of Ospho. This stuff is epic, it converts rust (iron oxide) into a stable, black layer of iron phosphate.

The painted areas turn black and become a surface thats ready to chemically bond with a primer.

After a particularly long, hot and sweaty day I was at my emotional breaking point – in tears, completely wrecked, unable to think, really confused, and in bed at 7pm totally passed out. I didn’t think I could finish the job, and I was totally overwhelmed at the thought of several more days of it. It was only the next day that we put together that I had been suffering pretty bad heat exhaustion which explained the irrational emotions and confusion.

After that, we switched up the work routine so that I basically rested for most of the day; then started work in the evening at about 5.30 once the sun was starting to go down. We had some super late dinners but the work conditions were far more bearable.

With the conditions improved, and heat management under better control, I felt a renewed sense of determination to complete the job.

Our engine parts had arrived (wooohoo! – more on that in a minute) and we had booked a training captain for later in the week – so the pressure was on again to get it done!

Kitting out in the painting gear was a bit of a mission – I did briefly try a plastic coverall, but it was too damn hot, so I switched to long pants, knee pads, long sleeves, face mask and head lamp for visibility.

Here are some shots of the various stages of the job.

I may have painted myself into a corner haha….

Working in the lazarette at night was still extremely tiring and physically demanding – I went to bed completely knackered each night. This is the job that I regret not paying to get someone else to do – and also I have vehemently sworn to never, ever paint a lazarette again.

But thank God it’s done, eventually my body will stop aching, and the end result looks great!

What was Ryan Up To?

So while I was having a breakdown and questioning all our life choices – Ryan had been doing two major jobs and a bunch of other smaller jobs that I had in the previous post.

First – installing our engine parts!

Second – designing and planning the install of our PV system.

He also had his first crack at filleting some fish from the locals & we tried baking fish in our oven. Delicious!

The Engine Parts!

But, the most important thing.. .the ENGINE and the needed parts!

First, the air intake filter – when we removed it, we realised we needed to grind back the mushroom shaped air inlet and reseal and paint the mushroom.

Here are some pictures of grinding the mushroom, and then rounds of painting and prepping. 

After the housing was repaired, Ryan reinstalled the air filter and it fit perfectly.

The other missing piece was a rubber coupler on the intake into the engine – after a few goes, some swearing and adjusting the hose clamps multiple times – it was in and fitted.

Now, the moment of truth – starting the engine!

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can’t describe how intensely excited and happy we were to have the engine again! There is hope! There is optimism! We may actually get to go somewhere and do something exciting! Our dream is alive again!