TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Rebel not ready to roam

At the beginning of March we finally returned to Rebel after our holiday in South Africa, which saw Janet away for eight months and Ian four. In Janet’s absence Ian varnished both the interior and exterior, leaving Rebel looking as pretty as a picture in her berth in Scarborough Marina.

The bad news is that Rebel came out of the water on Monday for her annual anti-fouling plus minor repairs. As usual on a boat, nothing turns out as planned and nothing is minor! Fixing the wobble at the top of the rudder stock is turning out to be a major exercise. With no visible way of removing the rudder, Ian had to hack away at the fibre glass on either side. It remains a mystery how the rudder was fitted either originally or on a previous repair. The next challenge is to remove the rudder stock from the tube in the rudder. Stan, who is going to be doing the rewelding of the gudgeon, plans to hammer it out….

So it looks as if we are going to be having fun on the hard instead of cruising around Moreton Bay snorkeling and fishing. The hired car has gone and our transport now is our own two feet plus two bikes bought at the Sunday flea market. With the surrounding area pretty flat, once we are fitter (?) cycling will not be a challenge! Getting anything done is a slow process which has gotten me to wondering if I should scrape off all the old layers of anti-fouling down to the gel coat. It will be a huge job but does need to be done in the near future and if we are on the hard anyway…… I have already scraped off last year’s anti-fouling and have aching shoulders and arms and at night am covering my hands with Vaseline and then putting on thin cotton gloves to try and repair the beating they are taking.