So Pete decided he wanted to join the offshore part of the trip.  This meant we’d all be together and this meant changing the crew plans a bit…  Jocelyn was amazingly accommodating, shifting her plans a bit to join us from Victoria to San Diego.  She and Matt even helped us with some work during the haul out at Van Isle marina early September.

The main jobs that needed to be completed before we went offshore were changing the bellows on our dripless seal on our propeller shaft, and putting a barrier coating on our propeller to stop so much growth from attaching there (slowing us down).  These jobs required RTT to be out of the water since the entire prop shaft would need to be removed.  The third job, not completely necessary but definitely useful, was replacing the Wema meter gauge in the holding tank.  This can only be done when the CV joint on the prop shaft is removed.  This would definitely be the time to do this job.  And of course replacing the 2 zincs.

Initially we felt daunted by trying to do all this ourselves…  The costs associated with hiring them out though were prohibitive…  So expensive!!!  So we decided to learn.  The guys at PYI in Washington state were amazing, talking us through various aspects of the job with the bellows.  I was able to talk on the phone, send photos in email and generally feel completely confident that they knew what I was desctibing.  So impressed with their customer service.

We opted for the product Propspeed on the propeller and lower aluminum pieces under the waterline.  It was super simple when just following along like following a recipe.  Not necessary to be done by professionals at all!  Don’t believe the hype!  Some planning and set up were important, that’s all.

We managed to do it all in 3 days.  Not too bad for a couple of hacks :). And thankfully no leaks when we launched.

It was empowering to have completed these jobs as a team.  We saved some money too, which is obviously welcome.  It felt good to get to know our boat more intimately too.  Important confidence booster :).  If you’re thinking of hiring out jobs on your boat, I hope you’ll consider trying to do it yourself next time.  I think you’ll be glad you did.