The Luxor gets its Bottom scraped - at last

After the aborted helling beurt in December, we weren't sure when the Luxor would get another chance to have its bottom attended to. This as many of you know is required every six years by the insurance inspectors, but we like to do it every two years for the zekerheid or peace of mind.

Well, this week, we got the go ahead for the second attempt, and thank goodness it's a good deal warmer than it was in December. About 25 degrees warmer in fact, as today was sunny and about a delicious 18 to 20 degrees at the yard.

We started out at 7a.m, and after separating the Vereeniging off, Koos steered as Mo and I manned the bows with fenders to protect others from any possible grazes. Koos is a master of his art though, and no such protection was really needed. We had to wait a while for the former occupants to leave, as once they were in the water, they discovered a leak and had to be quickly lifted out again to effect a quick fix repair. Once the slipway was free, though, we pirouetted round the harbour in harmony with the wind and the currents and finally arrived at the designated poles where we tied up, ready to be hauled up on the cable driven trolleys.



The rest of the day passed in a blur. We scraped more than a hundred kilos of stinking mussels off the bottom, shovelled them into bags and humped them to the skip. Then we hauled some redundant items out of the Luxor while Koos used the high pressure hose to clean the bottom off thoroughly. After a quick lunch, Mo and a gallant friend started blacking the bottom with the thick tar like paint that we use. I got to work cleaning rust off the boiesel, and Koos inspected spots that need welding, a job that will begin tomorrow.




We expect to be finished before the weekend, but you never know what will come up, so wish us luck!