Yard time

Since returning home Seabright and crew have been having a bit of a down time after our daughter Katie's wedding and son Johnny's college graduation, both within 12 days of each other. Seabright has been living the high life getting  pampered in a boat yard. Kind of like having a hairdo, manicure and a massage for boats. Ahh

A bottom job, new zincs and re-certifying the Givens life raft were on the list of pampering items.

This year for the second time in a row I have opted to paint the running gear, both thrusters props and shafts with Pettit Zinc Coat Barnacle Barrier. It is sprayed on and we have four coats applied. I have had great success so far. When we pulled the boat a few weeks ago, there was minimal to no growth on the metal surfaces except for the edges of the props.  That is either due to the greater cavitation that wore down the paint or we were in skinny waters where sand was kicked up causing some abrasion? Bottom line, it held up well.

In the past, have used just plain old bottom paint which did not work particularly well and Prop Speed. PS is pricey and finicky to get it right; the right temperature, humidity and a skilled application. If not, results are iffy. In the past I have had one prop do well and the other not so well. Anything that breaks the barrier causes it to deteriorate.

There are owners who think PS is the best thing since sliced bread and others who think it is a waste of time and money. I am somewhere in between and look to find good solutions that have a less formidable price tag. http://www.propspeedusa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=6

We went to the yard with only one problem, our Trace inverter. Said simply, it was having problems switching from a power source to invert mode when we disconnected to from shore power. Trace was acquired by Xantrex, which was acquired recently by a French Company. The bottom line: they do not make this inverter anymore but do provide support. It is still under warranty, but needed a new control board. Of course it was not in stock and had to be made and the parts ordered to make it. With luck the repaired inverter should be back to the yard in a week to ten days, for a total time  at the service center of about 5 weeks. Errr!
In researching this unit I found a host of user complaints about performance and service, try Googling Trace inverter problems http://www.google.com/search?q=trace+inverter+problems&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a . Similar stories in talking with friends. On the positive side it is under warranty so we will see how well this performs and if this is the fix that does it.
We sit at the yard nice and spiffy on the underside waiting for the inverter, then we are back out on the water

One last comment, we think our Givens Life Raft (eight person canister type) http://www.givensliferafts.com/   was a great investment and like other investments it needs to be maintained.
Our closest service center is in Baltimore MD where they remove it from the canister and inflate it, testing for pressure for about three days, then repack it and update the expired items as needed; http://www.givensliferafts.com/liferafts/service/servicemain.html