We had arranged to have the boat lifted out for a scrub and anti-foul. We normally do this slightly unpleasant job ourselves, to save money mainly. However the small yard perched in the crook of the harbour wall gave us a very good quote which included men and materials so we went ahead with that. An early start on Tuesday morning found us motoring the 300 metres across the harbour to the lifting bay. The men from the yard were waiting for us and very quickly had Dark Tarn in slings.
We left the boat as she was raised up and got a good look at her bottom for the first time as she was held in the travelling hoist for a power wash. The long tendril of weed from the rudder showed where we had touched the sandy bottom at Pobra and removed the anti fouling paint.
The rest of the boat was relatively clean with the exception of the prop and prop shaft, this is something we normally just polish, relying on the props copper content being bronze to resist crustaceans. Spanish shellfish are obviously made of sterner stuff than our namby pamby British variety......
This was obviously not working and I wondered if it would be best to try painting it this time. Of course it wouldn't be us painting it and I had time to ponder as we were very pleased to be free to wander off for a coffee and a look round the market. Leaving the men to continue the power washing.
Lynne seemed to enjoy this new form of boat maintainance and was soon examining bargain shoes on the many stalls. I took the opportunity of the early morning to visit the women of the fish market, their fearsome knife skills are a delight to watch.
The sheer variety of fish is also fascinating, even now I still come across species I have never seen before. The more common fish you find are cod, hake, skate, monkfish, sardine, mackerel, dogfish, pipefish, tuna albacore dorado along with a good selection of squid, octopus shellfish etc. Allegedly Spain consumes as much fish as the rest of Europe combined and I can well believe it!
Outside you can find the sole traders, usually women, who have a small selection of home grown produce for sale.
We returned to the yard to find Dark Tarn clean and on a wheeled cradle with a ladder thoughtfully provided for our use. we applied a small amount of primer to parts of the hull that needed it and removed all the marine growth from and polished the propeller. The yard manager spoke no English but did speak German so a strange new mixture " Germanish" was used as Lynne comunicated with him. Again things occurred with seemingly little organisation but always on time and very well done. The yard was very busy as they lifted another three boats that morning , one a large fishing boat, nearly as wide as Dark Tarn is long! Before long we heard masking tape being applied to the hull and it was obvious that the game was afoot.
There was a splendid view of the Ria and Vigo from our new home high on the seawall.
There was a constant flow of walkers walking to the end of the harbour wall
The weather was quite cloudy and overcast with a stiff breeze, actually very good for painting, which was accomplished after lunch and finished in the evening by one of the workmen. We decided to paint the prop shaft and leave the folding propeller polished, the risk of it sticking didn't seem worth the risk. I may however have to dive and clean it more often in future as we are in fertile waters. The painting was finished just before dark (two coats)
The result was very satisfying, Dark Tarn had been lifted scrubbed and anti-fouled in under 12 hours.
We would spend the night locked in the yard (we did have a key but as the last workman didn't leave until 11 pm we didn't use it) and would be launched in the morning. working together it normally takes us a couple of days to accomplish what the Spanish workmen had achieved in a few hours.
To coin a phrase "smart as paint", looking good for our future voyages.
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