Safely ashore

 

 

 

 

  

One of the reasons we moved to Rosneath was to be able to moor close to the house. There are also 3 boat yards in walking distance, and a marina less than a mile across the water. Rhu marina told me that their work boat was being serviced, and was not up to the job of towing. Craig's (Gareloch Yacht Storage) is where we have come out before, but we know he does not have a work boat that could move her so did not bother getting in touch. Silver's is the closest, but when I phoned up, the lady in the office did not think they could move her today, which meant leaving her in the water over Christmas. Today was the last day they were working before closing for a fortnight's break.

 

It was also the last working day for RB Marine, which is the yard that laid and maintains our mooring. However they did have a boat that could move her, and were happy to bring her ashore for us today. I phoned them at 10, and by 11 I saw her under tow heading through the Rhu Narrows. They thought they might leave her in the slings over the holiday fortnight, but when I walked down to have a look at her they had decided to put her in a cradle instead so the slings were available if needed.

 Robinetta was being hosed off when I got there. They obviously know what they were doing with a wooden boat, as they were power, not pressure, washing her, with an apprentice standing by with a scrapper for the barnacles. They were very impressed with our anti-foul's performance too, saying only the bottom of the keel had any growth to worry about. This is an area that is difficult to get anti-foul onto, and since Tim had added a new strip of wood to protect the keel bolts there was no build up of old layers to help. We use Teamac D, and it had certainly done a good job this year.

Now Robinetta is ashore we can get her covers on to keep out the rain and dry out the cabin. We will be able to relaunch her at any time once we have fixed the engine, but will probably leave her out of the water until March.