It is now the beginning of August, 2018 and our commuter cruiser lifestyle is going according to plan. Terrapin is once again tied down on the hard in Safe Cove Boat Storage in Charlotte Harbor, FL. Laura and I are back in Lexington and enjoying our work, knowing that we will be back sailing in November. We had Terrapin hauled in mid-April and then lived aboard on the hard while we got her ready to weather the six months in the southern Florida heat, sun and rain. The first step after hauling was to have the yard guys pressure wash the bottom. Terrapin had been in the water for 6 months and we had been sailing for about 3 months during that time. The more you sail, the cleaner the bottom stays. But a month sitting in the marina is plenty of time for all kinds of marine growth to accumulate on the bottom, from easy to remove algae/fuzz to PITA to remove barnacles. I had the bottom cleaned by a diver twice, but there were still quite a bit of barnacles on the bottom and the props. Most were removed by pressure washing and scraping, but there are still plenty remaining on the boat.
For those who are interested in commuter cruising, here is our checklist for prepping Terrapin for storage. Unless you want to pay someone to do everything, you can’t just drop the boat off and wave goodbye. If you want to protect your investment and have a boat that will be ready to sail in the fall, there is a substantial amount of work prepping the boat for storage. For some, this could be a deal-killer. For us, it was a labor of love.