Hull Yeah!

After a month of constant sailing, Hull Yeah! was becoming quite the salty sailing vessel. We had power washed it once as we found an adapter to hook the hose up the shower, but the lines were getting quite stiff from the sea water, and it was time to strip her down, and make use of the washing machine.

While on the Volcanic Island of Nisiros, we pulled into the Port of Palan Marina, as there wasn’t any other safe place to anchor. What an awesome place, and quite the surprise. 45€ for two nights, with water and electricity. The catch, was it was in cash, which we didn’t have.

I took some tracing wire, pulled the Jib Sheets, Furling Line, Topping Lift, Main Sheet, Main Traveler Lines and our Torn Sheath Main Halyard. With some of the lines 70m long, this could get quite messy. I bundled them up with some twine, hoping to keep them somewhat separated. After a 4 hour pre-wash and full wash cycle (40°, 400 spin cycle), they were done.

I can’t say the ties did a lot, as you can see the mess, but wow, were they soooooo soft and pliable. While the faded colors didn’t get revived, they were certainly much cleaner. I almost stuffed them in my pillow for the night, but they were still a bit damp.

While sorting the tangled lines, I then turned to the blocks. Some of them where just about seized with salt. I was surprised how fast the salt would gunk up the works. Of course, the closer to the bow, where we can get quite the waves covering the deck, the worse they were.

We now have a very clean, pliable set of lines, and blocks that turn as intended.

After spending hours in the sun, soaking some of the lines in buckets, rather than taking them down, this was so much better. It was such a better result.