ENGINE MAINTENANCE – HAUL OUT – BIMINI TOP

By the end of October 2020, we arrived back in Corfu, our home port. About 10 days later, the Greek Government decided again that due to the high risk of Covid contamination every citizen had to stay home and respect a very strict quarantine. It was totally forbidden to go out sailing. The loss of our freedom was particularly unpleasant and our life changed radically. Instead of living on our boat and sail around the Ionian Islands, we were now confined in a 40 square meters apartment and couldn’t even go to the boat to check our mooring. This situation continued through out all winter.

When the spring finally arrived, we went back to the marina and decided that the boat had to be lifted out of the water. Unfortunately we had to leave Greece for a while, put Samourai on the hard and postponed our sailing.

Nevertheless, before hoisting the boat out, basic maintenance had to be done on the engine.

 

 

 

 

The oil was renewed, filters were all changed with original Nanni Diesel and the impeller was also replaced.

The boat was then prepared for haul out: we took both sails down, removed the spray hood and cleared up other little things on deck.

For the first time, our boat would be hauled out with a crane.

 Firstly we were a bit anxious about this impressive handling, but the team managing the hoist were very experienced and took great care of our little Samourai. At the end, everything went well and we enjoyed the show without the need of any tranquillizers !

As we still had a bit of time to spend in Corfu, we ordered a new Bimini Top. That would provide a bit of shade in the cockpit which was not a big luxury considering the sunburns we had the previous sailing season.

The sailmaker did also some nice little covers to protect the winches.