New antifoul at Baja Naval

This month Hasard III got a new antifoul paint job done by the crew at Baja Naval in Ensenada, Mexico. These guys are competent, conscientious, and just all-around great professionals. I met some other sailors there of which some keep coming back all the way up from Seattle to have their boats serviced here. One of them with an Alden 51 has been coming back here for 30 years! And having experienced them I can see why. Here are some pictures:

HASARD III coming off the Baja Naval travel lift.

Supervisor making sure the fairing of the keel is done right.

While at it I had my raw water intake valve inspected. It had been seized lately and any seized through hulls make me nervous. Allthough all my other throghull valves are Grocco this one is a Blake valve. The good thing about that is the the Blakes are "modular" enough that they are relatively easy to rebuild. The taper is held in place with a collar that is tightened by two bolts, all one has to

do is unscrew those and the whole thing comes a part. Once that is done its really easy to clean, grease, and re-asseble. That's what the guys at Baja Naval did with mine. To the left is the tapered handle piece that's open at the outboard end and has an aperture opposite to the one in the fixed unit. Below is the same piece but now clean.

The whole thing took three days and the boat was back in the water. A great experience and a highly recommended shipyard. Here is the boat back where it belongs, in the water.