Dry Dock Days

We spent 8 days in the dry dock at Atelier Fluvial.  Our survey was excellent – she still maintains her strong, thick 105 year old steel hull.  We had a new bow thruster installed, a new grease pump for the shaft, and two fresh coats of bottom paint, so she’s good to go for another 5 years.  Life in a shipyard up on blocks is interesting, to say the least.  

At 7 a.m. we were awakened to the dulsid tones of welding, sand blasting, and all sorts of shipyard sounds.  Over the weekend, we were able to get a third coat of blacking from the red down to over the waterline, so after all of the painting we did last fall, we are done – at least on the exterior.  We’ll spend some time this summer freshening up the interior paint, but that’s easy.

We were surprised while in the dry dock by friends Bob and Lynn on Tracker – we met them in 2010 when we were heading in to the same dry dock for the survey when we purchased the boat.  Déjà vu!  

Floating again, street being moved so we can back out

All 23 meters almost out

They were on hand to fend us off as we backed out of the dry dock, through the lock out onto the Saone River, and Lynn took some great pictures. 

We also got to spend some great time hanging around the shipyard with David and Evelyn on L’Escapade, which happens to be our sister ship – both of our ships were converted in the same shipyard in Holland, right next to each other.  L’Escapade entered the dry dock for her appointment a few days after we left.

I have to admit I had a teary-eyed moment as I looked up from the floor of the dry dock at Alouette’s “ample bottom.”  

I thanked her for keeping us safe all these years, and wondered if I will see her from the bottom up again.  Five years until the next haul out, who knows what life will bring.

Entering the Saone River