Up bright an early at 0700 to be ready to depart Pelican bay for Fort Myers Beach. Haul-out scheduled for 1300 and want to be sure and be there in plenty of time. The trip should take about 4 hours.

We did experience some adverse current slowing us down slightly and it took us 4.25 hours to make the trip... departing at 0800 and arriving to Gulf Marine Ways at 1215.

I called and let them know we were arriving early and they were ready and waiting for us at the travel lift. Quick stop at the dock to let Susan and Beecha off and I pulled into the travel lift... 10 minutes and we were out of the water hanging in the travel lift slings.

The yard needed to do a quick power wash and it was ready for the surveyor to audio-gauge the hull... special equipment to measure the thickness of the steel hull plating.

Then we got another surprise... the hull had a lot of growth on it... looked like we were starting an artificial reef on the hull... there were thousands of itsy-bitsy barnacles and some really big barnacles... so big I think you could of served them as appetizers... really BIG! So much for the eco friendly bottom paint ECO-Clad... it sucks... It had only been 10 months since we had the bottom done... :(

I made some phone calls and tried to complain to the paint company about the growth and found that they had gone out of business... I did reach the former CEO of the company and although there was nothing he could do he was very kind and pretty much told me that only thing we could do was clean the bottom "often" and suggested we have the bottom redone with new bottom paint... so much for the eco friendly multi-year paint as promoted to me a year ago... oh well!

Then the guy pressure washing the hull walked up to me and handed me part of CAPAC anode... he had hit it with the power washer ripped it apart. This was replaced as well last year when the sand blaster did the same thing to it... the sand blaster actually destroyed two of the three anodes and I replaced a bad one so all three anodes were new less than a year ago.

Off the yard office I went with the piece in hand and explained what had happened to the girl in the office. she was very gracious and asked what I wanted I was wanting the yard to do... I said replace the part they damaged... told her where to find a new one... Wards Electric in Fort Lauderdale is the closet dealer for the Siemens titanium anode. I left her making some phone calls and returned to SAILS still hanging in the lift.

The surveyor had just finished up the audio-gauging and was ready to inspect the interior of SAILS. They dropped her back in the water and I moved her to the face dock outside the travel lift bay. The survey was completed and I was back to office to see the verdict on the anode.

Things did improve slightly at this point. They told me that there would be no charge for the haul-out and pressure wash and that if I purchased the new anode shipped to me that I could return and they would haul SAILS and install the anode at no charge.... so the haul-out and pressure wash should of cost me $608.00... got that free and will get the next haul-out and installation of the anode free... I just have to purchase the new anode from Wards Electric... last year they cost just under $500.00 and I installed them... so even though it is a pain to return at least the cost worked out in my favor... :)

we departed from Gulf Marine Ways at 1500 and arrived back to Pelican Bay at 1900... 4 hours for the trip covering 26.5 miles and averaging 6.62 knots.