Time for a haul-out.
After crossing the Pacific, Bravado needed some maintenance. With the benefit of moving down the coast, we requested quotes from yards from Mooloolaba (50 nautical miles North of Brisbane) down to Sydney. Noakes in Sydney charged almost 300% of the prices in Mooloolaba. Prices more or less went up linearly according to a yard's proximity to Sydney. After a bit of a dialogue with the Mooloolaba yard (Lawries Boat Services) and Norm Wright who runs a boat building operation within that yard, we decided on Mooloolaba.
Mooloolaba has a lot of thunderstorms. Spot where the lighting is going to strike
The downside of a haul-out is that we live in a "tree house". Bravado has a 2.5m keel and when she is out of the water it is quite high up. Moreover, many of the on board systems (toilet, fridge, sinks etc.) don't work when we are out of the water. Hence life becomes very primitive and we are all happy once it is over.
Eltjo in front of his "Tree House".
Nothing like a bit of child labour: Jet and Monica ("All the Colours") cover the steering wheels with new leather.
At night, we eat in the food court of the local Mall and sometimes play drinking games. Eltjo loves "who can drink his smoothie fastest without getting a brain freeze" and usually wins.
We did make Bravado look pretty again. In the process we got several unsolicited offers for the boat.
Having dealt with many yards in the past, we were very pleased with the work done in Mooloolaba. Ewout is quite particular and it is a delight for him to deal with contractors who meet his standards and don't cost an arm and a leg. Norm, Mark, and Keiran, Thank you for a job very well done!
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