Viridian gets her bottom cleaned........

An exciting day today.........Viridian was lifted for some underbody maintenance. I had to drive her onto the lift, which was a bit nerve-racking because she is pretty close to the maximum size for the lift and there isn't very much room at the sides. However we managed to get her out successfully without me adding any new dings or scratches.

She will be on the Hard at Port Solent for 3 weeks and during that period we plan to have all the through-hull fittings checked; the hull anti-fouled; the folding prop serviced; and the propellor and hull anodes replaced.

Since we are going to be in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean we are going to use Hempels Tiger Extra anti-foul and I have decided to change the colour of the anti-foul from White to Black. Jan is griping because she doesn't think the boat will look as pretty with Black anti-foul, but everything i have read suggests that Black is much more effective and longer-lasting than White.

Other big news......we now have a departure date!! Our leaving date was always going to be dependent on when/if we managed to let our house. Well, we now have some tenants who want to move in at the beginning of April - so we have our departure date which is 8th April. 7 weeks to go.......Happy Days!!!