Start of the project - out of the water

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It was always the idea to use the boat for at least a year, to find out what needed to be changed out or modified to my wishes. 
Some changes I had already done like the forward ports replacement, installation of the tiller, installation of a mechanical vang on the main boom and the lazy bag.
A decision also had to be taken on where the boat would be going for this project. Rio de Janeiro is the place closest by where there is an infrastructure for maintenance on sail yachts. 
The problem is that it is more than 3 hours drive from my home. The best option would be to use the yacht club in Buzios, but no service structure is existing for sailing vessels.
Also the crane to be used was in a doubtful state. Therefore the first step was to confirm the crane was capable of lifting my boat.
The end of December 2016 I contracted a crane company to perform a load test. To the surprise of many, the crane was able to lift 5.3 tons. 
With the Peterson being about 4.8 tons this would be OK. Still some repairs to the crane had to be made and certain parts had to be changed out.
All in all, this was a far better and cheaper option than taking the boat to Rio.
A local handyman (Franks), which we know for some time, was contracted to perform the work together with a local painter (Niltinho), recommended by him.

The main items for this project are:
- Re-paint the hull.
- Treat any osmose.
- Replace all overboard valves.
- Change the rudder bearings, as the current one has slack.
- Resolve all the leakages.

Finally the project starts on the 23rd of April by lifting the boat out of the water.






Soon the boat was already looking like this:



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