Malta Giant refit and happy Sundays
The CERVINO has been on stilts in the shipyard for 3 months. In this article we show you all the small and large boat projects, and how we explore the island on our days off in between.
Bonġu, welcome to Malta!
Yay, a new country on our list! Neither of us have ever been to Malta. "bonġu" is a Maltese "hello" and is pronounced similarly to Napolitan 😂 The Maltese language is a mix of English and Arabic, with English also being the official language in the country. The national dish is anything to do with rabbit. We're really excited 😉 Cervino will be here on land for around 3 months and we have a lot planned for her.
The huge refit
So as not to annoy you too much with details, here is a short list of all our projects. If that's too much for you, you're welcome to continue reading the section on our happy Sundays further down below. Let's go!
The mast comes down. We have the entire rig replaced by ProLink. All shrouds incl. stemballs new, chainplates inspected and cleaned, headsail furling system new, mainsail furling system serviced. New Dyneema baby stay with its own new chainplate between anchor locker & sail cabin. Replace all cables in the mast, new anchor light & new deck light. New VHF antenna plus additional backup antenna with extra cable. Eliminate TV antenna (Ivan may still need it😉). Buy second hand radar in Sicily and attach to mast, run cable through mast. Attach two folding mast steps to the mast top. Polish the mast with love. Replace all halyards and sheets. Have new rollers for the lines made and fitted in the mast. New suspension for spinnaker halyard with Dyneema shackle and low friction ring. Adjust and reseal the mast.
As we have to go to Switzerland shortly after hauling out (our schedule has been pushed back a bit due to the gearbox, you can find out more about this here), we don't have time to sand down the underwater hull. And this is important so that the CERVINO can dry out during our stay in Switzerland. That's why we have this work done by a day worker. The keel is sandblasted by the shipyard. We'll be back in mid-March and get started: pierce the osmosis blister and dry it out. Replace the thru-hull for engine cooling with TruDesign (the last of the bunch). Repair minor damage to the rudder. Fill holes in the keel and osmosis blisters with several layers of thickened epoxy, fair. Apply Epoxy Barrier Coat over the repaired areas and over a large area of the propeller shaft. Apply three coats of epoxy primer and six coats of CopperCoat. Once completely dry, sand the entire surface to activate the copper.
Dismantle traveller, drill out, have new rollers made and fit. New Rocna 25kg anchor with new steel chain 10mm thick and 80m long. Modify anchor suspension. Fit new, larger cleats counter plates at bow and stern with . Tension the railing. Re-saw bow seat, sand and paint stern seats, footboards at helm and gangway. Clean, polish and wax all sides of the hull. Paint the window frames with green epoxy paint. Disassemble, clean, grease and reassemble all winches.
Build and install 560Ah LiFePo battery bank with 2 Daly BMS. Install Renogy DC to DC Charger. Connect Victron Smart Shunt. Install 3000W Renogy Inverter.
Remove and inspect the keel bolts. Replace all bolts, reseal and tighten to the specified torque. Renew keel seam from the outside.
Heat exchanger tubestack pressure test, result: leaking. A new tubestack costs 2800 Euros. Ouch. So it's better to send it to Sicily, have it restored there and have a sailing friend ship it back to Malta. Fitting. Replace diesel hoses and diesel filter. Replace alternator because no charge. Replace engine hour meter and rev counter. Replace the sea water hose from the new sea valve to the filter. Install Ropecutter on the propeller shaft. Replace all anodes. Clean propeller and paint with SeaJet silicone-based antifouling.
Can we get to the good part?
So that we don't drown in our work frenzy, we have made a firm commitment: Sunday is funday! On Sundays, we do something that has nothing to do with the boat or our jobs. Simply off. After all, you're allowed to do that from time to time 😉 That way, we get to see one or two corners of Malta and get to know the Maltese culture. In terms of landscape, the island is rather barren as it doesn't have its own freshwater source: All drinking water for the people and animals on the island comes from an underground desalination plant that treats the seawater. Cool! 💧 We like the city of Valletta. It has a certain charm. The many colourful bay windows, the sandstone buildings, nice bars and cafés in winding alleyways. Another highlight is Mdina, the former capital of the island. It is practically a single fort, completely surrounded by walls. Parts of Game of Thrones were also filmed here. The island is apparently very popular with the film industry anyway (e.g. Gladiator). This is a blessing and a curse, as it brings people and business to the island, but at the same time takes up a lot of labour that is lacking elsewhere.
One Sunday in the north-west of the island, we happen to end up at the Frawli festival. Frawli is Maltese for strawberry, so we're in strawberry paradise 😍 waffles, buns, ice cream, strawberries with cream, strawberry mojitos, jams, soft toys, the lot. After we've had our fill of strawberries, we walk to Golden Bay, where we find a wonderful panorama and watch the surfers in the waves for a while 🖤
A very special Sunday is my birthday, when we go south to Marsaxlokk with Bernie, our shipyard friend, and take a walk along the cliffs. Back at the boat, our shipyard neighbour Etienne surprises us with three different muffins and cakes. How sweet. Etienne was born in Malta and still lives there today. His dream is to get his Bavaria ready, pass on his business and then move onto the boat. We spend lots of fun working days with him, often have dinner together in the evening and even go out together sometimes! Because it's the fireworks festival in Malta. Apparently it's a huge scene, people come from all over the world to experience these works of art. Fireworks are set off somewhere every day and evening for a week. Not just as we know it, but really with an inventive and artistic background. On my birthday, the grand finale takes place in Valletta's Grand Harbour. We stand there for 20 minutes with our mouths open and watch what is probably the most spectacular firework display we have ever seen.
Then - finally, after 3.5 months ashore, CERVINO is back in the water. Unfortunately, we have to spend a few more days in the shipyard as the weather is not favourable for putting up the mast and hoisting the sails. Meanwhile, our friends Sven and Laura arrive. They will be joining us for the next two weeks. Where are we going? Well, we are travelling to our first new continent: Tunisia! Until we are really ready to go, we will spend a few more days in Malta until we head for our last anchorage in Gozo. We bid farewell with a wonderful view, review the last few weeks and are delighted that our CERVINO is now ready for new adventures! We have a 30-hour crossing ahead of us with a wind of around 20 knots from behind.
Off to Africa!