If only fishing were as easy as lying on your back in the grass beside a creek, waiting for the trout to bite. Commercial fishing, catching fish for people to eat, is much harder work than that.
To survive in heavy weather and rough seas, the fish boat must be in good shape structurally and mechanically. If it is a wood boat, it needs extra care in the form of dollars and sweat.
Once a year, before leaving for the north coast of British Columbia, the fish boat gets a facelift. Actually she gets a total body lift by a Travel Lift that puts straps under her hull and lifts her right out of the water and deposits her on the dry parking lot.
She is set down on wooden blocks. Jacks prop up each side to prevent her from tipping over.
The hull is power washed to get rid of any sealife that may have attached itself to the wood. Once the hull is clean and has dried off, the upper parts are sanded and scraped to prepare them for a coat of paint.
Bars of zinc are attached to the rudder and the iron shoe of the boat. Molten zinc is poured into a tin can mold attached to the wheel nut of the propeller, and more bars are attached to the cooling pipes not shown in this picture. All the zincs are meant to be sacrificed in lieu of the other metal parts of the boat (like the rudder, propeller, and cooling pipes). It is better that the zinc, rather than the propeller, be “eaten” by electrolysis.
The last job is to paint the bottom of the hull with anti-fouling paint. When that is done, the Travel Lift picks up the boat, carries it over to the water, and lowers it in.
In the photo below you can see that the boat has been carried away from its blocks on its way to the water again.
Feeling more comfortable now in its usual surroundings, the boat rests calmly, waiting to make the trip back home.
Passing a sailboat that is leisurely making its way out to sea, the fish boat hurries home.
For photos of the boat being lifted out of the water, click the link below.
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