Lagoon 450 Major Maintenance – No Shortcuts Below the Waterline
Living full-time on a Lagoon 450 is more than sailing from one beautiful anchorage to the next.
It means taking full responsibility for your home — especially when it comes to maintenance.
In this chapter of our journey, we arrive in Croatia for Luna’s bi-annual maintenance. This isn’t a quick haul-out or a cosmetic touch-up. This is the kind of work you do when you plan to live aboard long-term, sail far from marinas, and rely on your boat in every possible situation.
The underwater hull is taken all the way back to bare gelcoat. Years of old coatings are removed, revealing what normally stays hidden. During sandblasting, tiny air bubbles trapped in the gelcoat surface — a known issue on some Lagoon hulls — become visible. Each one needs to be repaired by hand before the first primer layer can be applied.
One of the most critical repairs is a broken watermaker through-hull. Because it sits in a sandwich construction with a balsa core, moisture doesn’t stay confined to one spot. The affected area must be opened up far beyond the original hole, dried thoroughly from the inside out, and rebuilt properly. There are no shortcuts when the integrity of the hull is at stake.
Every step of the process has its own timing, sequence, and conditions. Primer layers have strict open windows, drying times, and application order — made even more challenging by the fact that the boat stands on supports, meaning not all areas can be reached at once. Skipping sections isn’t an option. A boat is only as strong as its weakest point.
Kay chooses to be involved in every part of the work — from drilling out old through-hulls to preparing surfaces for primer. Not because it’s the fastest way, but because understanding every system on board is what makes true independence possible. When you know your boat inside and out, you’re never fully dependent on location, yard, or help.
While Luna rests on the hard, life as a family continues alongside the work. Tender rides, days at the waterpark with the kids, walking the dog from anchorages, and evenings spent away from the boat in a nearby Airbnb. Boat life isn’t only sunsets and sailing — it’s also patience, pressure, planning, and teamwork.
This maintenance period is intense. It demands time, energy, and sacrifices from the whole family. But it’s also an investment — in safety, in confidence, and in the freedom to keep going.
Because if Luna is strong,
we can keep chasing the horizon.
Leave a reply