..and yet more jobs done....

Further work this weekend in the cabin - to be honest I think I've broken the back of it now, which is just as well as when I got up this morning I thought I'd broken my back!

You may remember that the cabin when I left it looked like the following:

...but it's a lot better now - if I work on it this weekend I'll take the camera and get an updated photo but I don't want to do it until I've finished cleaning it so we have a true before and after shot..

This weekend I removed the cabin lining on the starboard side (upper and lower ie. underneath and above the shelving) and completed cleaned off the upper side (round the windows etc) removing all the old glue and flaking paint (the paint was from prior to the vinyl cabin lining).

I also made a start on the forepeak - the black stuff I was confused about is actually a glue foam mix, and is coming off nicely with the help of an old wood chisel that I'm using as a scraper; I would say that the forepeak is two thirds done now, so only the lower starboard side to do and there's not much of that as the "galley" takes up a half of that side...

The cable you see in the picture hanging down on the left hand side turns out to be the power for the navigation lights on the pulpit - it's all very clever - the wire goes forward, into the anchor locker and then up through the deck into the inside of the tubing of the pulpit - very neat.

The TV coax cable remains a bit of a mystery - I need to trace the cable but it's going towards the stern - I have one of these (to the left) on the aft deck and I'm wondering if it was anything to do with that... emergency VHF aerial perhaps?

Other news...

• I've decided to rein back on work item #1 (the new cushions) - it's going to have to wait for next year as I have too much to do this year to be able to fit it in.... for this year I'll settle on a single cushion to lay on top of the existing. I'll update the work item soon as SWMBO has just reminded me that I could also steam clean the existing ones as that would smarten them up no end...
• Work item #21 added - the windows have always leaked like sieves, and I'm fed up with it - have just got hold of some Captain Tolley following various recommendations about the place - hopefully a quick win!
  
• I was contacted this week by a previous owner of "Papillon" who finally managed to identify the interesting stainless steel construction on the aft deck which has always puzzled me...
  
  ..you can just see it on the deck - a metal plate with a couple of bolts, and what looks like a rudder pintle below it on the transom. Either way, he tells me it was for a depth and speed log, but he can't remember the make... hopefully we'll meet up soon to have a chat over a beer - always interesting to find out what your boat has done in a previous life!

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More jobs done..!

Busy busy busy...

The weather last Sunday was perfect; sunny and bright, and as SWMBO was sleeping off the effects of a night duty I took myself down to "Papillon" for the day to get some of the jobs on the ever increasing list done...

Having pressure washed and cleaned the hull, I was keen to get some paint on the keels to forestall any more rust, so that was completed first..

Two coats of Hammerite later and they look a lot better... OK, it may not strictly speaking be a nautical/marine rust product but on a 30 year old boat that rests twice a day in mud with the consistency of graphite paste, is anyone going to really notice?

Job's a good'un... I reserve judgement until next year to see if it's had a positive effect...

While I was waiting for the first coat to dry I removed the old defunct solar panel (job #15).. done...

Having applied the second Hammerite coat, I completed job item #20....

I then started on the inside by looking at jobs #7 & #8 - the cabin headlining and forepeak headlining.

I came to the conclusion that there really was nothing I could do about the forepeak headlining - bottom line the foam backed vinyl was shot - the foam had crystallised and gone powdery, and the vinyl was sagging/dropping.. As the foam was shot there was no way to stick it back up again, so I decided to roll #8 into #7 and remove all of the cabin headlining with the exception of that closest to the hatchway so about half way down the cabin. This bit was in much better condition (it's stapled to backing board by the look of it) and it also hides the wiring from the mast.. when I'm finished, both sides, and the forepeak roof will be glossed white - with only the back half of the cabin roof still keeping the lining...

The following was taken at the end of the day (curtains have been put up temporarily) and shows the port side completed - because I need to do a repair on the deck/hull join (item #18) I also removed the forward shelf for easier access to the repair area.

As a beneficial by product that's where I plan to sleep, so removing the shelf has given me more shoulder room when I'm lying down (I'll sleep with my head forwards and partially in the anchor locker.. )

The following shows looking towards the forepeak - no idea what the black stuff is (it's not mould!) but is like a very thin glue layer, hard, which comes off with a helping hand from a paint scraper...

Port side is good to go - I took the glue back to clean surface with a wire brush attachment in my electric drill - it cleaned up quite quickly. I have the forepeak to finish off, and then the starboard side.

I'll leave all the starboard side shelves in situ, they also have a front cover to enclose them, but I will be replacing the sliding hatches I currently have with a fixed/hinged cover. The current sliding one's have always irritated...

PS. Interestingly, while digging around to do all this I found a TV co-ax cable under the port side quarter birth - no idea what it was for, but I'd like to trace it now!

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Some work done, and an answer...

I've had the week off this week, and with the growing awareness of launch date fast approaching, and only one day this week looking any good weather'wise I went down and spent Tuesday working on "Papillon"...

First off - it was a good day...

Items 3, 5, and 6 are now completed from the list, but I still have some of the big one's to do and very little time left until launch date, and I'm also going to have to add a fairly major item, so this has prompted a re-think, and re-prioritisation of which more anon....

The best job to get finished though was the clean of her bottom - when I bought her out at the end of last season the bottom was comparatively clean, but I did have a fair number of barnacles.

Thinking about this I think it was because I had to bring her out for a couple of months after she was dis-masted last year.

I have a suspicion the anti-foul would have lost some of it's protective qualities while out of the water. Most paints say you have to launch within a couple of weeks after painting, maybe I should have repainted her before I launched.

Either way I was expecting a bit of hard work, but with the gentle application of a wallpaper scraper they came off as sweet as a nut - clearly the time since bringing her out had resulted in them dying. Best of all though I'd managed to borrow a pressure washer and an hour later she was as clean as a very clean thing..



Ready for the anti-foul in a couple of months...

While I was down I also took the opportunity to fire up the outboard in the tank - happily even after the better [art of almost four months she started up and ran cleanly... I'll be booking her in for a service at the beginning/first half of next month.

I've bought the cabin cushions home - originally this was going to be for measuring for item 1/. in the worklist but as I mentioned above I have decided to re-prioritise; I also bought the battery home for a quick re-charge....

Not a bad day, but now the bad news...

I noticed at the end of last season that when I bough her ashore the deck seemed to be lifting on the port side just about where the shrouds are anchored to the deck - when Jellybean Phil came to visit at the end of the day he confirmed my worst fears with the news that the deck was parting from the hull in that area, as exactly the same thing had happened to "Jellybean" - apparently this is a known weakness in boats of this age and make.

The fix for the deck lifting is relatively simple but sounds scarey - basically I lessen the tension on the side shrouds for the mast, put some load straps (with tensioning ratchets) over the top of the boat using the trailer each side as anchor points - get some wood to act as a base and then ratchet the straps tight over the wood so as to force the deck closed. When I've done that I then grind out the bad fibreglass behind the fracture to a clean fresh edge, and lay five or six layers of new glass over the join - once it's dry we should have a nice strong sealed edge..

Like I said - scarey... but it needs to be done...

Just to make matters better though as I said Jellybean Phil had come over to go to a local supplier to pick something up - it turned out that having come all this way they were shut, but as a good end to the day he and I repaired to the "Bridge Tavern" for a couple of pints and a yarn - good to see you, Phil!

Not such a bad day then...!

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So how did you do on the depth question????!

Well:

Current height of the tide 2.6m

- Low water 0.8m

= Fall of tide 1.8m

Current depth 4.0m

- Draught 2.0m

= Current clearance 2.0m

- Fall of tide 1.8m

= Clearance at low water 0.2m

Seemples.... I think..... d'oh....

There's more to practice on here [click here]if you fancy having a go..

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RYA Day Skipper

After a Christmas and Tew Year hiatus it was back to the books last night as the Day Skipper theory classes started again...

Our instructor had warned us before we went on holiday that we'd have an exam when we got back so as I have the whole week off (using up holidays) I hit the books yesterday big time... the Day Skipper Theory course has two exams, the one last night was Chart Work and Plotting, by far the more complicated of the two I think...

Suffice to say, that I was quite happy with how I did but true to form I did transpose one of my bearings (had the damn plotter upside down ), one of the other guys was an hour out on his tidal workings, one of the other guys got his dead reckoning mixed up with his course to steer, but despite a total bu**er of a fourth question on "clearance", all of us passed... We have another exam paper to do, but this is a general one (no chart work required) and I have to say it's a massive relief to have completed it...

We move on to pilotage next week (buoys and the like) but will I ever understand "clearance" do you think???? I doubt it, so for your delectation, have a go at this one...

A boat with a draught of 2.0m anchors. The Echo sounder shows the depth is 4.0m (from the surface to the sea bed), and the current height of the tide is 2.6m. If low water will be 0.8m. What will be the clearance under the keel at low water?

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