Laying up - Canvas Work - Part 2

Saturday 4th

One bag finished for the emergency ladders, I made them a little thicker and considerably longer to help with packing and to reduce the pressure on the longer strip of velcro closure but they are a tad shallower so hopefully will  not be bashed about quite as much by the waves. A lot of work, about a day, to save c £85 (allowing for materials), the next one should not take quite as long now I am getting more adept at the stitching and I have a design. Friday 10th: The second one (top) actually took about the same time but is rather neater.

Outside.

Hull side.

Inside

Monday 6th

Two patches made ready for the spray hood and three patches completed on Blue Performance halyard bags, I don't recommend these - various small bits (one shown top right, the shock cord was originally covered)  fell to bits after a couple of years due to not being UV resistant, the two I have left are not in direct sunlight. but still suffered. The bag on the mast was more exposed and had more susceptible bits (I notice that F4 have stopped selling those) and was thrown away after just two seasons. They also fade quickly, not good on bags costing £60 and above.

Tuesday 28th

Now I have started the amount of canvas work is growing:

• Cover for the SeaFeather Servo Blade. Removing the blade requires the dinghy, not a problem when on a mooring but a pain when bows in on a pontoon.
• A double halyard bag for the mast (in process), the two off the peg bags on the mast are OK but not ideal so they are going to be reused around the cockpit, replacing one that is beyond cleaning and repair.
• Cover for the tiller that hopefully will reduce the number of times it needs re-varnishing.

I suspect there will be one or two more projects that will occur to me.

Laying Up - Ashore

With awful weather predicted for Monday I went to the boat on Sunday afternoon to do some work before the haul out on Wednesday, that worked out well as I got some useful odds and ends done on Sunday, then on Monday I installed a new water tank - the water was starting to smell, even with purification tabs, sterilisation back in March and a filter. 

I had also decided that the boat was trimmed too far down in the stern due to:

• Moving the water tank with 40 - 50 Kilos of water aft when I replaced the fuel tank.
• The larger steel fuel tank replacing a bladder plus a couple of cans of spare, put 100 Litres of fuel totalling c 120 Kg, with tank, a long way aft.
• Carrying the dingy on the roof rather than forward.
• Stowing my too long and heavy ropes (80m of 14mm & 100 or 12mm) in the quarter berth.

So using the original deck fitting the bladder tank is in the forepeak with the on-demand electric pump under a saloon berth which frees up a little room in the under sink locker. The ropes are also now in the forepeak leaving more room for the heavy weather and storm jibs in the quarter berth and giving better access to all. They can easily be moved back if necessary.

Tuesday saw a lot of odd jobs done and Sancerre was hauled out at 09:00 on Wednesday with essentially no wind it was very straightforward, unlike last year when I had >20 knots of wind blowing me into the hoist requiring the engine to be running astern for at least the last hundred yards which makes steering tricky with the prop walk.

 

On Tuesday it was me queuing behind the previous

boat to be lifted.

I was very pleased with the state of the hull, the change of location and anti-foul has made a big difference, she looks dirty but it was mainly slime with no weed or Barnacles on the main part of the hull. There was a good crop of Barnacles and small limpets in a couple of places where there was little or no anti-foul such as on the shaft where a anode had come off, the underneath of the keel and rudder and on the rope cutter. The prop was also good and was cleaned of growth from the last few months with a gentle wipe with a cloth and the "Pellerclean" has been on since July 2023. 

The clean spots are where the sling slipped
forward before being stopped by the safety lines.
This is a common issue with boats like the A9m,
Contessa 32, etc. with a sloping profile from
the forefoot to keel. It can be an expensive mistake
to omit the safety rope! Make sure the operators
knows it is required.

This may look dirty but it is nothing compared to previous years.
The bag over the propeller is to protect the "Pellerclean" anti-
foul coating from errant sprays from the power washer.

Mullet have been grazing on the rudder. The port side is dirtier
than the starboard side due to the right handed propeller and
being moored starboard side too keeping the sun off that side.

It cleaned up very well (pics if I remember next time down) and the question now is 2 or 3 coats of anti-foul? At £109.95 per 2.5 litres (RRP £157.68) one does not want to be profligate with it! Nor do I want to built up a thick coat of anti-foul which at some point might then need striping. decision : I’m going for two coats generally but three on the skeg, rudder, boot line and three or four on leading edges.

The next visit will hopefully include re-marking the anchor chain and removing the last link that is a bit rusty due to contact with the stainless anchor swivel, prep work for anti-foul, cleaning the top sides, refitting the anchor locker cover removed for painting, refitting the removable parts of the Blakes sea cocks after cleaning, some anti-fouling and more. Work is never ending on a boat!

Laying Up - Rope and Canvas work.

Wednesday 1st October.

A new topping lift for the spinnaker pole. It took a while for a
suitable reel end to turn up and it is not my prefer colour but at a
40% discount I'll live with it, 17 metres x 8mm of my favoured
 premium braid on braid - Lyros Hercules £20.40.

I reused the shackle and it took c 45 minutes work to put a nice
mousing loop on one end (there is no core in the loop so it will
go through the mast sheeves) and the snap shackle on the other. It
would have been quicker but I forgot the snap shackle, realised
before it was too late, and had to back track.

I don't understand why more people don't do their own splicing.

Age is beginning to show on some of the canvas work with a few damaged areas due to chafe, also the bags containing the man overboard ladders are falling to pieces due to UV exposure although the ladders are fine and I could do with replacing a couple of halyard bags. Time to try my hand at canvas work!

8 years old, and until last winter on the boat most of the year - with
the boat on the mooring in a fast flowing estuary this was essential
as transferring between dinghy and boat is a prime cause of going
overboard. I had thought to put a large canvas patch over the
damage but having looked at the construction and the extent
 of the damage I decided that it would be best to make new bags.

The ladder cleaned up reasonably well although I'll give it one
 last clean before fitting the new bag now that some stronger
 cleaner has arrived.

But before starting a fairly complicated job for a novice, some patch work for one of the dodgers and to cover two small slits in the stack pack.

The two aft lines have both chafed the canvas, the forward lines,
two a side, have a better lead and are undamaged. View from the
inside; a full length batten does through the white pocket and the
webbing loop to which the lazy jack is attached on the other side.

I lashed out £25 on what appears to be a brilliant tool, a
"Speedy Stitcher", advertised as a manual sewing machine
 which is not a big exaggeration, it was slow going on my
test piece but produces a good looking locked stich.

It turns out I could have saved some of the dosh, the needles
fit this very old equivalent that I inherited. And the bobbin
in the new version is a waste of time because you can't get
rid of twists in the thread. But the old one is a bit small.

Patches ready to go, folds glued with PVA and left overnight.

OK, not pro standard but not too bad for a first attempt with
hand stitching, and they will certainly do the job.

Click here for part 2.

Laying up - Bilge paint and engine service.

My last visit to the boat before Sancerre gets lifted out on Oct 22nd and two busy days.

After cleaning the bilge in late August  It was still rather smelly, partly down to not using the engine very much during my trip to Padstow and back so that there was very little water in the bilge and partly due to some oil and grease on the metal parts that, knowing they had to be cleaned immediately before painting, I skimped on last time. 

This time cleaning did not take long and to be on the safe side after rubbing down I painted all of it including the keel nuts, the three spreader bars and what is essentially a jack between the iron keel and the  mast support.

The forward bilge, painted last year, and the bilge under the engine still need cleaning and the latter possibly painting but hopefully it will now stop smelling. To reduce the labour required in the future and hopefully any smell, I have added a trap to reduce / stop spills from the engine and water & grease from the stern gland reaching the bilge. This largely worked in the first few years that I had Sancerre but for some reason I stopped doing it when my supply of pads was finished.

Oil Absorbent (Hydrophobic) pads in the aft part of the bilge
 in the saloon and under the forward part of the engine catch
hydrocarbons but lets water go forward into the bilge, when
dirty they are hoyed out and replaced hopefully reducing or
eliminating bilge smells and keeping the bilge reasonably clean.

The other significant job was the first part of the engine service. Now that the boat is coming out for an extended period after the season, I do the oil and fuel part as early as possible to get rid of the grotty oil but delay the water side until she is back on the berth after lift out, I can then leave the engine drained down during the winter months and put the new impeller in just before the first cruise.

This year I will also be replacing the water thermostat, looking though the workshop manual I found that this has a 2,000 hour life, but that is not reflected in the service schedule! Not a big deal as it is not far over, but I could have had problems if I had relied on the operations manual rather than buying the workshop manual.

Other jobs completed include getting the genoa off and back home and this year for the first time in a while also the mainsail and stack pack, the latter needing some work to patch a couple of small holes due to chafe.

Planning for Ireland 2026. Part 2 Baltimore to Lough Foyle

WIP

Lots of potential places to visit depending on the weather.
A few potential routes shown (from planning some years ago, to
be reviewed).

1st October.

It took well over a day but I now have a good selection of anchorages where, in the right conditions, I would be happy to stop over night. 139 of them from Carnsore clockwise to Lough Foyle, plus those on the east coast and the ones I have already used between Carnsore and Baltimore. Now as I sail round I don't have to plough through the pilot when at sea or at anchor, a glance at this chart on my iPads, phone or PC, then if there is more than one a more detailed review of the likely candidates.

I originally planned this as a route to St Kilda for 2022 but decided to prioritise going direct and later to Shetland, that took more years than expected to achieve. Hopefully in 2026 I can take a more leisurely approach, the original plan was intended as a passage rather than a cruise but it is a good starting point and so far I have just added days to allow for diversions on route although the mileages shown are direct. 

                                  NM  Days

To Baltimore                 220   7

Baltimore - Bantry Bay     36   3

Bantry - Ballycrovane         33   2

Ballycrovane - Valentia       33   2

Valentia - Dingle /Smerwick   24   2

Smerwick -Fenit               30   2 

Fenit - Carrigahold           27   2

Carrigahold -Doonbeg          33   1

Doonbeg - Inishmore           26   2

Inishmore - Clifden           42   2

Clifden - Inishbofin           9   1

Inishbofin - Blacksod         35   1

Blacksod - Broad Haven        31   1

Broad Haven - Kilcummin       33   1

Kilcummin - Teelin            30   3

Teelin - Inishkeel            29   1

Inishkeel - Arranmore         18   2

Arranmore - Sheep Haven       32   1

Sheep Haven - Lough Swilly    21   2

Lough Swilly - Culdaff Bay    21   1

Culdaff Bay - Islay           41   1

               Total direct  795  40

The distances don't account for stop offs / diversions from the direct routes so it will likely be over 1,000 NM and with weather delays probably 7 - 9 weeks.

Planning for Ireland 2026. Part 1 Milford to Baltimore.

Tides are generally not helpful when heading south west along the Irish coast - a spring tide is good to get a push west from Milford Haven starting around 05:00 but south from Carnsore Point the favourable tide would not then start until lunchtime. Streams are charted as weaker than further north but they get stronger round head lands and as many learn every other year during the Jester Baltamore Challenge, beating to the Fastnet Rock or Baltimore against the tide is not to be recommended. 

Starting on a neap tide means leaving Milford at lunchtime and arriving in Ireland in the small hours, not a major problem is some anchorages but could be in others, especially with lots of pot buoys around as I found during my trip around the Celtic Sea in 2022.

My preference would be a start close to springs, leaving Dale before dawn to hopefully arrive somewhere to get some sleep that night, but the weather will be the deciding factor. Southwesterlies would be a pain and I might well wait for better weather, north-westerlies would be ideal and easterlies would be good for a quick passage but would limit the number of available anchorages. 

10 year average winds during March at Clear Island
at the extreme south of Ireland.

10 year average winds during April at Clear Island.

Statistically the end of March or April should bring plenty of opportunities as it has in the majority of the last few years, strong N - NW winds have been a problem to me rounding Land's End and could make for poor conditions in St Georges Channel but once in Ireland a reasonably brisk north westerly should not be a problem as far as Baltimore.

St Margate's Bay, Carnsore Point is the closest anchorage to Milford but a beat in a west or north west wind and then I would have to go round or inside of the Coningbeg rocks to move further west. A destination further west is likely better, somewhere between Kilmore and Waterford (46 NM), Youghal (pronounced Yawl) is just over 100 NM so a overnight trip and an extra 20 miles would get me to Crosshaven and 30 to Kinsale.

There are a good number of places to stop in offshore winds, somewhat fewer in easterlies. Baltimore will be the first target, preferably via new anchorages, but a visit into Crosshaven or even up to Waterford would not be unwelcome.

Places to stop between Carnsore Point and Cork. Green Anchorages
not previously visited, Red anchorages visited, Purple Marinas not
visited, Blue manias visited.

Places to stop, Oyster Haven to Baltimore.

I'll think about likely start dates when Imray have sorted out their "Tides" app which is currently showing all tides as spring tides, or I get the 2026 Reeds. Unfortunately Euronav in the past have not issued the tide data for the new year until late December which is a pain and must be difficult for those those on long voyages or in the southern hemisphere during their high season.

Update: the 3rd of  April is a spring tide so if the weather serves a start somewhere around then, earlier rather than later, looks good, around the 21st March or the 19th April would also work..

Click here for Baltimore to Lough Foyle.