Winter work - October 2nd Visit.

I managed quite a lot of work in about 21 very full hours over three days (plus 9 hours travelling), the weather was good enough to stay another day but I had had enough, I was out of blue gloss paint and a load of logs delivered at home needed putting away before rain on Sunday night; which were good excuses.

• Paint and filler on the forward few inches of the keel hull join that was blasted off during cleaning in March replaced: Fertan, primer, epoxy filler, grind, primer.
• 1st coat of anti-foul below boot line applied.
• A replacement rope / weed cutter belatedly installed after all of the problems this year with weed and plastic bags around the shaft and prop.
• Two coats of gloss applied to the starboard side of the hull and one on the port side after finishing the prep work - about 1.5 sides not done on my last visit. Painted largely with a roller without laying off / "tipping" as per the instructions, quick but I may revert to a brush which I think gives a better finish with less chance of "curtains" below the top of hull profile and avoiding changing from roller to brush to paint the profile with the previously applied paint already drying, or dried.
• The engine box front, drawer surround, steps and the after part of the cabin sole replaced after varnishing at home with a new hidden fixing piece of timber replacing a damaged piece. A few brass and stainless screws replaced with bronze so they all match with those already in place. The attached fire extinguisher and mount was replaced with a new.
• Movable parts of the heads Blakes seacocks removed and taken home for cleaning / polishing (done), fixed parts yet to be done.
• Fuel tank filled (fuelling is not allowed in the marina except at the fuel berth or I would have done this sooner) and extra fuel treatment added for the winter to hopefully prevent "diesel bug".

My 1970's Seagull 40+ pictured at 
Swanage in 2017. IIRC it is 3 or 4 years
older than the boat.

One 3 or 4 night visit should have all the work required before re-launch on Dec 15th completed, the bilge cleaned and some odd painting jobs done topside that are not allowed in the marina.

At home some repairs have been made to the dinghy, it's transom painted and most of the varnishing of pieces removed from the boat completed. Otherwise only servicing the outboard, cleaning and re-lacquering of the barometer and the standby marine clock are outstanding. 

As an aside now that Sancerre is in a marina and I don't need to keep going out to a mooring, I am considering reverting to the old, lighter, now repaired, 2 stroke Seagull outboard rather than cart around the 4 stroke motor that is about 50% heavier. 

Away from the mooring the outboard was only used three times this season, in Tobermory on my first visit and on the Truro river to Malpas and Truro, at other locations it was easier to row ashore rather than rig the derrick and put the motor on the dinghy.

If it were not so noisy, smelly and had a clutch it would be a done deal.

Winter work - October 1st Visit.

Tuesday 1st October

Down to the boat today to start the serious winter work; but the weather is not helping, it should be OK through Friday when the the boat comes out, then the forecast is for rain pretty much continuously until the middle of the month so instead of staying through the weekend to start work on antifouling, painting etc., I am now planning to return on Friday or Saturday so there will not be much progress on the paint work.

2nd /  3rd October

Work Done:

• 800 hour engine service (except the water impeller that will be done in March), including replacing both replacement of fuel filters, both of which are a pain to do. But glad that I did as I clearly picked up some iffy fuel at some point as both were dirtier than I normally see.
• More painting in the area of the heads and hanging locker.
• A lot of the pieces varnished at home refitted.
• Anchor locker, chain etc. hosed down ready for some painting.
• Started work cleaning the bilge but did not do much due to the difficulty of getting rid of the waste when at the end of a pontoon.
• Removed more items for varnishing at home including the table which also requires a minor repair, engine box, companion way steps and the floor section below.

Spurred on by my work last time I replaced most of the in-line 
fuses with blade fuses that are easier to identify & replace. When
I have a spare hour or so the in-line AIS fuse will be replaced
by the spare panel fuse and the NMEA backbone & Engine DVSR
override fuses will be replaced with blade fuses.
The remaining ones in-line would require a lot of work to replace,
and another fuse box..

Friday 4th October

I woke up very early to the sound of a strong wind that would make getting off of the berth and into the hoist tricky as the wind would be blowing me into both.

At 08:30 there was a bit of a lull and the hoist was on route to the slip with a boat to be launched so I called in to say I wanted to move out during the next lull in the wind, "pierhead" were fine with that and just then the owner of a nearby boat who lives aboard appeared on route to the showers so I asked him to give a hand with my lines so I did not have to worry about being pushed forward onto the pontoon and I was away without any drama to hang around in the main dock until they were ready to lift me 15 minutes later.

Getting into the hoist and stopping was
not easy with a strong tail wind, the engine was
running astern for the last 50 yards or more
and that does not help the steering.

Turning out of the slip area onto the road.

The boat yard is about 100 yards past past the hotel. A small queue
built up both ways, it was just after 9 o'clock, earlier might have
been worse.

Past the hotel and almost there.

Blocked off waiting for the power wash - the dock has little flow
though it so boats are washed in the yard when practical.

Cleaner than I thought she would be but the hammering I took
off the Lizard probably knocked a lot off and the Mullet had
been grazing - you can see their tracks on the keel.

I was very pleased with the state of the propeller, this after I
had removed the remains of a plastic bag wrapped around it 😡
and gave it a gentle wipe to remove some growth.

With all the agro I have had this year with weed etc. on the prop
and / or shaft I will be fitting a replacement rope cutter this winter
that will hopefully remove most of it.

The cutlass bearing is just fine (having the propeller rebalanced
has clearly sorted previous quick wear of the bearing) so one or
more fewer jobs to do, no need to remove the propeller or do
anything more than putting on a coat of the silicone left over
from the last pack. 

One anode has gone AWOL, fortunately no damage to the hull.

Looking better after her wash, some Fertan applied at the hull
keel join, some of the antifoul and filler had come off when
I power washed her in March but after clearing the surrounding
area I found not a lot will need to be done, prime, some filling
and prime again before anti fouling.

Almost 5 hours to get home but I was lucky, 2 closures of the M4 ahead of me when I left had cleared by the time I got there and another partial closure happened behind me; but, as is frequently the case traffic on a Friday can be a real pain but I was home by 20:00. 

Of course the forecast was wrong and I could have stayed down and got in a day or so's more work in reasonable conditions, but it is probably for the best I came home as, climbing onto the staging for the first time to do some sanding, I had reached out to steady myself and pulled something in my back and it is still causing me problems doing lighter work at home. 

Varnishing at home, Batch 7, coat 1. I need this and the next batch
 done quickly so I can have steps into the boat on the next visit,
and both are likely to need 2 coats.

The companion way steps with new anti-slip
strips, a shame to have to cover up the wood.

The saloon table quite possibly getting its first coat of
varnish on the underside in almost 50 years. It is the
first time I have had the table home or it would have
been done before.

Except for the tiller and self steering servo blade, the last of the
varnishing to be done at home, just a few bits of varnishing left
to done on the boat.

I'm now waiting for 3 or 4 dry days on the trot, reasonably warm and preferably with light winds to go down to paint the hull. It could be a while, the Beeb suggest w/c the 14th might be dry but possibly with very strong winds at times (winds going from 18 to 40 knots for one hour 10 days out does not look that convincing). I'll not hold my breath.

Winter work starting a bit early in September.

9th - 10th September

This was mainly a run to collect gear from the last cruise but I did a small amount of work and bought home a few items, mainly the tops of the the sink unit and storage bin, to varnish, plus most of the running rigging, dodgers, etc. for washing and over winter storage.

Bringing parts home for varnishing results in a better finish, is
usually a lot easier and may save a lot of masking up to protect
 the surrounding or both if the rest is to be painted. It also
saves days on the boat, much of which would be unproductive
waiting for it to dry. Only a small batch to start due to lack of
time and space in the car.

17th - 21st September

A lot of work done over 4 very full days, plus a 9 hour round trip, with a very full car on the way back with most of the remaining items to be stored at home including the headsails and all cordage.

Work done:

• Additional fuses added to the electrical panel to replace in-line fuses behind the panel for easy replacement or isolation.
• Added another fuse block behind the panel for navigation lights - previously protection was by 20 Amp CB's integrated with the switching but 20 amps was very marginal for the wiring, now 2 amp each which is plenty for the LED bulbs. 
  
  

  

  The panel now with easily accessible fuses for the low power
  switched and low power non switched bus bars and the Gas alarm,
  that previously relied on the low power bus fuse, now it can easily
  be isolated if it goes off and I am sure it is a false alarm, such as
  when using aerosols below deck. One is spare - I have not yet
  decided which other in line fuse to replace. Switches on the three
  panels each have an integral 15A circuit breaker. Shown with
  blanking piece to the left removed.
  
  

  

  Click image to view. The 200 amp fuse is to support staring
  from the domestic batteries, the starter motor takes over 100A.
  Diagram from my boats documentation.

  
  

  

  The back of the panel, not as tidy as I would like but it has been
  reorganised several times when upgrading and there is not much
  space. The new fuse block for the Nav lights mounted on the
  acrylic shield over the solar power blocking diodes (pic is missing
  the fuse block covers and before the default fuses were replaced).

  
  
• Removed redundant cables ex the electric toilet pump, tidied up and better secured cables in the hanging locker.
• Locker behind the cooker partially disassembled, the loose base secured, varnished components taken home for re-varnishing, inside painted with Damboline.
• Varnished sections of floor: 
• All eased for better fit,
• Forward sections taken home for re-varnishing. 
• Aft section: redundant water pipe removed from under, hull under painted with Damboline; the section will be taken home for re-varnishing when the boat is ashore.
• Facias under bunks removed & taken home for re-varnishing, probably for the first time in 48 years, and to make repainting the inside of the hull between there and the carpeted floor easier - a bigger job than anticipated at almost 3 hours grovelling in the small spaces each side of the table, I spent a lot of time in awkward places over these days.
• Damaged section of headlining aft of the fore hatch replace with timber - easier than trying to match headlining and it is neater and gives a tiny bit more headroom, being painted with the heads and hanging locker.
• Water system flushed, cleaned and sterilised.
• Damaged water filter replaced and relocated so it hopefully does not get damaged again.
• Lots of varnished components removed and taken home to be re-varnished and to facilitate painting.
• Chart table removed for the base to be repainting at home and a wobbly corner to be re-fixed.

Varnished: Navigation area, starboard side of main cabin including bulkheads, 1st coat on port side. 

Batch 2 of vanishing at home, the hanging locker door
elsewhere. Lots more to do!

Batch 3

 Batch 4a, ex the chart table base also newly painted.

Batch 4b.

Batch 5

Batch 6 - Bunk facias, 1st coat.

Batch 6 - Heads door, 1st coat.

Painted in white: 

• Hanging locker ex floor; that is a glass moulding and will be Ivory to match other mouldings I will be doing and the floor to which it leads.
• Heads: bulkheads and deck head.

The next visit will be on or about October 1st before the boat gets lifted out on the 4th and I can start on the antifoul and topside.

2024 September 6th Days 23 - 24, To Milford Haven

Thursday was, as expected, very wet and the wind stronger than forecast the day before at up to F7. I spent most of the day hunkered down, some of it advising a fellow solo sailor on passage planning on  the part of his round GB trip onto the Solent a stretch he had not done before. He left early on Friday to get around the Lizard before the tide turned probably heading for St Mawes. I left a few minutes ahead of schedule at 09:50 and was sailing as soon as I had the fenders and dock lines in and stowed.

This was not the plan of the day before as the weather did not match the forecast which was no wind and rain until the evening, but was welcome and I sailed until almost at the Longships when the engine went on as the wind was almost on the nose.

The Runnel Stone East Cardinal buoy. The Long ships just to
the right of it, Gwennap Head extreme right. DO NOT go inside
this buoy! A week or so after this pic was taken a yacht did and
went aground on the Runnel stone - expensive!.

Lands End

The Longships Light

Unfortunately the engine was to stay on for much of the trip from the Longships to get in before forecast bad weather and because the wind stayed on the nose at 8 - 11 knots until it died to almost nothing at 21:00. At 22:00 I started to see flashes of lightning to the north, not good, I always feel very vulnerable at sea in lightning with a 40ft lightning conductor the highest thing around for miles. For the moment it stayed distant and from 01:00 I sailed for a couple of hours when the wind came in from the WSW, again not in the latest forecast models. 

Light to moderate rain started at 02:00 lasting till about 5:30 and the lightning drew nearer, fortunately it did not get within about five miles and most was not going to ground or rather sea. From the radar the heavy rain was also about 5 miles away by which time all of the portable electronics was inside the cooker to protect it. I learned later that the storm had kept people awake around Milford for much of the night.

Short range monitoring when below by Radar on the
iPad replicated from the plotter, longer range by AIS
on the lap top but I spent most of the time on deck
as to move back and forth would have brought a
lot of water down below.

Unusually there were very few fishing boats around but there was a fair bit of shipping and the timing was such that quite a few boats that had come out of the "Off Lands End" TSS and heading for Bristol, Milford and particularly Avonmouth were coming close, particularly three all over 250 metres long that passed within 1.5 miles on a course only 10 - 15 degrees different to mine. 

With AIS and radar I was perfectly safe, but it gets your attention when you see them 20+ miles away at which point, even when making a reasonably steady speed through the water under engine, the predicted closest point of approach varies from a few metres to a mile or so. In the event all passed ahead of me but with our courses so similar it took a long time for all three (1 leading and 2 very close together an hour behind) to clear.

With so much use of the engine and making about 5.5 knots, at a relaxed cruise in fairly calm water despite the fouled hull, I was well ahead of schedule and at daybreak I was past Turbot Bank, that did make it harder to see the channel buoys but it let me get to Milford Marina when the lock was in free flow, saving me from working through, and I was on my berth just before eight.

I had planned to start laying up on Sunday to return home by train on Monday to get the car, but with the early arrival it seemed pointless to waste the time and if I slept too much I would not sleep that night so, apart from a nap of an hour or so in the afternoon, I worked all day getting the running rigging, dodgers etc. off the boat ready to go. 

Sunday's trip home was rather frustrating, the train to Swansea was delayed because a low branch took the windscreen wiper off the front of the train, so they turned the train round and went backwards into the terminus although it was not raining and the buffers are under cover. It then went on to Newport and if they followed the same procedure would have had to turn the train around again.

As the train was being turned round, the train I was meant to be on passed. Some quick searching on the network rail journey planner found the quickest way back, instead of changing at Reading and Oxford, I would have to change at Swindon, Didcot and Oxford. The change at Didcot was very tight and the train was very crowded, I was one of the last off and did not make it, not wanting to try running, including down and up the stairs of the underpass, with a heavy bag and arthritis. 

Having left the boat at 08:45 I finally got home just before 17:00. In theory I should have had my fare refunded for the long delay but GWR refused to cough up because the delay was on the Welsh service even though I had booked through them as the main carrier.

Update: GWR having refused to pay referred the claim to Transport Wales without telling me, it took a while but in November they approved the claim 👍 

120 miles in 22 hours and 10 minutes berth to berth/

Click here for a post on the start of winter maintenance work

2024 September 3rd Days 20 - 22, Turnaware to St Mawes and Newlyn.

To St Mawes

I left after a breakfast coffee to get off the pontoon at fairly slack water and then to carry the ebb down Carrick roads with sufficient water to be able to safety go direct, once round Turnaware Bar (following the channel) I was able to sail to the Lugo Rock south cardinal buoy and it was then half a mile to the St Mawes anchorage. With light winds I rowed ashore for a small shop and a lunch time pasty from the Bakery - much better than the one I had at Cawsand, you could see proper chunks of meat rather than a few bits of mince and it was properly seasoned.

It was quite warm in the afternoon and I had an overall wash and washed my hair in the cockpit, getting a few odd looks from passing passengers on tripper boats.

To Newlyn

A very varied trip to Newlyn, I left at 06:45 to hopefully reach The Lizard at slack water, or as slack as it gets a day before the spring tide. a gentle breeze set in as I passed St Anthony Head and the engine went off as I sailed under headsail only as it was close to a run and the mainsail would get in the way. The wind increased close to the Manacles and I put in a reef to reduce the roll and it increased further as I passed and headed up to a reach for some quick sailing..

Sailing south from the Manacles in 15 Knts.

After an hour, half way to the Lizard, the wind had dropped and I was about 45 minutes behind plan but sailing in pleasant conditions.

East of Lizard Point in fairly benign conditions.

Then things changed big time, my Facebook post on the rounding says it all: 

"Well, the Lizard gave me a right kicking, a pleasant sail down the east side of the peninsula in 15 - 20 knots of northerly wind, by the time I was east of the point the wind was down to 12 knots so rather than stay 3-4 miles out as planned I cut in to a bit over 2 miles on the eastern edge of the charted over falls - with the tide just turned to the west the over falls normally move somewhat west.

BIG MISTAKE, the wind almost immediately increased to 25 knots and with the Atlantic swell against a near spring tide and I was in an extremely rough, short sea; with the double reefed headsail and no main I was making up to 9 knots over the ground straight into the waves.

A 55 foot yacht [almost certainly in rougher water] half a mile inside me gave up and turned round, that had not occurred to me as turning in a small boat was not something I was going to do in that sea and at 8 - 9 knots it should not take too long to get out of the rough water so I bore off 10 or 15 degrees to reduce the impact of waves head on and to avoid the possibility of an accidental tack. Not long after I was out of the dangerous water."

A couple of short videos before it became to rough to do more:

Somewhat shaken up, literally,  I continued west under sail before putting on the engine to motor directly into wind to Newlyn where I had a choice of berths. Coincidentally the 3 boats on the end of the pontoon were all single handed, me heading for Milford Haven, the other two having just arrived from there, one direct and one after multiple stops around the Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea. 

The weather next day (Thursday) did not look promising with strong wind and a lot of rain and it was to get worse than forecast but Friday was looking very good providing I got to Milford during the afternoon on Saturday, that was unlikely to be a problem as the wind was forecast to be light and variable with a lot of rain until evening.

35 miles in seven and a quarter hours.

To Milford Marina

2024 September 2nd. Excitement at Turnaware and I get to use my long line.

I happened to be on deck and saw a boat coming down stream making quite a lot of smoke, as they passed the end of the pontoon the engine cut out, was restarted but cut out again not far from the end of the pontoon and apparently dead up tide (see 2nd pic). I quickly changed the flip flops for proper shoes and prepared to fend off, which would not be easy as I was close to the end of the pontoon and have vulnerable self steering on the stern.

The skipper who was using a borrowed boat got the anchor out as the tide took her a couple of boat lengths from me, but there was not much chain, only a couple times the depth of water (more chain may have been in the locker but would not come out and there was no quick access) so we didn't know if it would hold (4 times the depth is “standard”, and much more in extreme conditions) against the strong tide at its peak on a spring tide. Neither did we know how long it would take to get a tow.

They did not think there was long enough lines on board so I grabbed my 100 metre "long rope" intended for the kedge, taking a line ashore in a tight anchorage or emergencies like this one, slung it in the dinghy and ran the line from their stern to the pontoon, up to a second cleat on the pontoon then out to her stem.

As the tide eased she swung in closer.

With these lines attached we could warp her onto a long space on the pontoon behind me. By now Mylor had agreed to send a work boat to haul her back so we did not attempt that but waited half an hour or so for them to arrive.

The orange buoy is about 5m from the end of the pontoon.
Off back to Mylor, this is about where the engine failed the
second time. When I was watching as she passed there was
definitely water coming out of the exhaust, when they tried
to start it later there wasn't any so almost certainly the impeller
Or water pump belt failed and the engine stopped shortly after.

T

100 metres of 12mm nylon (breaking strain over 3 tonnes)
drying out before I repack it. I also have 80 metres of 14mm
platted line for the drogue or other uses.

To St Mawes and Newlyn.