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 1976 Seagull 40+ at  Swanage in 2017.
The same age as 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.

7th November: I had the Seagull out this morning, not run since I fixed it in May 2019, new fuel, new spark plug - probably unnecessary but I had one to hand - and it started first pull. Now have to track down the air intake cover that has gone AWOL.

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 few spare hours 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. and individual
blade fuses will be put in for the interior lighting and power sockets.
The remaining few in-line fuses would require a lot of work to replace,
so will be left as they are..

Update 17th December:

Upgrade to fusing complete. Some work on the USB hub
remains, hence lack of cable ties top left.

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.