Winter work - November & December

14th November: 

All work is on hold at the moment and has been since shortly after my last visit 6 weeks ago, first bad weather with humidity over 80% - too high for painting, then my wife's fall alarm stopped working and it took a fortnight to get a working new one, then I badly hurt my back and it is still not fixed, hopefully next week I can get down to at least do the work necessary before relaunch in four weeks time.

Tuesday 26th November:

Still with back problems but I went to the boat today, primarily to take down the antifoul etc. so that I could have the work done for me if necessary. 

Wednesday 27th November:

The paintwork it not as good as my last effort,
in cool weather the new Toplac+ definitely
needs thinning as you can't brush it out enough
 to avoid curtains. Also, in my view it needs
"tipping"/Laying off so when single handed you
 may as well use a brush as I did on the port side,
 the starboard, done in warmer weather with
 a roller is OK but I'd have done it better
with a brush.

It is necessary, I managed to get the second coat of paint on the port side which I could just about do standing up on a walkway but decided that the antifoul would be too much for my back, also I currently need a soft bed to sleep on or my back gets worse.

I also got the Blakes Seacocks back together after cleaning the removable parts at home. And I fitted the new aluminium prop anode, aluminium to help with the Brackish water in the marina, I now have one of each. So in a worst case she could go back in the water as she is to avoid charges for storage (she is currently in the "free" 10 weeks ashore I get with the marina berth). However with less than three weeks to go I have placed a work order with Windjammer Marine for them to:

• Put 2 further coats of anti foul to the hull and shaft.
• Fill irregular depressions along boot line - most identified with primer and most on port side. These were the result of my problems with weed getting into the Awgrip above the boot line during lockdown when the boat was unattended and heeled most of the time in the current. I had hoped that repeated applications of antifoul would hide them but they haven't.
• Put 3 or if necessary 4 coats of white to the boot line.

With the time lost I'll have to abandon some cosmetic interior painting which I probably can't do whilst sleeping on the boat but she can go back in on December 15th and I can start putting things back together after the big varnishing effort. Hopefully before launch I'll have time for a few jobs:

• Repack the stern gland, tightening would almost certainly be fine but it has been a while so some new cord would be good.
• A fresh coat of silicone on the propellor.
• Refit the cable locker clam shell drain guards.
• Refit the SeaFeather servo blade now revarnished, I would rather do that just before sailing but that would mean putting the dinghy in the water which, now I am on a berth, is safe and dry in it's bag and will stay there until needed, probably somewhere in Scotland next spring.

Tuesday 3rd December

Windjammer have put 2 coats of antifoul onto the hull and hopefully today filled and faired the boot line for a coat or two of anti-fouling tomorrow.

A nice job on the anti-foul and the boot line looks a lot better smooth!

They queried the launch date as being a Sunday and on checking there looks to have been a typo on the email sent to me, launch is now on Monday 16th, first in (starting?) at 08:30. I'll be travelling down on the Sunday, the hotel room is down to £54, in early October I could not get one for less than £180! If my back is up to it and the weather not to bad I'll then stay down on the boat for a night or three to start the next phase of work.

Video of  the move to launch in another post.

Day trips to the boat to carry out maintenance are no longer an option and to reduce the number of long car trips I'll likely be staying on the boat for several days at a time in the early part of next year so, as it is almost Christmas, I have bought myself a present - a "meter maid" electricity meter (not required at Deacon's or Hasler where I previously berthed as they have meters built into their systems) so I can go onto power and run an electric fire and / or the diesel heater and stay toasty warm without worrying about batteries if it is overcast and windless as it frequently is at Milford in winter, at least when it is not blowing a gale.

27th - 30th December.

With reasonable weather forecast and early January not looking good I took the opportunity to get down to the boat to finish off some jobs and in particular to drain the engine down in case of severe cold, I don't normally as salt water freezes at a couple of degrees colder than fresh and it is normally moving but with few movements through the lock and lots of fresh water coming down the Pill, water in Milford Dock does not move much and the surface is brackish and the top few inches potentially almost fresh so better safe than sorry.

I achieved most of what I set out to do although one smallish job had to be put off and another took longer when my electric drill seized up 😡. There are a few jobs left to do before I start rerigging to go sailing but nothing major apart from cleaning so I don't have to go again until March, although the dehumidifiers will probably be full sometime in February so I might start the pre season clean down in late February rather than in March, if there is a dry spell and its not cold.

Completed on this trip:

• USB hub work completed, not without some aggravation as described in my post Installing a powered USB hub and why.
• Electrical work referred to in a previous post completed, pics below.
• All joinery removed for varnishing reinstalled.
• Painting of the Heads and hanging locker almost complete, an additional coat in a small area would be good, as would some Damboline in the small storage area below the locker and the area around the Heads sea cocks, but I can live without if time presses to go sailing.
• Engine drained of water, anodes checked - still no significant erosion after 5 or 6 years in place, and the water pump impeller replaced.
• Warps and sails apart from the genoa are back on board so only one delivery trip will be required for hardware before refitting the running rigging and a final one to load the dinghy, outboard, cloths etc..

The electrical panel with a few additional fuses and the power switch for
the hub and fast USB charger, also a new securing batten to the left. The
securing screw will be replaced with a coach bolt and wing nut when
I am on board with a serviceable electric drill.

The back of the electrical panel, I would prefer it a bit neater
but there have been a lot of changes over the years and running
new wires as things move is not always practical. Lots of fuses
arranged in a hierarchy means that any wiring fault will take out
the minimum number of services.

Click here for launch day. A long wait now with not a lot to do until just before the new season starts.

Next cruise.

Another attempt at Shetland is pencilled in to start the week before or the week after Easter for the best tides; but the weather may well change that, it usually does.

Two nice options for the tide for a quick passage to the Inner
Hebrides, if the wind and weather cooperate for once.