Just had an email from our contact at Echomaster Marine to say that our AIS transponder has shipped so we are due to get it early next week. All thanks to Echomaster Marine who have worked hard on this despite all the frustrations of lack of stock at Navico.
Now we just have to fit and learn how to use it.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Finished and ready for the water
How she looks now. The weather is not looking too clever though so we are not sure exactly when we will get in the water. We are still hoping for Thursday.
Sunday 28 March 2010
Ready for the water
If not the season.
As noted, the coppercoat was finished yesterday. Today, Audrey and I both went down and did two main jobs.
Firstly, we did the boot top in an exhorbitant hard white antifoul. She now looks very smart and ready for the best/worst that the English channel can throw at her.
Secondly, we finally got the new zinc anode studs in and refitted the anode. They were both too long so had to be cut shorter so as to be able to put a nut over the inside end. We pulled the electical bonding cable through and tried to crimp a new fitting on to it but found it too corroded. Cue a trip to the chandler for a length of new wire and a decent crimping tool.
Working on the anode was a backbreaking job with the studs protruding into the port aft cockpit locker which meant me upending myself and working a spanner in the true boat maintenance mode - head down a locker, backside and legs pointing at the heavens and the air in the locker turning a bright blue colour.
On other fronts, the repaired hatch cover is coming along and should be ready. Working with SP/West epoxy is a very interesting experience. I suspect that I will want to replace all the hatch covers in the fullness of time. Perhaps when we have spent a season or so in the Med.
Now, we just need the weather to hold so she can go in the water as booked on Thursday and then some sort of sailing and possible delivery over the Easter weekend.
As noted, the coppercoat was finished yesterday. Today, Audrey and I both went down and did two main jobs.
Firstly, we did the boot top in an exhorbitant hard white antifoul. She now looks very smart and ready for the best/worst that the English channel can throw at her.
Secondly, we finally got the new zinc anode studs in and refitted the anode. They were both too long so had to be cut shorter so as to be able to put a nut over the inside end. We pulled the electical bonding cable through and tried to crimp a new fitting on to it but found it too corroded. Cue a trip to the chandler for a length of new wire and a decent crimping tool.
Working on the anode was a backbreaking job with the studs protruding into the port aft cockpit locker which meant me upending myself and working a spanner in the true boat maintenance mode - head down a locker, backside and legs pointing at the heavens and the air in the locker turning a bright blue colour.
On other fronts, the repaired hatch cover is coming along and should be ready. Working with SP/West epoxy is a very interesting experience. I suspect that I will want to replace all the hatch covers in the fullness of time. Perhaps when we have spent a season or so in the Med.
Now, we just need the weather to hold so she can go in the water as booked on Thursday and then some sort of sailing and possible delivery over the Easter weekend.
Saturday 27 March 2010
Coppercoat Done
Yes. I managed to get the final bits on today. Emsworth Harbour moved her in the cradle enough that I could get at the bits behind the props and she is now completely covered in coppercoat!
It feels good and means that, barring problems with the zinc anode studs we can launch ready for the Easter weekend. The original studs were so rusty as to be useless so they have to be replaced. Getting new studs has not been a problem but they are too long and so I need to cut them shorter so as to be able to get nuts and washers and such like on the inside.
Pictures should follow.
It feels good and means that, barring problems with the zinc anode studs we can launch ready for the Easter weekend. The original studs were so rusty as to be useless so they have to be replaced. Getting new studs has not been a problem but they are too long and so I need to cut them shorter so as to be able to get nuts and washers and such like on the inside.
Pictures should follow.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
AIS Blues
Well, lots of other things may be going well but there is still no sign of the Simrad AIS transponder we ordered at the show. I chased our contact today and she said that there was still no sign of it and latest indications from Navico would be sometime in April. I phoned Navico in frustration and got the same story with little or no sign of apology that they were messing people around.
At least Echomaster Marine are being helpful about it. The one we want if more or less the best bet for what we want so I will resist the temptation to go for some other option. At least it is not a show stopper.
At least Echomaster Marine are being helpful about it. The one we want if more or less the best bet for what we want so I will resist the temptation to go for some other option. At least it is not a show stopper.
Monday 22 March 2010
Getting Closer
After the success of the weekend it is good to be able to report that we have been able to make appropriate arrangements with Emsworth Harbour to move her in the cradle ready for next weekend and we have provisionally booked for her to be in the water ready for Easter. So, we should be sailing very soon!
Initial plans are a bit sketchy. I had originally thought to deliver her to Plymouth over the Easter period which might still happen but we may take it in a more incremental way. Say, a day or so day sailing in the Solent to get hitches ironed out then a passage to Weymouth where we could leave her till the following weekend when we could take her on to Plymouth.
Of course any such plans are almost certainly doomed to change based on the vagaries of the weather at the very least.
And so it goes on!
Initial plans are a bit sketchy. I had originally thought to deliver her to Plymouth over the Easter period which might still happen but we may take it in a more incremental way. Say, a day or so day sailing in the Solent to get hitches ironed out then a passage to Weymouth where we could leave her till the following weekend when we could take her on to Plymouth.
Of course any such plans are almost certainly doomed to change based on the vagaries of the weather at the very least.
And so it goes on!
Sunday 21 March 2010
Big Step Forward
The coppercoating is mostly done. We still have to get her moved in the cradle so we can do the bits behind the props but the majority is done and she is looking very good. The photo at the top is of course what she looked like back in January when Symblast did their work. The picture below is how she looks now.
It was a bit of a rollercoaster weekend as Saturday was much worse than forecast with persistent heavy fine rain that contrived to get in everywhere. I spent the majority of it fighting with the zinc anode or rather than studs which had become horrendously rusty. There was no way I could get the nuts inside undone so eventually I scrounged an angle grinder from Gary on the boat next door and ground it off. It is a bit nervewracking to be wielding a fast spinning disk millimeters away from the edge of your hull but it did the job in the end and I was able to start fitting the new studs. The log book pencil did duty to line the hole with sikaflex and then I built up a circle round the hole on the outside. Finally, when it was in the process of going off I inserted the new studs and left them to get stuck properly over night.
All the time it was raining (well, sometimes it stopped but not very much) and all the grovelling in the port side cockpit locker gave me several aches and bumps as well as a soaking wet backside. In the end, I pushed off to Marine Superstore and consoled myself with a French and Portuguese courtessy flag as well as a bargain on an offshore flare pack.
Matthew and Audrey turned up for the evening and we had an interesting Thai meal in the pub.
Sunday was forecast to be better and it certainly was. We started work at around nine and by dint of steady work we were finished by about four. The rain held off and I am hopeful that it will not rain till Monday evening by which time it should all have cured enough to be water proof.
Hopefully the weather gods will continue to look on us favourably for next weekend and I can finish the job then.
It was a bit of a rollercoaster weekend as Saturday was much worse than forecast with persistent heavy fine rain that contrived to get in everywhere. I spent the majority of it fighting with the zinc anode or rather than studs which had become horrendously rusty. There was no way I could get the nuts inside undone so eventually I scrounged an angle grinder from Gary on the boat next door and ground it off. It is a bit nervewracking to be wielding a fast spinning disk millimeters away from the edge of your hull but it did the job in the end and I was able to start fitting the new studs. The log book pencil did duty to line the hole with sikaflex and then I built up a circle round the hole on the outside. Finally, when it was in the process of going off I inserted the new studs and left them to get stuck properly over night.
All the time it was raining (well, sometimes it stopped but not very much) and all the grovelling in the port side cockpit locker gave me several aches and bumps as well as a soaking wet backside. In the end, I pushed off to Marine Superstore and consoled myself with a French and Portuguese courtessy flag as well as a bargain on an offshore flare pack.
Matthew and Audrey turned up for the evening and we had an interesting Thai meal in the pub.
Sunday was forecast to be better and it certainly was. We started work at around nine and by dint of steady work we were finished by about four. The rain held off and I am hopeful that it will not rain till Monday evening by which time it should all have cured enough to be water proof.
Hopefully the weather gods will continue to look on us favourably for next weekend and I can finish the job then.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Working on cockpit locker lid
I have finally got around to attacking the recalcitrant and rather rotten cockpit locker lid. After chiselling out all the old plywood. It made much more sense to do this than try and just let in a small bit. Last Saturday we went and bought a sheet of 9mm marine plywood and I managed to cut a bit to fit in the remains of the teak though one end of the edging had broken off. Now, I have had my first experience of using SP epoxy. The instructions are a bit intimidating but really, it is quite easy and I mixed up a bunch before stirring in some microfibers. It is now sitting on the floor with a couple of clamps holding it together and three batteries sitting on it to provide downward weight. Only time will tell but the picture below might amuse.
Monday 15 March 2010
Better weather but still not ready
The weather seems to be improving for now but we are now almost certainly not going to be ready for an Easter delivery to the west country. Last weekend might have been OK for putting the Coppercoat on but a few things intervened.
Firstly, Audrey had caught some sort of stomach bug and was not really fit to help out on Saturday, then, it was Mother's day on Sunday and we simply delayed things for an enjoyable day out walking on the Isle of Wight. It was still a bit boaty as we met at Emsworth and fought a bit more with the zinc anode. We do now know why the anode is not working very well. The steel studs are very rusty inside and I don't think that there is a proper electrical connection with the wires completing the "cell" The studs are now so badly rusted (not corroded) that we are going to have to replace them - or one anyway. So we are back to the familiar situation of having a hole in the boat!
Anyway, we hope to do the coppercoating the coming weekend though the long range forecast is talking about rain now. Grrr!
The AIS front is continuing frustrating. No sign of Simrad getting the damn thing delivered any time soon as far as I can tell.
Other news: We found that there is a requirement in the ISAF regulations to carry a storm trysail so we have to find one now. My opinion backed by others is that they are not worth the locker space that they take up but the rules are unbendable on this one. Another Grr!
Oh well, I shall try and get some pics of the Coppercoat going on to relieve the unrelenting text stream that this blog has become.
Firstly, Audrey had caught some sort of stomach bug and was not really fit to help out on Saturday, then, it was Mother's day on Sunday and we simply delayed things for an enjoyable day out walking on the Isle of Wight. It was still a bit boaty as we met at Emsworth and fought a bit more with the zinc anode. We do now know why the anode is not working very well. The steel studs are very rusty inside and I don't think that there is a proper electrical connection with the wires completing the "cell" The studs are now so badly rusted (not corroded) that we are going to have to replace them - or one anyway. So we are back to the familiar situation of having a hole in the boat!
Anyway, we hope to do the coppercoating the coming weekend though the long range forecast is talking about rain now. Grrr!
The AIS front is continuing frustrating. No sign of Simrad getting the damn thing delivered any time soon as far as I can tell.
Other news: We found that there is a requirement in the ISAF regulations to carry a storm trysail so we have to find one now. My opinion backed by others is that they are not worth the locker space that they take up but the rules are unbendable on this one. Another Grr!
Oh well, I shall try and get some pics of the Coppercoat going on to relieve the unrelenting text stream that this blog has become.
Thursday 11 March 2010
Weather still rubbish
Progress has been painfully slow recently. I was down there last weekend when we picked up our Coppercoat as well but it was far too cold to think about applying it. The sequence of events has now become so tight that it is unlikely we will be ready to deliver to Plymouth over Easter. More likely is that we will manage to get in the water for Easter - assuming that the temperature does find it's way above 10 degrees between now and then.
It might be best to spend the Easter weekend getting back in to the swing of sailing in the Solent and then make the leap for the west country later in April.
And so it carries on. The latest on the AZAB front is that I have found that we need to carry a trysail as part of the ISAF OSR 2010-2011. For the non initiated of you, that is International Sailing Federation Offshore Special Regulations! Other AZABbers have been going through them and working out what expensive toys they need to aquire. I shall have to see where I can beg, borrow or steal such a sail. We have no experience of using one and I would much prefer to simply put a fourth reef point in the main rather then spend ages on a heaving deck in a force 10 trying to feed the slides of the trysail into the luff groove of the mast. Grrr!
It might be best to spend the Easter weekend getting back in to the swing of sailing in the Solent and then make the leap for the west country later in April.
And so it carries on. The latest on the AZAB front is that I have found that we need to carry a trysail as part of the ISAF OSR 2010-2011. For the non initiated of you, that is International Sailing Federation Offshore Special Regulations! Other AZABbers have been going through them and working out what expensive toys they need to aquire. I shall have to see where I can beg, borrow or steal such a sail. We have no experience of using one and I would much prefer to simply put a fourth reef point in the main rather then spend ages on a heaving deck in a force 10 trying to feed the slides of the trysail into the luff groove of the mast. Grrr!
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Getting there slowly
It has been a bit of a slow start to the year though this is most probably always the case. The trouble is that with Easter being so early this year there is a lot of pressure to get things done quickly in March. The real thing of course, is the Coppercoat which needs minimum temperature to apply it. So, no frostbite painting here. This coming weekend is not looking good for that but maybe the next weekends will be good enough.
We still have to finish off sanding and varnishing the toe rail. Other stuff we can be getting on with though are the things still to do to the engine such as changing the fan belt and fuel filters to say nothing of putting the pencil anode back in.
At least we are going to pick up the Coppercoat from Paul at Symblast on Saturday so we can at least feel that we are getting closer to being ready for a launch. The big bit with the Coppercoat is how we are going to apply it to the bits under the props on the cradle. I put a posting on the PBO forum on this and got two bits of advice. One is to ask the yard to move the boat in the cradle by a foot or so once the majority is done. The other option which has a lot of superficial attraction is to use the legs to prop the boat up and drop the props. I doubt if the boat yard would go for this but we will have to see. I will probably also ask around a bit as well.
Happy, if cold times at present!
We still have to finish off sanding and varnishing the toe rail. Other stuff we can be getting on with though are the things still to do to the engine such as changing the fan belt and fuel filters to say nothing of putting the pencil anode back in.
At least we are going to pick up the Coppercoat from Paul at Symblast on Saturday so we can at least feel that we are getting closer to being ready for a launch. The big bit with the Coppercoat is how we are going to apply it to the bits under the props on the cradle. I put a posting on the PBO forum on this and got two bits of advice. One is to ask the yard to move the boat in the cradle by a foot or so once the majority is done. The other option which has a lot of superficial attraction is to use the legs to prop the boat up and drop the props. I doubt if the boat yard would go for this but we will have to see. I will probably also ask around a bit as well.
Happy, if cold times at present!
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