The dogs nadgers..

From this..

..to this..

...but not without having to spend far too much time in the hole....  thinking I might double up the joists next winter to give me a little more working room underneath..  anyway, two coats all over and a third thick one on rudder and water line and she was done in just over three or four hours in total..

...tools of the trade, I can almost smell it again..  the purchase of a pair of knee pads made the job a lot easier this year, but it is still the most loathsome job you have to do on a boat, and for little or no benefit other than a couple of months more of weed free sailing than if you didn't do it at all...  still we shall see if this years unguent is any better or worse than previous years...

..but the best bit is taking off the masking tape! 

That's it...   she's ready to go in, so any bits and pieces I do now are jam on the toast..  glad that's over though..

Wires, wires, wires...

....another good but tiring day on the boat..  yeah, it's time for a "more ticks than a mangy dog" post.. 

Not so many photo's unfortunately as it was a 'finishing off' day....

So the following are now officially "done"

Job #3 - Electrics:  the VHF came back from Standard Horizon via the Chandlers this week (excellent service by the way from Marine Superstore at Port Solent and also Standard Horizon) - Standard Horizon diagnosed a faulty screen and replaced it free of charge..  before (re)fitting, I permanently wired in the data lead for the GPS using the wiring combination I identified last time, blanked off all the wires that I'm not using - I have taken the decision not to permanently wire the GPS into the power as battery usage (double A's) is minimal, and it's just an extra complication...  powered up the GPS, crossed my fingers, turned on the VHF.. screen good, MMSI good, lat/long being delivered, RESULT!

Mixed up some epoxy gorilla glue and stuck some cable organisers to cabin roof and side to make the cable run neater, I also (while I had it out) stuck another in the quarter berth to take the aerial cable (which feeds through from the transom via the cockpit locker, through the bulkhead and into said quarter berth, then I micro cable tied all loose wires together and lastly, with the last of the glue I had a couple of small cable clips that I stuck underneath the companionway step - they will hold the GPS feed cable out of the way.. 

Next, I completed the anchor light installation by amalgamate taping all the joints, and routing the positive cable via existing and new cable clips - powered up everything and tested for power at lights and deck plug - all good - DONE!

Moved to the mast head, took off the anchor light reflector, gave it a good wash, replaced, taped - DONE!

First coat of paint was put on the tiller pilot fitting - I've bought it home for anther couple of coats this week and I'll fit it next weekend..  I'm increasingly thinking that I might want to fit a power switch for the pilot electrics, but rather than rush the decision I'll see how it plays out this season - I can either install a switch in the cockpit locker next to the plug, or move connectivity into the switch panel - on balance the former I think if I go that way..  while the paint was out, and I had a decent hoover with me, I cleaned the shelves either side of the companionway and gave them a coat of paint - they get a dreadful hammering with all the keys, padlocks, cans and whatever that normally live on them - they look a lot better now..

Next job #8 - the keel reinforcements.. looking significantly better following previous work..  hoovered out dust and other loose material, and  I gave them the second and final coat of epoxy primer - once they're dry I plan to paint the bilges with the same garage floor paint I used on the tender, which has proven to be pleasingly hard wearing..  picture once they're done...  the following was pre-'first primer coat'

Next job #12, and I checked the whipping on the genoa/main/topping lift eyes... in my view they look OK so I'm going to consider the job done, but I may double check once the rig is up and I can get easier access..

I was on a roll so the final job of the day was to start on #4 to replace fore hatch hinges - this is what they currently look like (albeit a little rustier as this was taken 3 or 4 years ago) - they are common or garden galvanised gate hinges that have been bent twice to fit the hatch - they sit on what look like plastic pads - I'm keen to make sure that I don't drill any further holes through the deck so whatever solution I come up with needs to utilise the same pads/fixings.. at the moment I am thinking wooden blocks on top of the pads, standard stainless hinge attached to rear face of the lid, and the block...  got as far yesterday as cutting the blocks - we'll reconvene next time as the next step was to unbolt the hinge and it was close the to the end of the day, and to be honest, I was knackered!

Lastly, the outboard service has been completed - no issues identified, and I've collected the engine - job done!

Anchor light and stuff..

...and on the seventh day there was light, and the light was jolly bloody damn good, and Steve did a little dance round the boat...

...that'll do then...

Today was the day for removing the old mast head fitting.. my reader may remember that when Rod the Mod jumped on board last year with all the feline grace of a young Nureyev (not..) for the annual event that is the mast raising, he managed to dislodge the mast from the crutch, so that it fell and bounced on the transom board, which was enough to vibrate the fitting below and snap the lower left corner off - unfortunately the lower left corner was holding my brand new Windex, so the whole lot went to the bottom of the harbour (and no despite a lot of magnet fishing I never did get it back)

I first put that fitting together in 2015 (see here [clicky]) and while the initial idea that it would be corrosion proof, and an easier construction than metal is sound, what I hadn't accounted for is that HDPE simply wasn't strong enough...  so with new Windex bought, a stronger solution was required..

I originally bought a square of  aluminium plate for the job in 3mm, but the HDPE plate it was sitting on was very small, and I was thinking it could be smaller, to provide less of a resting spot for the local bird population, so in the end I found some aluminium bar in the spares box and used that..

Having disconnected and dismantled the old one I clamped old base to the bar in a vice, drilled the holes in the same places, added another for the windex on an extremity, and then basically just re-assembled...

It is on straight - trust me..  

...and then I thought, 'well I've done this much how about finishing off the wiring?'...  ha...  that took considerably longer...   first job was to get some power to the bottom of the mast where the deck plug for the light was, a long wire from the batter to the plug wasn't cutting the mustard - no light..

I need a proper socket I thought - I know I'll use the the one from the deck fitting - but nothing sold as "marine" is every truly marine proof, so first job was to disassemble completely the deck plug as the socket - this bit =>

...was very definitely not wanting to come out..  in the end a soft wood plug and two whacks from underneath with a big hammer got that out.  Wires connected and run back to the battery, plugged in to the plug on the mast, nothing...

Test voltage at the socket - good - disassemble the plug and test the voltage the other side of the plug - nothing...  gah...  clean up the verdigris off the prongs, plug in, test again, we have power... walk to the top of the mast, and tad dah...

Result...!

Feed wires through the deck from the cabin - double secure the wires in the socket fitting (I don't want to have to do this again for a while) - refit the socket within the metal housing (with a smear of grease to help removal in the event I need to do it again, refit the deck fitting, and then move to the cabin....  a long time ago I came up with what I hoped was a cunning plan to save wiring, which was to use the negative from the forward cabin light as a common negative...

The two holes are to the deck power fitting - the negative I used is on the cabin strip light....

...used one of these again for the negative.. (when it comes time to fit the deck level nav lights, I'll do the same again, but with three or four separate negatives I'll probably fit a small bus bar somewhere unobtrusive)

Female Spade Terminal with Piggy Back Male...  apparently...   

..so all I needed to do was run the positive through the cabin, connect into the switch box, flick the light and then go on deck to have a look-see...

...that'll do nicely.... 

At which point I had to break for the day in order to get to the supermarket before it closed...  just to finish this off, we need a little cable clean up, amalgamating tape for the joints, and I'm thinking I'll give the glass (plastic) on the light a clean as it's a little green, but otherwise job done...

Launch is in 5 weeks...  and I THINK I'm in control....  

....good and not so good... tiller pilot and DSC setup

...."not so good"? Read on..

Pretty damn good actually...one of those crafty days off work that usually deliver so much on the sailing front in the summer, also delivered some goodness on the construction and maintenance front..

There were three jobs (four actually) on the list today...

With a little more than 40 days to launch prioritisation is now the key, jobs that need power and electrics move closer to the top of the list, as paint jobs and the like can be done on the water if needed (they don't tend to get done, by the way, they just get moved to next winters list )

First (and easiest), it being March it was time to drop the outboard off for its service - job done and after time for a catch up with Simon at Emsworth Outboards, it was on to the chandlers for one of those (top left -  more anon) and some nuts and bolts..

Next was the job I have been (over) thinking about for far to long, and as is usually the case worked out much easier than I thought - it was time to construct the tiller pilot attachment..  over many long cycle rides to work I have come up with hundreds of ideas ( I was even welding a bracket at one point!) but in the end I rejected them all for the simplest solution a block of 4 x 2 and a hinge..  truly the most difficult thing about it was doing the measuring..  happy to say I followed the 'measure twice cut/drill once' this time rather than my usual other way round..

First off Julian on "Billy" found me a tiller pin in his spares box last summer - it was slightly over size for the fitting on the end of the ram on mine, but that is only plastic so I drilled it out slightly and all was good.. drilled a slightly undersized hole into the tiller and it screwed in with a good tight fit with no need for epoxy..

Just prior to drilling the hole for the pivot pin..  the tiller pin is fitted - thanks Julian!

That done I could do the measurement from pin to cockpit edge, and as suspected it was several inches short of recommended - trimmed down a piece of 4 x 2 I'd bought with me and offered it up with the pilot resting on top and the other end on the pin on the tiller so I could see the pilot was horizontal and at right angles, marked up the position of the end of the block on the cockpit side, and got a rough idea of the length I would need..  once that was cut, I repeated the above, and when I was happy, did a precise measure from the pin on the tiller to get me the position of the hole for the pivot on the pilot. 10mm hole was drilled - perfect size - tested again, perfect..

After that a stainless steel hinge from the spares box (I think I was originally going to use them for the cockpit lids but thought they weren't heavy duty enough) was attached to the block at the cockpit end of the block, and to the cockpit side - that way the block can lie flat again the cockpit side when I'm not using the pilot, so I can still open the cockpit hatches

All done bar the shouting - it's not switched on hence tiller position - power socket down in the corner on the cockpit floor - the hook and eye will be the other side of the block - eye end on the block

The block is in the garage for a couple of coats of paint; I'll fit the hook and eye (which will secure the block when it's being used) next time, as at this point the rain drove me into the cabin for a cup of tea... 

Warm and dry in the cabin (fan heater going like a banshee), tea in hand, it was time for the third job - the VHF..

The easy job was to program in the MMSI that I recently got from Ofcom when I registered the radio, but then the job that turned out to be infinitely more a pain in the ar*e - connecting my GPS 72 (which is truly old, but continues to work and therefore I am reluctant to upgrade) so I can send GPS data for the DSC function on the radio..

The problem was that the GPS data cable has two wires for data, the radio has four wires..  I read that radio manual about a hundred times trying to understand what the cables were doing and what matched up - I don't consider myself to be a dull bloke, but I could not get the GPS to talk to the VHF for love nor money, so in the end I did what I should have done and did some research on the web.

On the Practical Boat Owner forum I came up trumps, someone had asked the exact same question a number of years ago, and one of the respondents had done the exact same job that morning and had provided the very info I needed!

Seven years ago, but as valid and useful to me as the day it was written - thanks "Bru" (I follow his blog, by the way - he owns/owned SV "Pagan" if you want to find him on Google)..  the file he references is long gone but I managed to find it on the 'way back machine' so if you want to read it, it is here [clicky]

So a temporary fix later and we had the following lash up..

...went into the GPS and set the interface to NMEA - the 4800 baud was default and the only option

..and eureka..  GPS data feeding to the VHF =>

Top result....  I would never ever even have considered that one of the two connections required used the negative power cable on the GPS without that handy post!...

So the not so good? Display on the new VHF is faulty - two lines of pixels missing as can be seen from the picture above..  damn....  so the day came to an end on a good note and a bad note... 

Fourth job was going to be that fore hatch but it can wait, I'll be down on the boat again on Sunday..

Dismantled the VHF, went home, found the receipt, put it back in ts packaging, and went off to the Chandlers I bought it from (mail order) to return it and hopefully get a replacement only to find it doesn't work that way and after 16 days you don't get a replacement - it goes back to the manufacturer for assessment/repair ..  double damn...  still, I am advised they are quick so I should hear within the next week to two weeks..  #firstworldproblem

On the plus side, while I was there I picked up the antifoul..  after two years of Hempel Classic I was all set to go with that again (it's as good/bad as anything), but as they were doing a special on this one I went with that instead..   £35 for 2.5 litres - I could pay three times as much and am not convinced it would be any better, never mind three times better... navy blue naturally, as all boats look the dogs nadgers in navy blue antifoul as we all know..