...and up!

...and not with a whimper but a bang the mast is up.. 

The weather is the usual bag of spanners we get at this time of the year so with long experience I always provide the Jolly Boys with a couple of dates so that we can shift if necessary, and so it more or less was this year. Forecasts were shabby for the first day so I shifted to the fall-back only to get up on the first day and the weather being nothing like was forecast a mere 12 hours before..  

The phone started pinging from various Jolly Boys saying 'should we go ahead anyway' - so the plan was changed again, and a mere hour later we were on the boat prepping for the mast lift.

It was a good, fairly trouble free, lift as per the previous efforts (and as documented here [clicky]); the only niggle we had was the topping lift (which I use as a fail safe for the jib halyard) wrapped round the furler - but that was easily resolved, and if anything was a help as it kept the foil out of the way during the lift.. 😏

Nothing for it but to adjourn to the cabin and cockpit and drink beer* and eat pork pies and picked eggs in celebration.. good one!

Will get the sails on next time we have some decent weather..

*Appropriate libations were also made to boat and Neptune for the coming season.. 😀

....and in!

..yep, Sparrow's in, but not before a whole load of extra work and "doings"!

As storm 'Kathleen' launched herself upon the south coast (and her straight after storm 'Olive'!), I heard through the grapevine that the lift in on Sunday was cancelled, so when I did my club "lift in" duty on the Monday I knew it was going to be busy as the guys were trying to concertina the two days into one...

Suffice to say that Monday duty was a 'mare of a day that I was more than happy to finish 18 boats later..  I was doing launch duty which normally I love, but the day was a catalogue of disasters for me..  the spring tides were running stupidly fast so the first issue was wrapping a mooring rope round the prop that I simply didn't see (pick up float was at the wrong end of the warp for some reason, so the warp was floating free just under water 😕)...  then at the end of the day, as the tide was going out, t'other Dave gave me a shout for a lift back to shore, it looked like there was enough water so I set out to pick him up, but clearly there wasn't as I hit the only submerged rock in the whole inner bay and totalled the propeller! Gaaah... 😩  I blame myself for not weighing the odds better..  lesson learned, and the guys have managed to recover and refit the propeller..  no harm done apparently..

As I was going home I was advised the Tuesday lift in was also cancelled due to heavy winds, so my lift in was shifted to Wednesday. 

Popped down the club Tuesday night to strap the engine on ready for a potentially early morning lift..

..an Oxalic wash removed the staining a treat to the sides of the new outboard pad..

...which was well timed, as when I arrived Wednesday morning at at half eight I was told I was next to be lifted for a 'dry launch' (which I prefer) from the shingle at the bottom of the slipway.. far more relaxing to sit and wait for the water, than be launched like a missile from the hoist.. 😏

So many expectations... 

The timing was also perfect for the last job of the winter maintenance cycle..  borrowed the long ladder, and then removed the old windex and replaced it with a nice shiny new one...  I am offering no better than 25% odds this one survives the summer, but hey ho.. 😏

That done, it was time for the traditional very last job of the season.. 😀

...the last job...

..before sitting down in the cockpit with a coffee to wait for the water to arrive. An hour later and she started rocking gently, and 15 or 20 minutes later and I was off..  thanks to the club CCTV for the following.. 

Just floated off and now heading for under the bridge... at 10:14, unbelievable.. 😀

...it was good to be back on the mooring even of the weather wasn't the best..

 

...thoughts now turn to getting the mast up!!

Few last jobs to do..

Few last jobs to do - 

• I've bought the tiller home with me to sand down and varnish in the comfort of the garage - didn't take a before picture unfortunately as it would make an excellent tutorial picture to show how not to maintain a tiller - this is the best I can do and dates to end of last season  add on 6 months of outside in winter and you have a good idea of how bloody awful it looked..

Post rub down..

Post nine (maybe 10 😏) coats of varnish..

That'll do, pig... 😀

• Sparrow needs a damn good wash - it's been a wet, wet, winter and she's showing a lot of green  - DONE/CLOSED

Cockpit filth removed...  for now..

Plus a wash down outside, a couple of hours with some extra fine wet and dry (to remove all the bump and scuff marks from the tender last year), and then an Oxalic wash along the water line and other area's of staining - cleanest she's been since this time last season..😏

• The Windex needs to go back on, but that's a last minute job, maybe even on the water to avoid it being damaged during launch
• Cockpit hatches need to go back on - DONE/CLOSED

Before.. what a grub...   for shame... 😏

After.. note bottom left of the lower wash board - that's what got the item added to next winters maintenance schedule..

• Tender needs to go back to the club - DONE/CLOSED
• The mooring tackle needs to go back on the buoy - managed to get a lift out to the mooring on the club launch - DONE/CLOSED
• Outboard pad needs replacing (job #10) - old and rotted ply (which was always considered to be sacrificial due to the crap'ness of the ply and was installed in 2021) was replaced with a double thickness of high-density polyethylene chopping board - rot proof and maintenance free. Got the biggest one I could find but it was a couple of inches shorter in width, but no matter - she's bolted in, sealed around the edges, and when I get a moment I'll tidy up that staining at the corners to tidy up the installation. I have a square of 3mm aluminium plate for the inner edge of the well, but intend to leave that unattached - the outboard clamps will hold it in place.. DONE/CLOSED

More ticks than a mangy dog...

...yes, it's one of those posts - funny how they always seem to occur when a launch is imminent..  😏

We've had two or three days of decent weather which has, at last, allowed me to get on with some jobs on Sparrow..

First and foremost though, the antifoul is done...  what a balls ache of a job antifouling a boat is - it smells, it's uncomfortable, the stuff gets everywhere, and it doesn't dam well work anyway - you wonder why you do it! 😀

Before...

During.. masking tape still on..

After...  from chaos comes order...  from splodges come straight lines...  😁

That's epoxy primer on the rudder..

Boats look the dogs nadgers with dark blue antifoul... 😀

Separately - 

• the washboards are done - two coats emulsion and good to go, though at least one of them is going to need replacing soon - that may well be/is, a job for next winter..  I may make it easier for myself and do a single board rather than a two part'er..
• the tiller pilot attachment wooden block is also done - two coats of paint - it was new last year and holding up well
• tiller pilot rest wooden block is also done - two coats of paint
• the cockpit board is done - sanded down and two coats of wood preserver - I also took the opportunity to renew the bungees holding the solar panel to the board
• the cabin has had a wipe down to remove those few spots of  black mould that have appeared over the winter - the bathroom paint with anti fungal properties is working well

Few last jobs to do - 

• I've bought the tiller home with me to sand down and varnish in the comfort of the garage
• Sparrow needs a damn good wash - it's been a wet, wet, winter and she's showing a lot of green
• The Windex needs to go back on, but that's a last minute job, maybe even on the water to avoid it being damaged during launch
• Cockpit hatches need to go back on
• Tender needs to go back to the club - Thursday for that one
• The mooring tackle needs to go back on the buoy - next weekend I think..  maybe during the week if the weather is good

Tenders done... mooring upgrades...

Time's rushing on, the launch is a week next Tuesday (the 9th April, weather permitting) and it has been one long run of rain, wind, rain with wind, wind with rain, and repeat, to the point where the antifoul I need to get on the boat is beginning to keep me awake at night! 😏

For good reasons the club likes us to get the stuff on at least a week before launch otherwise it is too soft and will rub off on the strops of the hoist, and then from boat to boat..  not good.. either way, it's currently still windy, but sunny, and it looks to be the same tomorrow (Easter Saturday) and the car is loaded and tomorrow the job gets done...

First though, the stuff that has got done... the tender is complete just need to bolt the transom board back on, and tie-clip the fenders to the thwarts, but it's ready to go. Rodders is bringing his trailer round next Thursday to cart her back to the club.

So from where I left it last time - the filler is drying and been sanded to shape - while I waited for this to dry I decided to have a look and see what was underneath the rear seat... there's a big gap where it meets the inside of the transom which allows water in, but I also wanted to see how the seat was supported..

Note the gap at the back of the seat..

...and lo and behold...

...expanded foam with four point milk containers embedded in it - presumably for extra buoyancy...  time expired milk containers, as the one's I could see were brittle and cracked..

The seat rests directly on top of that foam - it is only supported at the front, "bugger this", quoth I - so ignoring the foam and extinct bottles I bolted in a batten on the inside of the transom for the seat to rest on, and screwed everything down.. I then cut and screwed in a batten along the top edge of the rear of the seat to close that gap with the transom - filler was then squeezed in all round the edge (a sikaflex copy sealant/adhesive mix) to make it watertight..

..with the thwarts ready for cloth and epoxy, the following is mid way..  two coats of cloth with epoxy on each layer..  seats have been sanded and had a first coat of paint..

...closer view of the batten.. 

Updated scene of the crime - front seat also sealed, sanded, and first coat of paint gone on..  I then applied more sealant to close out a few more gaps..  finally, once the epoxy was dry on the transom I added two more coats to seal in the cloth...  so that's four coats of epoxy with a layer of cloth between each of the first two layers

Calling the transom done I then gave the whole of the inside of the boat a going over with a sanding wheel on the angle grinder to remove all loose paint, and then gave it a coat of my unguent of choice - garage floor paint in dark grey. Weird I know but it does work; it's what I paint the bilges with on Sparrow, and what I also used to paint the inside of the last tender with - it's tough, slightly rubbery, and is UV stable. The only downside is that it takes 18 hours+ to dry, even longer when the temperatures are between 10 and 12 degrees like they were at the time.. 

No worries, turned it over to let the inside dry in peace, and attacked the hull with the sander - put a coat of epoxy primer on the repairs..

Two coats of a one pack, off the shelf, exterior black emulsion was then applied.. 

Bottom done...

...turned her over, and the interior was now dry.. how good does that look..   😀

Like that colour of floor paint.. 

...extended the black to the thwarts, and then to a mould line inside the hull.. 

...second coat of garage floor paint, a second coat of white on the front and rear seats and left it to dry.. I'm leaving the central seat in natural wood...

Looks better...  a veritable polished turd.. 😁

Separately, annual item #7 is complete with the addition of the following - I couldn't get the new shackle I bought last year to connect chain to swivel to undo, it is the poorest piece of galvanised sh*t I think I've ever seen, deeply rusty/flaky - angle grinded it off and replaced with a new one..  you'll note also I learned from my error last year, and I have a piece of whipping twine between the pin and the shackle (bottom left), so that when I'm out there bobbing up and down in the dinghy, hands cold, and trying to thread the pin though the mooring buoy eye, and I inevitably drop the pin, this time I won't lose it!

Antifouling tomorrow.. 

...and even more epoxy.. transom time..

Transom time...  and here's the scene of the crime... 

 

"Fledgling Too" (for that is her name) has a most unusual (but solid) construction..  a hardwood full length encapsulated keel (as we found when I repaired the bottom) and the gunwales are made from lengths of pre-bent, and then welded, steel pipe, encapsulated again in GRP. Strong and robust but you need to keep on top of your maintenance as one crack in the GRP and the water gets in, and the soft steel pipe becomes toast within years, especially in a salt water environment.. and so it was in this case. The rest is good, but the transom gunwale is a massacre scene..  

First job was to find out how much of it was still sound, and then start cutting out the rubbish..  it basically turned out into two repairs, the bigger one on the starboard was the first to get attention.. my plan was to fill to get shape and then epoxy cloth over the shape to strengthen and seal..  

First step find something that mimicked the steel pipe shape - in this case an old broom handle - cut to size, clamped, and then fixed in place with the trusty two part filler..

Clamps off, first sand, ready for some more filler..

Ports side was better - the pipe is sound either side of the rot..

Cut it out to clean (with an angle grinder)..

Piece of broom handle cut to size and fitted, next step was to fill round the edges, sand to shape, and then get both repairs ready for epoxy and cloth.. 

More on this anon..

..and separately, the outboard has had it's 20 hour service - it was a stupid price, but job done, warranty maintained, and it's ready for the new season..

More epoxy (or "my bottom's done , turn me over matron")

Going to call this part done I think or I'll faff and bodge until two weeks after launch..  (April 12th 9th! by the way 😏)

You may remember the steps/stages.. 

1. rubbed/sanded down
2. hole filled with two pack plastic wood
3. rubbed/sanded down again
4. cleaned with acetone
5. two layers of woven rovings wetted with epoxy (yeah I know, overkill, for this job ordinary GRP would do but I'm used to, and already had, some epoxy, and also had the cloth from an old job so went with it) 
6. rubbed/sanded down again
7. I had some steel bar in my spares box, cut off about 9", tried to and largely failed to drill a couple of holes of the right size - I went with pilot holes but it took a LONG time to drill - Heaven only knows what this stuff actually is. Either way got a couple on the end, then pre bent the end to fit the contour of the nose. Nailed this into the keel, and then bedded it in with more epoxy this time stiffened up with some micro ballons to the consistency of lemon curd..
8. rubbed/sanded down again

This one following is the rear of the keel at step 8+. After the last post I mixed up some more epoxy this time with filler, and to the consistency of peanut butter, and slathered it on all round the aluminium sacrificial keel that is now screwed into the keel...  it dried rock hard, but before it went off I wrapped another layer of light cloth into it..  one it held it in place, and two it's another layer of strength..

This was following light sand..

...and this is it 99% done following a sand with the sanding disk on an angle grinder - I mixed up some Milliput after this stage just so I could soften the angle at the front of the plate, and because the stuff is so easy to use... - but that's good to go, it's a tender for goodness sake, not a concourse class Rolls Royce 😁  

...and here's the nose job... again - post epoxy and thickener, but this time pre-light sanding...

...and post heavy sand with grinder flap wheel..  woven rovings need a coat of gel coat really, but they're solid, waterproof and will be painted (and will do)...

Next step is to epoxy primer the bit's I've epoxied, then turn her over to start work on the transom..