Make do and mend..

Little make do and mend session last week - we've been on the water couple of months now, and sun, rain, and UV never let up, and it was time I attended to a couple of things that I'd been noticing..

Locker lids:

Those of you who follow this nonsense will know that I have a hate hate relationship with these..  my fault assuredly as the ply they are made of is rubbish..  worse than rubbish..  anyway, those of you who follow will know that I'd already treated these over the winter [clicky] but some cracks on the edges of this one needed to be treated quickly lest the damage get much worse very quickly..

... regrettably though the damage on this one was done a long time ago, and it was shot.. look away now if you're of a nervous disposition...

..look at the quality of that ply - utter rubbish wood scrapings barely glued together..😐

..my plan had been to slip some epoxy into the crack using some thin plastic sheet to get it in but it failed completely when I then applied some pressure to press the sheets back together while the epoxy dried..

So....  what to do..

I can make a new one - but I need new supplies of ply, and I want time to find either a good source of marine ply, or ideally plastic/UPVC, to do this permanently - there's sailing to be done so I've bodged it to get me through to the end of the season...

I glued all the dust and scraps back together, and then glued two squares of 3mm plastic card, one either side to hold it together in a sandwich, and then clamped it for 24 hours to let the glue go off..

Tidied up the excess glue the next day, gave it a couple of coats of paint, and then reattached the locking hasp...  it's not pretty (ain't that the understatement of the year), but it's sound, and more importantly will last me to the end of the season.. 😏

Gel Coat:

This has been on my mind (and the job list) for a while - Sparrow is 60 next year and her gel coat is getting thin in places. Just to be clear, I will not paint her (that way lies the madness of endless patching and maintaining on a huge scale) but I do need to stop further UV damage to places where it is thin - see following... 

Previous experiments [clicky] have proved to be fairly good, and it was time to do a few more... 

The hardest thing is getting the paint colour to at least a reasonable approximation (which I haven't done 😏), but the most important thing is that the damage is now covered, and the maintenance of these patches is far simpler..

Now - let's go sailing..

...and more ticks...

More work is being done/has been done..

• Companionway hatches have been sanded, filled, sanded again, and had a first coat of paint - they need another but look OK, some further remedial work is required on the upper one..

• An addition steel keel plate has been added to the bottom of the tender to help protect against dragging when I come ashore..  it and the rest of the bottom of the tender where it was scratched over last summer have been painted.

• The tiller pilot rest, and the tiller pilot support have both been sanded and painted - calling them done

• I also went round the waterline with a detail sander and removed as much as I could of the ingrained green staining she's picked up over the years - she looks a ton better

• Yesterday I went to pick up the foresail from the sailmakers where they have been fitting a smaller luff bead/tape to allow it to fit the new furler - here's hoping! 😏

Launch day in a week...  better get cracking with the last bits, first though the Jolly Boys are going on their first trip on Monday!

More ticks than a mangy dog...

..yep, one of those posts... again..  funny how they always pop up a fortnight before launch every year... 😏

Couple of days of intensive effort have seen a fair few items ticked off the list not the least of which were two off that priority list on the last post..

First though, some much needed restorative work on the cockpit hatches - I take these off every winter (as mentioned) but even with that, a season in the summer sun and weather still causes issues - the ply is not the best (i'll be honest), and invariably needs a bit of ongoing maintenance but the recent purchase of a random orbital sander gave me the excuse to start on it...

First off a good sanding all over preparatory to any repairs and a couple of coats of paint revealed some issues.. a couple of more serious failures were repaired with plastic wood..

This one was over the locking catch - probably caused by the screws for the catch itself, but it resulted in a loss of a layer of the ply..

One had a split on a corner - filled the layers with glue and clamped it..

Other than the corner this one was largely ok..

..this is the one with the plastic wood repairs over the catch... took three applications of the filler, with a sand and smooth between each..

...and with a coat of primer you can now hardly see the repair...  jobs good..  next it'll be time for some white paint..

Meanwhile - down at the boat - a slightly larger paint job has taken place..  first the obligatory 'before' shots..

..note the over paint on the rubbing strip - fairly convinced I was either drunk, or I painted it in the dark.. 😏The other side was the same, if not worse..

...and after...

..note the lack of overpaint on the rubbing strip... same the other side (which definitely was worse) - dead chuffed with that..

...very very pleased that's done - it's a hideous job..

I also took the opportunity having cleaned up the overpaint to rub down the rubbing strips on both sides, the cockpit board, and the outboard pad, and gave them all a coat of wood treatment..

Boats look the dogs nadgers with dark blue antifoul.. 👌😁

Purple guano.. 😝

Late tides so snatched a couple of hours for a quick sail ..

16:15 HT and going neap'ish but I was on the boat by about 13:30'ish..  conditions were brisk so I took the opportunity there and then to roll some reefs in - two slides worth as it was feeling feisty. As the main was up already for the reefs I then motor-sailed off the mooring (I don't fanny about, there's a lot of club boats in close vicinity so I don't take unnecessary chances 😏) and bore off down the ditch - with minimal motor and adverse tide we were still seeing 3.5kts plus.

That was largely it - WxN so bearing up as we went, we shot past Marker on a single tack like a cannonball - HISC was in view (and my first target) but as it got closer and closer I began to think about the Bar Beacon.

Alas not to be - wind was gentling off as time went by, then I got blanketed by the headland HISC is on the end of, tide still running hard, and rather than have to start tacking I bailed just short of WestWinnr and enjoyed a fast travellator on the end of the tide back to the top of the harbour in 'company' with a small Hunter Horizon (you know how it is - there's always a race to be had somewhere.. 😏) and which was where I saw the 5.7 top speed (and a few 6's and 6.1's too)..

Brilliant day out, but the birds have started eating blackberries - deck was covered in purple guano.. 😝

Wash down of the boat, and a quick coat of paint on the cockpit hatches and the day was was done..

Log:

Distance: 9.52 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F4; WxN
Sail Plan: Reefed main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.7 / 3.4

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

It's curtains for you.....

Progress being made on a number of fronts..  which is just as well given launch date is a mere 4 weeks away... 😏

• Item 12/. "The minor shackle between swivel and pick up chain is old and needs replacing - I'll take the opportunity to end for end the chain at the same time"
  Decided to do the minor shackles at both ends of the mooring chain so got those, and while I was about it I picked up a new major shackle (goes between buoy and swivel) too...
  
  
  Can for scale...  new chunky, shiny, loveliness...


• Item 9/. "I think I also want to do something about the curtains, which have been UV'd to death.. Bungees replaced so they no longer sag but curtain replacement will have to wait until I get a sewing machine...  hand held sewing machine obtained as an experiment - time to see if it will cut the mustard.."
  The hand held sewing machine was a total waste of space I'm afraid, but you live and learn..
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't waste you're money
  
  Quite a clever machine but not even powerful enough to sew a hem in the very thin material I was using for the new curtains, so I hunkered down and hand sewed them...
  The old one's are way beyond the pale...  the mother in law ran these up for me in 2013 when I bought Sparrow, so what we're seeing is 10 years of UV and a dry/damp salt atmosphere...    you can see the original pattern but mostly they are bleached white (or a grubby grey)
  
  
  
  I washed them a few years ago but it didn't do much... 😁
  
  
  
  ...and here's the new one's..  material sourced on Amazon for about 8 quid..  chosen purely for cost, and that they are quite cheerful..
  
  
  
  ...all six ready to go back up (2 per side and 2 at the front)..  you can see the wonky seems from the hand sewer on this one - abandoned that soon after...  so they aren't going to win any sewing prizes, but given the primary purpose is security (keeping prying eyes out), with a long second of keeping the sun out, then they'll do nicely..  all I need to do now is replace the bungee they hang on and jobs done
  
  
  
  
• "Service outboard (fix oil leak)" - done, but not without some issues..  my usual "go to" outboard engineering shop - Emsworth Outboards - have gone out of business (great shame..) so I asked around for some recommendations, and one of the guys on the Practical Boat Owner web forum recommended a guy that used to work for them, but left a few years ago..  South Coast Outboard Servicing [clicky]. Can't complain at the turn around - he took it away and it came back the next day, and that was after he'd ordered spares to repair the oil leak issue - which turned out to be a leak through the sump gasket.  So.. engine serviced, and sump gasket replaced...    we should be good for another season - I also found out the engine dates from 2007/8, so only a sprightly 15 odd years old..


• "Rub down and coat of paint on cockpit locker lids / wash boards (as needed)" The locker lids on the whole are doing OK, but I noticed at the end of last season one of them was showing signs of splitting on one corner, and there were also some hairline cracks in the outer surface which would be perfect for syphoning in water if left untreated..
  Rather than leave them on the boat to suck up water all winter, I took them off, and then bought them home to dry out before initiating any repairs..  I have a couple of old ones that I covered in plastic to replace them with temporarily.
  Couple of weeks of drying out and I gave them a good sand down with an orbital sander before filling the hairline cracks (and cavities behind them.. 😒) with an epoxy silica paste.
  
  
  
  I used some thin plastic sheet to push the same down between each of the layers on the corner and clamped it...
  
  
  Before...
  
  
  
  
  After..
  
  

That'll do for now....  😏

Bargain..

2.5 litres Hempel Cruising Performer...  just over 50 quid, bargain...

Job 11 done - "Centre mast support needs trimming"..   an inch of the bottom and then drilled holes either side of the original hole...

...which I then joined them up with the jig saw as that will allow for adjustment in future years...

Have also bought the cockpit hatches home to keep dry - have used the old one's in place (covered in bin bags) to keep the rain out.  Toyed with the idea of a cockpit tarp but decided it was overkill, and too windy where the boat is...  it wouldn't last longer than a month...  😏

Make do and mend...

No sailing this weekend due to tide times - simply too early and too late to make a fist of a session..

Instead a bit of make do and mend...

Fuel was recycled as it was getting on a bit and the only fuel they'd had available last weekend was standard unleaded (E10) and I try to use "Super" (E5) these days as the ethanol content is lower and I consider that to be kinder to the engine innards...  so..  old fuel syphoned off, and 3.5 ltrs of new fuel poured in - the old fuel went into the car so nothing was wasted..

At the same time I took to opportunity to give the cockpit hatches a quick rub down, and a coat of paint - the ply is shocking, and even with two coats of epoxy spray primer small area's of cracks were showing - better to head them off at the pass than have to make yet another set of covers when water gets in!