Some time on the water.. Liberty's first cruise..

...well..  with me aboard anyway!

An opportunity for some time on the water should never be turned down, and so it was tha when Rod the Mod, a.k.a. Rodders, he of Jolly Boys fame offered the rest of the Jolly Boys a trip out on 'Liberty' his share owned trawler style motor boat, Smithy and I bit his arm off while the two Dave's decided to stay at home and work respectively.. their loss indeed as it was a good day out..  

Exiting Port Solent - Portchester Castle ahead..

Gray old day and completely against forecast..  short days, big big HT at 6 in the evening so just a short trip out to Cowes for lunch.. a first this time though, as we had a berth on the Island Sailing Club's own pontoon, don't believe we've ever stopped their before but it sure is handy..

So how about 'Liberty'? Trawler style motor boat, with a fly bridge (which will be good fun in the warm and the sun, but was damn cold in February) - she's not a youngster, but is coming together nicely. I think Rod and the guy he shares her with got a bargain, but she's needed some work to get her to the condition today, and to complete the job. Twin Volvo's, and running on one engine not too thirsty..  we had problems with one of them on the way back, spraying oil, Rod thinks an elderly oil cooler is the issue, happily with two we came back on the other, though it was hard work through Portsmouth Harbour entrance against the ebb..

I think any time on the water is good, better still when it's with the jolly boys, the food was good, the beer was good (Goddard's "Starboard"), the banter was good.................. but all of us like sailing boats more.. 

Log:

Distance: 27.23 miles (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): n/a
Sail Plan: n/a (twin Volvo's! )
Speed (Max/average in knots):  8.6 / 6.0 (am) and 6.6 / 4.3 (pm)

More jobs done...

...another half day on the boat - started really well with bright sunshine and I was down to a tshirt at one point, so the paint brush was wielded with a will and the second coat was put on the hatch covers and wash boards - those are now done...  tick...

...unfortunately at this point the clouds closed in and as it looked like rain was coming, rather than put another coat on the rubbing strakes, I decided to hold off and do it on a more settled day..

Having found the '12v electrics box' though, there was plenty to get on with - first and best job of the day was finally wiring the dri-plug for the auto pilot in to the 12v system. I fitted the plug last year but had just not got round to doing it - no point really as I hadn't put in the mount for the auto pilot, but that was to change today. Rather than wire it in to the switch box, as it has an in-line fuse fitted, I've wired it in direct to the battery - negative direct to the battery, the positive is wired in to the main isolator switch ..  basically then - when the power is on to the switch panel, the plug is live, when I switch off the power at the isolator the power to the plug also goes off.

 So it was with some trepidation that (and after having checked polarity twice with a multimeter! ) I finally plugged in the auto pilot, and then switched on the power at the isolator - single beep and the magic wand powered up..  brilliant, very chuffed with that!

Separately the old VHF has been dismantled and removed from the boat ready for the new one to go in..  I'll put the necessary power fittings on this week, and then it should be a quick swap over..

Last of all the stringers look good under their first coating of grey primer (but it smells of old socks!), but I noticed a few remaining flakes of rust, so have removed those and Fertan'd them prior to a second coat of the primer - they look good, but I may have to paint the bilges now!

Jobs completed/ing .. paint, paint, paint...

Unseasonably fine weather in the UK at the moment - I heard it was up to 14' (C) yesterday, but either way wall to wall sun, and too good a day to waste in the office when the next 'beast from the east' could be striking at any time, and there is a boat to get ready for the new season.. 

Set myself a mini list for the day but even then I didn't do too well, the rubbing strakes in particular took longer than I had thought, but ended up looking pretty good....

1. Cockpit hatches/washboard - clean and paint - cleaned, masked, and one coat applied..  I'll put a second coat on tomorrow and the jobs done..
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Rubbing strakes/outboard pad - rub down and re-coat x 2 - bit more problematical this one...  what I think has happened is that the heat last summer caused the coating to expand/shrink or whatever, but either way water has got behind it..   stripped off all the loose, sanded down to a firm layer, let it dry out a bit, and then gave it a coat of spirit based wood coating... it needs another coat at whuich time my guess is the line between old and new will disappear, but at the moment the wood is clean, dry, smooth and protected, and I'm not going to loose any sleep over not having spent a day stripping them completely..  if it nags me this summer, I'll do it next winter!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. dri plug - wire it in to the switch panel - no time
4. replace/rewire new VHF - couldn't find my box of 12v spades/connectors etc. I'll do it tomorrow now I've found them where I put them "safely"..  
5. paint the stringers - coat of epoxy primer is on..   another tomorrow...
6. cockpit hatch latch - done.. 
7. glue wiring holders to hull were in the box of 12v spades/connectors etc. so I'll do this tomorrow as well..