New prop 2

The new prop duly arrived and was fitted, not only is it 1" in diameter bigger overall but each blade is also 1" bigger.  My skipper has estimated that there's a possible 20% increase in power or fuel efficiency, it will be interesting to see what I can achieve under engine.

 

 



 

This is a vast improvement on what I had prior to coming out of the water, check the earlier blog.  The parts for the Webasto heater are on order, so I assume that's his next focus to get the master cabin heated as it should be.

 

The cleaning of my hull and the blue stripes is going exceptionally well, but I understand that my skipper would like to go over me again with the two compounds he bought as the area around the blue stripes with the compound has shown up the deficiencies of the ordinarily cleaned and polished areas previously completed

 

 

The shine he has achieved is breath taking and my skipper would like the time back to start again.  Still he recons that next year he can fill &polish out all my dings and bumps from the hull next year !  So providing my skipper manages to finish off cleaning my hull, I'm looking to go back in the water the first Monday in March.  This give the Yacht Haven a huge relief and so my skipper can continue to clean my decks and under take other jobs too whilst I'm still on shore power.

 

]My sails are back from laundry  but are being serviced or a third reef fitted, the Lazy Jack bag likewise is being hand made using the old one as a template, so lots going on in the background.

 

I'm looking forward to the jaunt out to Weymouth come the Easter weekend, only hope the weather holds.

 

 

Here's some more shots of the cleaning work to my hull sides and stripes :-

 

 













Glassy finish

It's March and I've just gone back in the water now that my hull's been cleaned, both the jib & main (complete with a new third reef) are back from being cleaned and serviced so they're off to the Hamble to pick it up.  The new Lazy Jack bag will soon be complete and with my soft furnishings in the salon having a steam clean plus Scotch Guard treatment, I'm ready almost for another season.  My Skipper still has items on his list to do but these can be achieved whilst I'm afloat

New Prop

I feel a lucky boy, my skipper has been working hard on cleaning my hull over the last few months. First I get a chemical wash, bit like a T cut, which takes off the film of dirt that has dulled the shine and then rubs in an acrylic polish and buffs me up.  Recently he's gone one step further.  He's gone professional and located two products that has made a huge difference, a rubbing compound by Turtle Wax and a polishing compound from 3M's.  Each has it's own Lamb's wool pad so as not to contaminate one product with the other.

The blue stripes have become oxidised over the last 5 years yet clearly you can see that this has been removed bringing back a show room shine.



The clear line between before and after.



The shine achieved using the compounds prior to finish polishing with the Acrylic wax

The shine achieved, although this side requires the blue stripes to be redone !

 

I understand that next year he's going to set upon all the scratches and marks I have on my hull to return me to a showroom condition.

 

There are just two more panels to work on along the port side and by panels I mean the width of the scaffold tower my skipper has.  This enables him to reach from Gunnels to water line, whilst working on a reasonably stable footprint.  He recons that if he gets two more days he'll have me cleaned up ready to go back in to the water.

 

He's also ordered a new prop a 20" to replace my 18" and found out loads about the deal Yanmar made with Hanse whilst I and others were being built.  Apparently the 20" is the correct size for my 75 hp engine, so that'll be interesting to see how much more power I have and how much further I can go for the same 2,200 rpm cruising revs.

 

With this due to arrive this week I could be back in the marina by the end of the month.  My skipper has done this as the manager is struggling for room on the hard, plus he can still work on my Webasto heater and other things whilst I'm on the water but providing he has an electrical supply.  He's come to an arrangement so I assume he's happy with that.

 

I'm hearing rumours of the first planned trip over the Easter break.  A run to Weymouth at 0900 on the Friday picking up the back eddy outside of Cowes by Egypt Point and then using the 6 hours of ebb tide to get us there.  Meeting up with some of his friends before a pleasure sail around the bay on Saturday.  Sunday off then an early start Monday to grab the 6 hours of flood tide back, of course as always Mother Nature has the last say.

On the Hard, but not for me !

Well, it is I suppose similar to you humans putting your feet up !

I'm sitting on my supports, whilst my skipper busy's himself around or within, depending on what the weather happens to be.  Unlike Scotland although my memory is fading fast of those times, it is a lot milder enabling my skipper to flurry about more often during these darker times.  By darker I mean that daylight hours are shorter this time of the year.

Is it called the hard because that's what it is for the owners, either hard work or hard cash, whilst I sit and wait ?  My skipper has been down several times since Christmas and has been working along my hull chemically cleaning the grime off my gel coat and then polishing it up.  There's a few scratches and the blue stripes I have are a little oxidised but he seems quite pleased with what he's achieved so far.  Although I feel a few more compounds might arrive just to bring the best back out of those.  All of my stantion's have been removed and polished up, likewise with the head shower fittings even removing parts of it in the Master saloon heads to cure a slight leak.

My prop has now been put back on and just look at the difference, although this may be changed still.



Before



Preparation, filling of pit marks on the sail drive



After, although there's still some pitting on the blades and core. My skipper found out that this size prop was a cost effective deal Yanmar made and a 20" set is more in tune with the HP the engine produces.  This adds 1" overall and gives the least 1" of clearance to the underside. (the tape was put there to make the rain drip off before reaching the sail drive and washing away my skippers work.)

My Webasto oil fired heater has been removed and serviced including the fitting of a new burner, prices for the thermal sock, new exhaust and 90mm ducting have been obtained so I can see that soon I'll have a heater that, with the fitting of a new fan, will bring hot air to the master cabin, almost a first amongst Hanse yachts pre 2000 models, where they fitted a second dedicated unit.



The corroded exhaust removed and about to be replaced.  The ducting is to have a thermal sock fitted to keep the heat in and a second variable speed fan is to be fitted in line, as well as an up size of ducting to  to enable that hot air to continue to the Master Cabin rather than the heat sensor on the Webasto unit shutting it down early.

The AIS my skipper bought is still in his attic, keep an eye on Marine Traffic and you'll see me in land !

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-1.3/centery:50.8/zoom:14

I've got a firm of cleaners coming, to chemically clean and Scotch guard my upholstery, I've never had it so good.



Look at the shine he achieves as he works back from the starboard bow, the cut line from grime to fine and this is without additional polishing compounds just an acrylic wax.