Christmas Break

So with the mild weather over the Christmas break my skipper has been beavering away with the list of tasks I set him together with some of his own.  Although I feel there are more 'would likes' than 'must haves' that I've set from our August trip.

With me up on the hard the scaffold tower has been erected at my side and already he's been at the hull cleaner and polish.  Although a spell of rain interrupted proceeds but if he's happy with the coverage, he's already managed to clean one quarter of my hull !  This aside he's removed the Flexofold three blade folding prop and taken that home to clean up, which meant removing the two anodes which were partly intact, unusual, but he did add a manual, fling over the side one which has an earth wire from the engine block all the way to the base of the wind generator.  So this may have had something to do with the halting the electrolysis process of the blades.  However the sail drive itself has quite bad pitting and he's come up with a unique solution here too.  If the aluminium sail drive is coated with a resin then the surface is not exposed and thus electrolysis cannot take place.  So he's filled the pit holes and then coated it with the left over resin from the copper coat, once this has been rubbed back smooth he's then going to paint it with an anti-foul.  Oddly he spotted, from a photo, that the guys that applied the copper coat had also covered the sail drive which may have induced the pitting in the first place.  Either way the sail drive will be protected and smooth when he's finished.

Both main and jib have been removed and are at North Sails for a check over and laundering, although my skipper has made enquiries as to the cost of a third reef !  Not sure if this is a reflection of global warming and the effects on weather patterns or he has a longer voyage in mind.

The lazy Jack bag is also off and in a different local sail loft to have a new one manufactured.

Both heaters and dehumidifier are all on keeping my insides warm and more importantly dry, although with the moderate temperatures I'm not exactly cold.  He's removed the Webasto diesel fired heater and replaced the burner a job he was going to do about 2 years ago.  The exhaust too is corroded in two places and a new one has been ordered, as has a thermal sock to go over the ducting to keep the heat higher as it passes through my bilge.  Also ordered is larger ducting to get to the master cabin and I assume he'll also fit the new fan and variable speed switch to assist the Webasto's own to get the heat forward, something that it cannot do.

My heads have been cleaned out and the black water tanks filled with a bleach mix and emptied. Do you remember the leaking mast, well that seems to have been a thing of the past for a while now, so he's made new plates to seal the opening in the ceiling, that will be covered in the same material as the ceiling itself.  There are even two retractable coat hooks for dressing gowns to hang when needed.

I'm not sure what's next on his list, but am aware that the McMurdo AIS needs to be fitted, so that everyone can see where I am and more importantly my skipper can get contact information of other vessels he may encounter whilst we're out at sea.  So here's to the first month on the hard, with plenty of things underway, sent away or simply WIP (work in progress).

I wait his next visit in anticipation that another item on his apparent extensive list will get ticked off and I will carefully hold the benefits of this work well in to next season.