This week there was a huge fire in Cowes, but fortunately the thick acrid smoke blew across the river and out in to the Solent and missing me on the hard at the Yacht Haven.
My skipper has been down on lots of occasions and been working away through his list, which they start to develop whilst we all go away during the August cruise. New hangers for dressing gowns in the master cabin, additional shelving to make storage more convenient or just better use of space. The prop which had been taken off and cleaned up is back on with the two new anodes. The sail drive it attaches to, has suffered from electrolysis, but skip has rubbed it back filled the pot marks, given it several coats of resin to isolate it and then painted it with an anti-foul paint. However he has been talking to the manufacturer of the prop Flexofold about the damage and found out that Yanmar the manufacturer of the engine & running gear, struck a deal with Hanse and in doing so under spec'd the blade for the 75hp engine. So I think he's in a dilemma as to whether to fit the prop that is most suited to the horse power. If he does it'll mean more umph for my revs, so more mileage for diesel burnt, meaning shorter passage times whilst under engine and yes more umph when needed. So I wait and see his decision.
He's also been busy cleaning my hull bless him. Last year he went to Antigua for a race, so didn't get it all done. It's a painful and long process first removing all the grime from my gel coat before waxing & polishing off. He's managed one full quarter and fortunately the fire hasn't covered me in soot either. He's had the shower in the master cabin heads apart, there was a slight leak noted on the cruise, but that's all back together again and the stainless steel fittings in there are all polished to the gunnels as are the taps in the galley. All the stations and guard rails have been removed and polished up too, so I'm going to be shiny when its all fitted back on.
There's the push & pull pits to clean to match the rest of the deck stainless steel and he's spotted that the navigation light, starboard side, that was knocked off by a wave outside of Guernsey, is not working properly, due to the salt water having covered the fitting at the time.
There's a couple of jobs that I know of that have been carried over from previous years, the fitting of the McMurdo AIS system that currently puts me in the attic of their house for example. Also getting the best out of the Webasto oil fired heater, by fitting the insulated sock around the ducting, the installation of the fan he's had for 18 months and the larger ducting to the master cabin to get the heat where the heat doesn't currently go ! The in line fan with a resister switch to give a variable speed, should prevent the unit itself from turning off as it struggles to get the hot air away and the sensor then cuts in thinking there's a problem.
My main & jib is with the cleaners and the lazy jack bag that the main lives in has gone to a local business to make a new one as the UV rays has taken its toll.
If he manages to get these jobs sorted before I go back in to the water I'll, as well as I 'm sure he will be, chuffed to bits and look forward to a shake down sail. I know that he's intending to get me over to Weymouth at Easter and to Cherbourg for the first May bank holiday. I'm looking forward to getting my new Code 0 out and flying.
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