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.

Fire in Cowes but I'm Ok

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.

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.

Out Again

So with my skipper turning up on a couple of occasions, first removing the main sail from the mast and storing it in my saloon, then turning up a few days later to do the same to the jib, I should've known something was happening.

With the wind gusting quite strongly, my skipper, complete with back muscle issues, still managed to unclip my main from the mast, which involved climbing the lower part and releasing it all in the flagging Lazy Jack bag, before spilling it on the deck and hurriedly dragging it back to the cockpit and finally down below.  This is no mean feat given the amount of material involved, still he managed it at the cost of a pair of glasses that, due to the rain the sleeves of his coat caught his face removing the glasses from his nose and smashing in two on the floor.

Several days later with the wind still gusty he returned to drop my jib too, sending that down the hatch in to the Master cabin.   Still a job done.

More recently my skipper returned with the crew and moved me from my pontoon in the Medina to the Yacht Haven, where I spent the weekend before being lifted out and stored on the hard once more.  The Medina mud hosed off before being placed in my resting place over winter. Skipper soon arrived to inspect my prop and hooked me up to shore power and had the dehumidifier running, waiting to pack the sails away in their bags before setting up the oil filled radiators.  Then starts the work on his list.  Already I've given him another task by separating the work top from the top of the fridge.  No warning that there was an issue I've just peeled one item from the other, I'm sure its a simple task for him to complete.

My hull has been jet washed removing the gloopy mud that is the base for the very fine weed that gets a hold and produces very whiskers.  Once I'm out and sailing along this mud soon lets go. For now the additional Copper Coat my skipper added last year is clear to see and lessens the effect of the mud.

However, my anodes are shot to pieces but may have been slowed by the additional 'manual' one fitted in the summer.  At least it may have stopped the prop from being damaged further, this will be removed and taken away for further discussion with the specialists. The softer Aluminium sail drive has pitting on it too and this the skipper is going to coat in the left over epoxy resign from the Copper Coat, but of course without the Copper being mixed in.  Then once hardened apply a paint on anti-fouling.

Both sails are now off, packed and ready to go to the mainland to be laundered and serviced.  So with three months I'll let you know how many and which jobs he manages to complete.

Thor II

This week saw my owner arrive with a couple of friends, it was lovely and mild but I didn't get to go out as they were shown around and had tea before heading back.  At the weekend my skipper arrived with another large sail bag - bright yellow and a neatly folded sail within.  I had no idea what this was as I'd not heard any chat from the skipper for a while.

The fog was just lifting gently out of the valley and there was a faint hint of a breeze, ideal I suppose if your hoisting a sail of some size on your own.  Skip delved in to the Gennekar bag and removed the strop from its clew, he then hunted around for a line to act as a sheet and then eased the spare halyard from the bow.  Unfolding the well packed sail to locate the head, clew & tack, each were then connected to lines and readied for a hoist. Skipper cam back aft and put a turn around the winch and released the cutch, then began to wind in.

The dark navy blue Code 0 rose up to about half way up the mast and then the slightest of zephyr's came through and filled the sail.  This took it over the neighbouring yacht and on to the pontoon, at least being fixed at the clew and tack would stop it going any further.  The slightest breeze in the cloth prevented my skipper from hoisting any further without the winch handle, so had to lock it off and go amid ships to retrieve it, stuffing yards and yards of cloth through one of the hatches.  Once in and out of the way, skipper then lowered the remainder and clipped the head to the stays. With everything back on board he then re-packed it back in to the bag making sure he could get to each of the three corners.  Lesson learned, that a snuffler similar to that used on the Gennekar is required.

If it was impossible to raise it in this subtlest of breezes whilst I'm stationary, then trying to hoist it whilst I'm moving may be a task too far.  Better find out now when it doesn't matter than be disappointed later when it may.

So it's been a few weeks and the skippers bag this time with a snuffer to go over the Code 0.  This makes hoisting and lowering a lot more simple for the short crew and is the similar to one supplied with the Gennekar.

He also arrived with the long awaited McMurdo M10 AIS transponder.  This when fitted will enable you all to follow our travels, providing of course that the secrecy switch is off.  More importantly it'll enable the crew to see all other vessels using such devices on the monitor in the dark or fog etc, but unlike radar which of course I have, it supplies an MMSI number so that the skipper can 'phone' the bridge of a vessel he's concerned about to make sure or find out how the impending situation is going to be resolved.  In other words, have you seen me and what action are you taking or do you want me to do something different !  The device also relays lots of information about speed, direction, destination and all sorts, but the important one is the ability to communicate directly to the bridge.  You may recall last year an incident when I was belting back from Alderney at 8.0 knots and a freighter would not respond on channel 16, my skipper new he was the stand on vessel and did so, but kept a careful lookout in case he had to make avoiding action.  With the M10, he will be able to ring the bridge and ask questions, whether dark or in fogy conditions.