Main sail arrives

My new sail arrived today, the quality looks pretty good to my untrained eye.
Only time will tell, it will certainly be nice to be sailing under my own number.:0)

Antifouled

Every body's favorite job.. I've spent all day cleaning the hull and getting the anti foul on.   I had some trouble getting the self adhesive blue line off. It had to come off as the antifoul line needed raising by a couple of inches, unfortunately the glue that was left behind was a pain in the bilge. After trying various strategies I found Turps and a green kitchen scourer worked quite well. 

I alway find it hard to get the line straight, level and even.  I tried using an old mirror gaff (Leaning against the garage) as a level off the trailer and then mark the hull with a marker pen strapped at the right height to a piece of wood. This seemed to be working well until I got to the stern and could see that the line was getting further up the hull.  I assumed that the boat sat at a different angle on the ground than it does in the water.

It was only when I went to remove the snubber to allow me to paint behind it that I realised the weight of the boat was resting on it, once removed, the boat dropped about 2 inches. Had it been sat level on the trailer my line marking technique would of worked.  Still my best guess use of the masking tape seems to have done the job.

Getting closer

A few more jobs are now either knocked off or close to being knock off.  Last night I made a start on stripping the artex off the bulkheads.  A horrible job in four foot of head room.  I used a hot air gun and a chisel to scrape it off.  It's not great but much better than the artex. Artex made the whole interior look dirty, I'm glad it's gone... Just don't look around the other side of the bulkhead ;).

Yesterday I also ground out and epoxied the top of the rudder which had split.and was seeping rust. It was fully cured by this morning so I was able to sand it to shape.  I then wire brushed the cruddy old grease off the stock before packing the tube with fresh aqua grease  and reassembling.

Work then holted while I went to empty my wallet at Force 4... New spinnaker halyard, Antifoul, sail slides and a pair of cam cleats saw me 120 pounds lighter.. if only that was pound weight!  I popped into the sailing  club to have a cup of coffee with the old boys and girls who don't have to work anymore.. lucky blighters.
Back at the ranch and time to crack on, heres one of the old cam cleats that got destroyed during a crash gybe last year.

The new ones come with a fairlead to help keep things tidy.  I will also replace the line with something a little thinner.

The rear locker (is that a lazerette?) houses the gas looker, as I don't have a gas cooker I decided to remove it to free up some space.  Easier said than done, this had been glued, screwed and fiber-glassed in place.

After much cutting, hammering, chiseling, bleeding and cussing I had it in pieces and away from the boat.  There was a handy shelf left under the looker which was perfect for strapping my fuel tank too.  I now have usable space in this locker and have completely freed up the port quarter locker.

I have slapped varnish  on just about everything, below you can see the tiller and the galley / cool box unit.  I'm dead chuffed with this, well worth the effort.

The list of jobs left to do on the list is coming down to a manageable amount.   As soon as it is anti-fouled it will be ready to go back in.  Easter and family commitments mean that I will miss the first week or two of the season but after that it's full steam ahead :o))

Winch service

Another easy job knocked off the list.  The port winch had started to slip occasionally under load towards the end of last season. I initialy thought I'd buy some fancy new winches as these look pretty poor and also the handle tend to get in the way.  Having seen the price, I decided against it. I wasn't sure what lurked beneath the drum so it was with trepidation that I undid the large screw on the top and slipped the drum of it's spindle, I half expected to see springs and bits flying all over the place.

I was pleasantly surprised at how simple these winches are.  The real bonus was that I could immediately see that I'd be able to change the direction of the winch.  Both winches currently wind clockwise which is counter intuitive  when loading the port side Genoa sheet.

The grease that was still in the winch had become like Plasticine so needed scraping out.  One of the springs on the prawl was also misshapen so I had to carefully reshape that taking care not to snap it.   

Now that everything was cleaned and freed off, the picture above is a before shot :),  I replaced the prawls facing the other direction. After trial fitting the drum to ensure it worked I liberally greased the spindle and moving parts before final reassembly.

I cleaned and greased the starboard winch, leaving this one to wind clockwise.

Somewhere for the beer

Normally I moan about the weather when it's cold and wet but today it meant that I could work on Ciao Bella instead of going for a walk.  Obviously I needed to work inside so the galley received my attention. I had picked up some dry wall insulation, some expanding foam and a roll of aluminium tape during the week so I was able to crack on with the cool box.

I started by cutting the insulation to fit the spaces within the cubby hole and then squidged in the expanding foam into the gaps. This closes the gaps, insulates and effectively glues it all together.

I then used the aluminium tape to cover the whole of the inside, to give it a clean gap free finish.  The tape was also used to cover big gaps which were then filled with expanding foam.

With the top attached and the cool box almost complete I just needed to make up a door for the front.  This is just a piece of ply with some insulation sikaflexed to it which pushes in to seal the opening.  I have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off so hopefully there should be some real progress over the next few days... watch this space.  Right I'm off for a Guinness :)

Cushion covers

I have finished the first cushion cover. Ok it's not great but this one will be mostly hidden under the quarter deck. hopefully I'll improve as I make the others. :)

I have made them with out zips, hooks, buttons or anything else that can catch, break, rust or stick.  The cover has an overlap on the back so the foam can be squeezed into it and is held securely.

I will only make cushions for the main part of the cabin.  The forepeak tends to get wet and dirty with opening the front hatch to work while pulling up the anchor etc.  My sail should arrive soon and I still haven't made a cover for that yet. I may have to remove from the boom after every trip if I don't pull my finger out.

Locker lids part 2

This weekend I've just about finished the locker lids, I still need to fill the grooves with Sikaflex but that's all.

Starboard lid with a coat of Sadolin, looks much better than the clear varnished ones that I made last year. I hope you like the patent paint and brush preserver... AKA a Nitrile glove stretched over the top of the tin and brush.

I trimmed some of the reclaimed hardwood to make battens for the hinges, I'm chuffed with the result, It's a lot of extra work just for some cosmetic lines but I think it's worth it. I used the last of the Sadolin to redo the rubbing strakes and companion way surround.

Still got lots to do and not a lot of time. Started on the cushion covers the other night.  Making it up as I go so once I've made one the others will be much quicker.  Starting to think about what has to be done and what can wait until next year.