Yesterday, while on my travels, I intended to pop into Blue Gee in Poole to buy some Epoxy to finish the rudder and protect some of the woodwork, Hatches, washboards etc. Darn, Blue Gee no longer have a place in Poole. What I did find on the same estate was a company called Tricket marine.. They don't sell epoxy but they do sell spares for engines, so took the opportunity to buy some service items for the outboard, Plug, Filter & white grease. I noticed they had some other bitsand pieces, one of which is one of those combined Masthead / Foredeck lamps. It looks like it may have been there a while so I cheekily asked if the would knock a bit off to clear it. £20 and the deal was done.
These lamps have quite a bad reputation for corroding up and falling apart. I followed a thread on a forum the other week which was quite scathing about them. My expectations are not high for this but I feel that with a bit thought about how to keep the salt out I may have some success with it. The biggest problem in my mind it that the deck lamp is completely exposed. Not sure if or how I will deal with that yet. :)
In other news I bought some stainless bolts so the outhaul bracket is now done. The season officially starts tomorrow and I have some jobs still to do before I can even think about putting her back in.
- Epoxy and paint rudder blade.
- Make tiller bracket. (I have material, waiting for a friend to bore a 25mm hole in it).
- Epoxy seal and varnish the bench hatches.
- Fit Masthead light.
- Stem head fitting needs removing and rebedding.
- Clean hull and Antifoul.
All I need now is some time, energy and inspiration.
Blimey - you've got even more to do than I have.... best of luck matey.. :o)
ReplyDeletePS. Them lights are bo**ocks.. 2 in 3 years I had.. corrode just looking at them..... the only thing I could think to do would be to completely pack the wiring area with non-conductive grease??
Convert all the lamps to LEDs and seal the whole thing up. The LEDS will never need changing so you'll never need to open it up anyway. If needs be add a clear plastic lens over the deck lamp to protect it.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add I used Trickett marine about 7 or 8 years ago when they were first starting out. They were importing pattern exhaust headers from the far east for OMC inboards and I saved a packed when the OEM manifold on my powerboat cracked and needed replacing. They were really good to deal with back then so its good to see they're still around.
ReplyDeleteHehe, Steve, you had strong feelings on the thread that I read. Spoke to Rog about these. He has one, soldered all connections and rivets and used RTVto seal everything.
ReplyDeleteMark, looking for a sealed GU5.3 led lamp to replace the deck bulb. Should be more robust.