It turned out to be exactly two weeks up on the hardstand, with the usual mad panic and time-compression over the last few days. Each morning I'd write another list of at least a dozen jobs then prioritize them like some crazed project manager.
Small things can so easily get overlooked, or get done wrongly, and throw the train off the rails.
Assumptions abound (I'm sure you've all heard the saying about making an ass of u & me), like the stainless steel rudder stock being a stock standard size - bu-boom; wrong! The boat was built in South Africa where 31.9mm (not 32mm) means the new rudder bearings don't quite fit. So it's take the whole lot back to the local engineering shop for adjustment.
And then there's the order of things to get in order. No matter how many times I checked with the shipwright that the rudder going back on was just going to be a "dry fit", to be removed again later, giving me time to antifoul the subsequently inaccessible bits, that was not the way it went.
Quite understandably really. The major effort of digging holes in the ground, stacking blocks of wood, aligning, manhandling, jacking and forcibly encouraging the rudder back into place was not something to be repeated. So homeless barnacles can once again make their home on the back edge of the skeg.
Then there was the epoxy filling and fairing, then painting with "Interprotect", a two pack epoxy paint, each of which needed curing time before the next stage in the process, so jobs like the priming and antifouling had to stand patiently in line. It was often very frustrating to hold things up for the sake of a half meter of bog going off. I entertained myself in the meantime by cutting and polishing the hull, a job which I would have liked to have done back in Melbourne but never quite had the time.
It seemed like a good idea to raise the waterline again. This had already been done in Melbourne, but was higher at the back than the front of the boat, and patches of thick black weed were continually creeping up the topsides. With a bit of guesswork, we added an extra 50mm at the bow. which was graduated gently back.
I was delighted to find she now floats along a perfectly even line from bow to stern.
Being back in the water is fantastic! Even if the undredged marina has me settling into the mud on the bottom at low tide twice a day; an eerie feeling as she creaks in her bones in the middle of the night.
I had briefly contemplated leaving Shanti out on the hardstand for a few weeks while I am away but changed my mind about that. It would have meant continuing to live aboard in that noisy, dirty environment, which was not at all appealing. It took hundreds of litres of water to hose and scrub her clean once back in the marina, a very satisfying job.
There are still about another dozen or so jobs to be done before I leave. It took the best part of the last three days and many trips to the Laundromat to clear all the fibreglass dust out of the boat. It's nasty stuff that gets through the tiniest cracks and causes awful itching on the skin. Luckily the shipwright lent me his vacuum cleaner so I could get most of it off the squabs and anything that couldn't be washed. The cockpit locker especially was thick with it, and every single item had to be taken out onto the dock and hosed off.
This morning I painted a second coat of Interprotect on the new fibreglass rudder post. I'm happy to report not a drop of water to be found in the lazarette. No more leaks - yay!! Well worth the hard hit to the credit cards.
While I still had a little paint left, I put some on the old, crazed sink in the head (bathroom). Both will need topcoating tomorrow.
I was mistaken about the leak over the stove that I had previously thought was coming through the deck organizers, requiring a hole cutting in the ceiling. Bu-boom, wrong again! Another job to cover the unnecessary hole ..... Turns out it was the vent above the stove after all; the closest and most obvious place in hindsight. This morning I gooped that down, so hopefully no more leaks from there.
While on the hardstand, the wind blew the companionway door over, breaking the Perspex in half, so I had to get a new one made. This one is thicker, tinted and made in two sections, so I can have the bottom half in while sailing, adding some protection from any big ugly breakers that may decide to join me in the cockpit.
I also got the idea for a canvas cover with a couple of battens in. This affords a more convenient protection from rain or following seas, making it easier to more quickly enter or exit the cabin. A friend here has an industrial sewing machine which he kindly let me use yesterday. I recycled the canvas from my old bimini, which had just enough material for a pair of sailor's pants.
In exactly two weeks from today, I fly to Melbourne, so had better get on with finishing off my list of jobs (who am I kidding?)
Well done Jacquie!
ReplyDeleteAdmiral job, Admiral - or is it merely skipper?
ReplyDeleteHope to see you soon in Melbourne.