Next steps

What is the difference between an Association boat and a family one?

Ocean Flame had been successfully sailed from new by an association, primarily of lads and gentlemen of a certain age who wanted to use her for chartered weekends and extended cruises in groups with any number of crew typically between 6 and 9.

 

This meant that there were always loads of pots and pans on board, there was loads of storage for water and vittels and the boat was fitted out to an almost coded standard.

 

On the other hand there was no autopilot (why when you have lots of willing help, would you need one?)

There were no lines led back to the cockpit, no lazy jacks, winches  were sized for real men

No AIS was required as many eyes could be on watch at any time

Water tanks had no means of telling how full they were as they were presumably always topped up

No chartplotter in the cockpit as there could be a dedicated navigator at all times

Limited battery power 300ah 

 

So in order to sail with a smaller crew we had to make some necessary mods for comfort and in truth to personalise her a little to our own tastes.

 

So we wrote up a list that was pretty comprehensive

 

 

First project plan

Highlights of necessary items included 

 

Saildrive gaiter 

Replacement necessary according to volvo every 7 years

 

This is a necessity according to the insurers and to replace a gaiter is a right rigmarole involving taking out the engine and dropping the saildrive.

 

In addition the saildrive needed a decent paint as it was corroding and so off it went for professional painting (more of which later)                            

Saildrive

Engine service

Have done this now for ten years on a yanmar I need to see how different a volvo is so as the engine has been moved out of the engine bay to facilitate the saildrive gaiter it seems like an opportunity to service the engine in less cramped conditions will soon arise.            

Mucky engine bay full of oil and antifreeze 

Electric genoa winches

Installed primarily because of the damage caused to Frances's finger by the old mooring line 

 

Water tank sensors,

With a long distance sail we will us the watermaker and because we will need to top up the tanks and we need to know how much we are using and making.

Antifouling 

Coppercoat was selected after a long review, having used it previously I am far from naive as to its benefits and shortcomings, trouble is what else can meet the needs of occasional antifouling and infrequent touching up?

 

All the self abrading antifouling will outperform coppercoat in the first 6 months and then fall off a cliff into passivity. So I have taken the view that for a sail away boat the fact that it can be properly applied and then hand scrubbed without repainting is a benefit so long as the scrubbing is done fairly regularly, in my experience at least every couple of weeks. So an investment in warm water and diving kit is going to be needed.

Antifouling worn out prior to blasting                   

Hull blasted with care The hull was blasted by J&J and done with the utmost care, way beyond the level of service that I have seen previously, they blasted right  to the waterline by using a proper masking tape so that there was no need to manually scrape off any antifouling.                   

Power

Improved battery systems including power generation, battery storage will be required I have looked into lithium batteries which will be THE solution for batteries but for now is very expensive in capital costs although it's lifetime costs are becoming comparable to good lead acid batteries when one considers the short life they will have when used on a liveaboard boat with cycles daily.

 

This is a big lifetime cost discussion that is rating and requires a view on how many charging cycles are in the life of each technology. Lithium is marketed as having a significantly longer life but most of those batteries have only been around for a few years in the field so the jury is untested.

 

For now though I think we need to go lead acid until the price comes down a bit more, trouble is that replacing batteries meas modifying ALL the upstream charging circuitry needs to be modified to cope with the capacity ofLithium batteries to suck Amps.

Alternator water was here !

Autopilot

Fitted below deck not a wheel based system as this I think is less reliable so I decided to install a rotary actuator as a linear actuator would not fit.

 

For that reason I have fitted a Jefa rotary unit which is more compact and fits the various drag arms situated under the cockpit floor. It interfaces well into the Raymarine kit and has a relatively low current draw too.

Bow thruster 

Improved repair and refurb.

 

Grab rail replacement

 

Tired grab rails              

Happier grab rails

Stern locker waterproofing

Stern locker needs a refurb

Cosmetics top sides

Improved scuffs and numerous hull bumps around the hull

 

Ground tackle

Replace the anchor of 9kg with a more suitable sized anchor

Calibrating anchor chain

Knox anchor

 

Survey recommendations included

Mast standing rigging replacement

Measuring up

 So I videoed the removal of the mast and have to figure out how to post the time laps video here.

 

Mast step reinforcement

One of the surveyor's observations had been that there was a dished mast step and sure enought when the mast was lifted there was a bent alloy moulding caused by compression of a plywood "reinforcement" which was sat between the mast and the compression post. It was recommended that this should be seen to at a time when convenient and so with the mast off the time was now.    

Phil laminating 78 layers to reinforce the mast step

Superstition and the coin of the realm

I thought it would be a nice gesture to place a coin under the foot of the mast a tradition that has been carried out in boat building historically but as in all things production has died out. So I popped into the local bank to see if they had a roll of freshly minted coins, only to find that since automation that process has already dies out. Since there was only me in the queue the me used counter clerk did agree to look for a shiny coin and after a furtive thiry seconds we agreed that a 2015 2 pound coin would fit the purpose as it was only 3 months out of date and so Phil kindly placed it directly under the mast foot and then laminated over it.

 

One wonders whether any eyes will ever see it again and if so, under what circumstances?

Coin of the realm

Damage to port side hull bracing repair

Ashore and blasted

 

Tighten bearings around helmsmans wheel

A few tense helmsman must have had a grip like a Scotsman on a five pound note as the wheel had a decidedly wobbly feel so the axle has been removed and re shimmed to make her feel a little more under control.

Teak work brightening

 Various areas of teak internally and externally are showing their age so a deal of sanding and refrain shiny has occurred whilst waiting for the lift out.

Teak refurbished in galley

Luxuries

 

Synthetic teak in the cockpit - personalisation to our taste

Darren the teak man at work

 Darren as "The Teak Man" is an exceptional craftsman and has done a wonderful job on Seascapes cockpit and surrounding areas she looks like a super yacht and is impressive from both close up and on first view. I cannot recommend Darren enough.

Coppercoat application

AIS transmission and receiver and improved radar

One of the things we liked about Stargazer's set up was the ability to see the chart plotter from the cockpit and whilst having a navigator with a view seems like a good idea, we found that there is nothing like having a full view from the cockpit. Having sailed the channel from Falmouth to Felixstowe last year the ability to match that view with AIS and radar also proved their value and so I took the decision to augment the navigators Gps with a cockpit based Raymarine A95 and integrate a 650 series AIS transponder.

 

The Standard Horizon remains in the nav station but the Raymarine R70 has been replaced.

 

Helms pod with plotter and centralised controls

Other items to be done and requiring some explanation include:- Lines bought back to the cockpit for safety LED replacement lights for all internal lighting and halogens on particular  Replaced running rigging where worn Installed new VHF aerial TV aerial and amplifier Watermaker installation Shower sump and pump improving on the old rain into the bilges solution Holding tank installation Upgrade sails for genoa and staysail Bimini and canvas dodgers in progress from Peter Eyre Stackpack and lazy jacks installation for safe mainsail handling

 

Cost

Now I can already hear you thinking when was the lottery win?

 

Well when we started looking at a boat for sailing away, we had expected to pay three or four times what OF3 was purchased for,  so we set aside some budget for necessities and decided to have the decision making process in our hands rather than in the hands of the vendor.

 

So we are hoping to be inside budget by a long way by overseeing the refurbishment directly, but time will certainly tell!