It's a stick up!

It's been a week of fairly active work, apart from the house project the mast has been lifted and in preparation there has been much to do.

Mast n string

  The stay for the stay sail has been enhanced with a furler (upper left) which was splendid and then we realised that there was no where to put the boom so we had to swap it back quickly for a simple original stay and put the new furler into storage while a solution is found. I also mounted the new radar scanner and reeves the new halliards, put on the new lazy jacks and sorted the mass of cables, ropes and string into a sensible order so that when the crane came along we could lift her without everything getting tangled.

Spreaders, large, small and just right

New lights and TV aerial

 

Saildrive saga

Well the saildrive saga continues of course. No straight lines in this game, I went to visit the marine engineers to see what progress had been made in sourcing the special tool that was apparently broken. On further investigation it appears that it is more likely that the tools was lost as when I suggested I get another one made they could not find the broken bits! In fact Volvo were quoting at least 6 weeks to source a replacement and meanwhile the engineers were left scratching their "ears" So after looking at the instructions for the tool and getting hold of my saildrive and a bearing I established that what was required was a bearing puller with a long shaft and specific diameter. Now I know a very talented engineer in Netley Abbey who can make anything out of metal and so I drove to meet him, sat in his engineers's office surrounded by specs and projects that were in progress and together we drew out the tool, the specs and the process and off Ted went to draft it. I have the greatest confidence in Ted of Abbey Engineers in Netley Abbey and we will see if together we can show these multinationals how to solve a problem.  Excited and again on the long march forwards.....   Update Thursday 26th may Saildrive bearing removal tool mk1 has been manufactured by Ted and has been picked up and taken to RK marine so that they can put in the bearings with it. I should be able to pick up the saildrive, the tools etc tomorrow.  

Saildrive bearing puller

 So the tool has been built, tested and delivered to RK marine and they have installed the drive bearings so I have brought the saildrive leg back to TS marine at Universal, they will now be able to reinstall the leg in the boat , Hurray!   Trouble with Sagas! They go on and on, good news here is my installed saildrive

Saildrive

Bad news was that when I went to pick up the anode from Ambassador I was given some sage advice which was to make sure that there was a gap between the prop boss and the prop so that the washer could spin. This is because the propeller has a rubber insert as a shock absorber in it, which is encased in an inner cyclinder which is supposed to sit proud of the prop at the boss end in order that the boss is not spun off by reversing the prop suddenly. If it is not proud enough or in my case is actually sunken then the prop is going to I spin the thread holding itself on and farewell my lovely! As you can see from the above the two are firmly touching, which means that the propeller is knackered and if left the prop is likely to spin off the shaft leaving a nasty mess! So the prop has to come off, worse news is that the spare is as bad, so the boat cannot be launched until a replacement is found.

Boss

I am going MAD with frustration, this whole saga is jinxed     

Copper bottomed

C day arrived and thanks to Owen, Dean and Aga the hull of Seascape was coated multiple times with Coppercoat resulting in a shiny, smooth bottom that truly looks the part and demonstrated a great stride forwards

A lotta Coppa

 

2 coats in

3 coats in

And finally after 5 coats a lovely job 

From astern

 

Keel    

Check the colour

In the meantime it is time to start planning for replacing the hull striping and the coving line. We determined that the current colour of the blue line is RAL 5011 which is Steel Blue So quotations are requested for the wrap to be done in vinyl. Tick, tick, tick......

Now just to spend a few days curing as the water based epoxy needs to harden before the hull is "shuffled" that is moved on the cradle so that the supportive patches can be painted to complete the job. In the meantime a bit of top sides cutting back will commence and next week the mast is going back on   hooray!

The build

Building the boat when she was commissioned as Ocean Flame III

Built at Trident Marine located at Wicor near Porchester, Hampshire in 1996

Ocean Flame III was sail number 109

 

Filmed by Alan Philpott and presented to the committee of the Association as an update, the boat can be seen alongside another of her class slightly more complete. 

 

When we later see the drying process it becomes easier to understand how the large structures supporting the engine and the bulkhead are immense enough to take a while to dry out.

 

It is also interesting to see the moulding for the deck lying alongside ready to be craned on top of the hull.

Thanks to the Go Sailing Association for putting it on 

Youtube

 

Spring?

Spring is sprung, the weather has hit high teens with sunshine and increasingly the itch to get on the water is becoming irresistible. Having monitored hull moisture for the last three weeks we have decided that dry's'abone ain't going to happen any time soon but most of the hull is now dry enough to coat with Coppercoat so Monday is C Day! It is still the engine bearers and large frames that are not giving up their water although this is unsurprising as they are foam filled with non closed cell foam, a feature of the time when she was built. The hull itself is in fine condition and so we hope that the moisture evaporates into the internal space rather than pushing out into the epoxy paint.

tminus the weekend

The Coppercoat painting will take a team a day and curing will then take a week or so before the "Shuffle" when the boat is moved again to paint the diddly bits where the cradle is supporting the hull. Then it's outside to cut and polish the topsides and put the mast back onboard so we can measure up for canvas work which was postponed since February In the meantime the final plumbing of the watermaker and the waiting to get the saildrive back keeps us busy, notwithstanding that there is a whole other project on the house going on separately 

Almost there

  Hey ho