Inclement weather

I didn't manage to achieve a great deal this week due to the freezing weather I managed to get down to the boatyard on Monday and sanded the anchor locker bulkhead ready for painting then finished wrapping the cables on the starboard side of the saloon see the photograph from last weeks post unfortunately I had left the camera at home so apologies for lack of photographs.

When I did the engine test run I did not put antifreeze in the water jacket in case there were any leaks and the antifreeze would have ended up in the bilge I did drain the water out again so that I could refurbish a couple of the engine drain cocks however I did omit to drain the water jacket to the gearbox and as I had used fresh water through the raw water circuit for the test run I had to make this a priority job in view of the forecast freezing weather, there was a sigh of relief when I removed the drain plug and water ran out.

While down at the yard I did a trial fit of the propeller as I wanted to ascertain whether of not there was room for a rope cutter between the propeller and the 'P' bracket in the event there was only 10mm and I am going to need approximately 25mm depending on the type of rope cutter, the only practical way to achieve this will be to fit a spacer in the engine coupling, the other option would be a longer propeller shaft which would be a much more costly option also removing the existing shaft would entail lifting the engine, it may be possible to remove the coupling and the cutlass bearing and wriggle the shaft past the skeg but that is a bit of an unknown. I haven't decided on the type of rope cutter but am leaning towards either the R&D knife type http://www.randdmarine.co.uk/downloads/RandD_RopeCutter.pdf or the Shaft Knife Plus from T Norris http://www.tnorrismarine.co.uk/shaft-knife-plus/ the R&D has a recess which overlaps the aft end of the 'P' bracket which should avoid rope etc being jammed between moving and stationary parts, the Shaft Knife Plus is a bit more of a saw than a knife.

I did manage to get the locker front panels for the forward cabin cleaned up and sanded ready for painting last weekend at home, I used the tungsten carbide scraper to remove the majority of the old adhesive before filling the ho;es and sanding, I think that they have cleaned up rather well.

Before and after

I have just noticed that I hadn't sanded the right hand panel after filling various holes when I took the photograph although it has been done now. Hopefully the weather will allow me to get these items painted next week also the aim is, weather permitting to finish the topsides and the fairing of the underwater areas there is now a glimmer of light beginning to show at the end of the project.