Survey

The main aim this week was to get the insurance survey carried out to clear the way for launching this was carried out on Wednesday I have not yet received the written report but the discussion with the surveyor on completion did not highlight any serious defects that would preclude launching there is a little bit of fibreglass work required to re secure the internal moulding for the quarter berth and a fibreglass repair is required to the starboard side rudder stop which has cracked at its base plus some general tightening of fasteners fitting split pins etc.

Starboard rudder stop showing crack at its base

A fair amount of time on Monday was spent clearing the aft cabin to allow access for the survey all the offcuts of wood and laminate etc had been kept in the 'glory hole' most of it will be disposed of, there are lots of odd bits and pieces that may come in useful or it would be a shame to throw them away but in my experience they will never be used. The rest of Monday was spent installing new fire extinguishers and the fire blanket I have fitted a 2kg dry powder extinguisher in the saloon and in the aft cabin together with a fire blanket in the galley area.

While the survey was being carried as well as being tea boy I stripped and cleaned the three halyard winches on the mast they were full of congealed grease which had caused the pawls to jam so after a good soak in white spirit some grease on the bearings and oil on the pawls they are once again serviceable.

I started today by refitting the baby stay to the mast with a proper toggle to replace the existing shackle.

Baby stay toggle

The main job today was to replace the masthead VHF aerial as it was very possibly the original it made sense to fit a new one while the mast was down also I wanted to fit a wind indicator in case the Walker wind instruments were defective. I taped the old aerial cable to the new one with 'Gorilla' tape so that I could pull the new cable through the mast however best laid plans and all that it promptly got stuck with the join just inside the mast it also refused to come back out as well. After some very careful rocking the cable backwards and forwards it freed itself and I was able to very carefully pull in the new cable. I was very conscious of breaking the joint which would have scuppered the whole operation but the 'Gorilla' tape held up well. It took most of the morning to get the cable through and a lot of ladder climbing, particularly when trying to clear the jam, as the mast overhangs the ends of the boat I could only reach one end from the deck the other end was accessed from a ladder from the ground.

New VHF aerial and wind indicator

The aerial is reversed in its bracket for the time being to keep it within the boatyard perimeter, lorries sometimes pass quite close on the other side of the fence. The mast is now ready to go back up, hopefully next week, and with any luck launching at the end of the week also I now have a confirmed berth in Conyer creek so the priority will be to test the engine and give her a good scrub down on Monday morning.

Since the adjacent boat was launched last week for the first time in quire a while I now have a clear view of the whole boat so I have included this photograph to finish up this weeks post.

Rigging screws

After examining the remainder of the rigging screws over last weekend I found a further number of mild steel split pins that required to be drilled out these were the barrel locking pins through the male threads it looked as though the ends had largely rusted away. Upon closer examination I found that two of the rigging screws had longitudinal cracks in the male threads one in a right hand thread and one in a left hand thread it's a bit of a puzzle as to the cause of such cracks.

Cracks in rigging screws

The crack in the upper of the two does not show up very well but the crack in the lower screw can be clearly seen. The remainder of the screws were re fitted to the shrouds the two defective screws will need to be replaced.

I moved on to fitting the base to the port side lockers in the forward cabin which is now complete and I finished up the day with some odds and ends of fibreglass repairs to the bulkhead tabbing in various places this was work that I had begun some time ago to prevent water leaking through the hull/deck joint. On the way home I picked up the vinyl name graphics which I had ordered from a local firm just up the road from the boatyard.

The first job today was to fit the vinyl name and SSR number to the transom once I have confirmed a berth I will add the home port to the starboard side of the transom.

Name added

I spent the rest of the day on various bits of fibreglass work and then started a big clean up on the deck removing excess mastic sealant etc this will be followed by a good scrub down. I have booked an insurance survey for next week and hopefully if nothing untoward is found the plan is to launch the following week, there will still be a good deal of internal fitting out work to do but time is beginning to get a bit short. So that's it for this week a bit of a short post but things are moving forward the next couple of weeks will probably be a bit hectic trying to get everything done for the big splash.

Anti fouling

I bought some more underwater primer and anti fouling last weekend so the first thing Monday morning I completed the application of the underwater primer including a second coat on the keel and as it was a warm sunny day I managed to get the first coat of anti fouling on. I applied the second coat of anti fouling on Wednesday morning and removed the masking tape always the most satisfying part of the job.

Beginning to look quite smart

To finish up on Wednesday I completed sanding the remainder of the bumps and scrapes in the topsides and gave them a coat of primer/undercoat.

One of the clevis pins on the starboard lower shroud rigging screw was secured with a rusty mild steel split pin which I attempted to remove on Wednesday in the end I had to take it home and drill it out so that it could be replaced with a proper stainless steel pin, whilst doing this I cleaned up the threads and gave the screw a careful examination. Today I removed and labelled the rest of the rigging screws so that over the weekend I can give them all a good clean and a thorough examination. During the removal of the rigging screws I noticed that the baby stay is secured to the mast with a bow shackle which in my book is not best practice, it will be replaced with a proper toggle before the mast goes back up.

Rigging screws

For the rest of the day I have been fitting the bases to the forward cabin lockers I had previously roughed them out at home they just required some work with a plane and some sandpaper, I managed to complete the starboard side and screwed it in place which has made the whole assembly much more rigid, the port side will be Mondays first job.

Starboard side locker base

Time to start thinking about splashing

For a number of reasons I have decided that the next priority is to get New Morning in the water as soon as possible mainly because I have been working on the restoration for over two years and it is time to go sailing again there will still be some work to be done but this was always part of the plan there is always work to be done on boats especially old ones, the other main reason is that the future of the present location is far from sure due to the local redevelopment plans so to have the boat in the water so that it can be moved easily will be a distinct advantage. To this end I had originally planned to get on with the remaining underwater work this week beginning with fitting the propeller on Monday but the weather gods had other plans and Monday dawned cold, wet and miserable so plan 'B' was to finish the trim pieces for the heads bulkheads the forward piece was finished and fitted and a start on producing the aft piece was made this was to form a cable duct for the mast cables by laminating two narrower pieces to the front.

Forward trim

Tuesday dawned warm and bright so the first job was to get the propeller fitted I started by checking the fit of the taper with engineers marking blue which indicated a satisfactory match between the tapers on the shaft and the prop. I assume that the propeller has been re bored at sometime as the boss goes way beyond the end of the shaft taper such that it needs a couple of spacing washers to allow the nut to be fully tightened, I don't consider this to be good engineering practise but it will have to do for the time being. The next move was to fit the new shaft key which I had made over the weekend this required removal of some material from the top face to ensure that the top of the propeller key way would be clear of the top of the key when the nut was pulled up then once the nut was tightened down it was split pinned job done.

Propeller fitted

Once the propeller was completed I finished off making the bits for the aft bulkhead trim.

Wednesday turned out to be another cold miserable day with the threat of rain so it was another inside day I started by laminating up the aft bulkhead trim using thickened epoxy to stick it together. Moving on to spiral wrapping the cables for the shower drain pump which is fitted in the heads locker I then gave the locker a good clean out as it was in a bit of a mess after wet sanding the new gelcoat on the front of the locker. I finished up on Wednesday by starting to fit the new steaming light on the mast I had already run in the new three core cable to power the steaming light and the deck light it was a bit of a light fit through the cable grommet but some washing up liquid helped.

First thing today I finished the aft bulkhead trim and screwed it in place the head lining material still needs to be applied to the coach roof sides.

Aft trim/cable duct

The next job today was to complete the new steaming light by drilling the holes for the fixing screws and then replacing the lens and the cover.

New steaming light

Making the most of today's fine weather I got on with applying a coat of underwater primer to the hull I had some left over from the previous boat unfortunately there was only enough to go about three quarters of the way round  also I had run out of masking tape so I stopped a couple of inches short of the boot line looking on the bright side at least today's exercise has given me a rough idea of how much antifoul I will require.

Underwater primer

To finish up today I did a final test fit of the headlining panels for the heads some adjustment was necessary to accommodate the trim pieces for the bulkheads. Next week the weather is looking favourable so the main aim will be to complete the antifouling and get the mast ready to go up.