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.