Not a lot to report

The main aim this week was to go for a days sailing today but as the week went on it was looking more and more unlikely as the weather forecast continued to deteriorate. I have spent this week pottering about with minor detail stuff, the first job was to complete the trim round the enclosure to the rear of the chart plotter, I also decided to put in an additional piece where the enclosure abuts the bulkhead.

Enclosure complete

I had been thinking about getting the boat lifted out and scrubbed but unfortunately the marina hard standing is fully booked for this year so it will have to wait for the spring when space becomes available, there is an upside to this in that scrubbing the bottom and antifouling, never a pleasant job, is a little more bearable once the weather warms up a bit. I did paint some marks on the shear strake to indicate the lifting strop positions ready for the lift out. I did dig out the lee clothes for the forward cabin and give them a clean up they had a few rust stains as well as being generally dirty so a dose of the yellow stain remover, aka oxalic acid, has made a great improvement. That is about it for this week other than drinking tea and chatting, that is the trouble with boatyards they can be terribly social places.

Odd jobs

The main priority this week was to complete the enclosure for the rear of the chart plotter, I started by completing the varnishing of the timber trim and then fitting it. I decided to use timber trim for the outboard end of the enclosure and the first part has been completed and fitted, over the weekend I shall cut the timber for the lower section this will have to be cut from a larger section to give the required width.

Enclosure almost complete

While I was waiting for the varnish to dry I made and fitted the fairing piece to the starboard aft corner of the coach roof in the same manner as the two forward corners.

Fairing piece fitted

Reading lamp replaced

To finish off the week I got the hoover out and gave the saloon a good clean, the work that I had been doing entailed cutting and shaping timber and laminate and drilling for fixings which seems to have left behind a fair amount of detritus which gets everywhere especially the dust its all looking much cleaner now.

As most of the major projects have been completed the work rate has reduced as I settle into what is mostly detailing and finishing off the aim is to have the majority of this work completed over the coming winter although of course I have had the boat long enough now for various maintenance jobs to crop up from time to time.

Still back of the chart plotter

Over last weekend I finished the access door and varnished the edge trim so that on Monday morning I could fit the door and the latch. Also I roughed out some teak for the edge trim around the enclosure ready for final fitting.

Example of the teak from cockpit gratings

The first job this week was to fit the door to the enclosure and then fit and adjust the latch this was made easier because I could remove the enclosure and work from the back. Once the door had been fitted I went on to replace the enclosure before finalising the edge trim I also cut some trim to fit around the top of the enclosure, this was cut from some of the original trim which came with the boat. The edge trim was then fitted and given its first coat of varnish.

View showing edge trim and door fitted

I still have to finalise the edge trim for the outboard side of the enclosure, the bottom section needs to be wider so I will have to go through my stock of used teak. The trim for the top of the enclosure was also given its first coat of varnish, this will be fitted once the varnishing is complete.

The top trim after the first coat of varnish

To my mind the door looks a little on the heavy side, it is made in the same manner as all the other locker doors on the boat but being much smaller leads to it looking a bit on the heavy side particularly the hinges. Also I haven't made up my mind whether or not to put a piece of trim over the junction of the two laminate panels just below the door, I shall give it some thought over the next week or so. This has been another of those short posts that seems which does not seem to reflect the amount of work involved in forming the trim from the old grating parts and its subsequent fitting, woodwork is not my strong point having been trained in iron fighting however I am fairly satisfied with the work so far.

Back of the chart plotter again

I had originally planned to sail across to the Walton Backwaters this week but by last Sunday the weather was looking decidedly poor with the remnants of hurricane Lorenzo being forecast to be affecting the weather by the end of the week so the plan was cancelled. I did manage a brief trip down the Swale on Monday afternoon, there was only a light breeze, in reality I could have probably got to Walton on Monday and returned today or tomorrow.

Anyhow back to work over last weekend I cut out the opening for the door in the enclosure and cut the edge trim for the door and then painted the back of the door so that it is now ready for final assembly. On Wednesday I did a final fit of the enclosure and then epoxied some wooden blocks to the bulkhead to support the enclosure.

The first task today was to remove the redundant Stowe echo sounder unit from the cockpit bulkhead, I had replaced it with a NASA unit as the Stowe transducer did not seem capable of operating from inside the boat, I then cut out a blank to cover the opening in the bulkhead. I have been thinking of utilising this opening possibly for an extension speaker for the VHF so the blank is sort of semi temporary at the moment its main purpose is to keep out the rain.

Echo sounder opening blanked off

The next move was secure the enclosure to the wooden blocks with screws so that it can be easily removed if required.

Enclosure secured in place

All that is required now is to make up some hardwood trim for the enclosure similar to that already fitted in the saloon, I still have some of the old teak from the cockpit benches on Shuda, my last boat, hopefully there will be enough and then finish off the assembly of the door