Shore supply

 I have recently started a new project which is to install a shore power supply this will be useful for a number of reasons, the main one is to keep the batteries fully charged in the winter especially when using the heater which I have not got round to yet. I started by installing the connection for the incoming supply in the forward cockpit bulkhead, I used a previous opening which housed the defunct Stowe echo sounder, wherever possible I try to to reuse openings I have an aversion to cutting unnecessary holes in the boat.

Shore power connection

The shore power connection is linked directly to a two way consumer unit with a 30mA RCD, the earth is connected via a galvanic isolator to protect the boats metalwork from any stray currents. It is recommended that the earth for the 240v shore power system is connected to the boats earthing system so that operation of the boats RCD is not reliant on the marina earthing system. However if there are stray earth currents from other boats or the marina pontoons a circuit can be set up which can lead to rapid degradation of the boats anodes and/or under water metalwork. The galvanic isolator is basically a capacitor connected between the marina earth and the boats earth.

Galvanic isolator and consumer unit

The galvanic isolator and the consumer unit are installed in the quarter berth on the aft side of the bulkhead, the galvanic isolator was Sterling Power Products Pro Save A 16 amp unit. I have installed three single unswitched socket outlets one in the forward cabin, one in the aft cabin and one in the saloon, Again these were positioned to cover up redundant holes in the internal moulding although they are in a practical usable position. The sockets are by a company called Berker available from Fearneaux Riddall.

Aft cabin socket

Saloon socket

Forward cabin socket

The large hole in the internal moulding in the aft cabin was the original route for the engine exhaust and will be utilised for the heater outlet in the aft cabin eventually. I have also installed a Sterling Power Products battery charger. I have run out of places to install an object this size so I made a recessed panel, basically a wooden box, and screwed it to tha back of an opening in the longitudinal bulkhead that runs the length of the quarter berth underneath the chart table.

Battery charger 

The shore supply system is largely complete and up and running the final part of the job is to connect the calorifier immersion heater to the system which is next weeks task. I have managed a couple of sailing trips so far as well as the odd day sail, the main aim was to reach Lowestoft but was defeated by the weather on the first attempt but still managed an enjoyable week away in the river Blackwater, the second trip away to the Walton Backwaters was also defeated by the weather after reaching Pyefleet but a plan 'B' back t to Stangate creek and the Medway ensured that all was not lost  

 

New mainsail

The existing mainsail suffered some damage during storm Eunice this year, my fault as I had not taken the sails off for the winter as I normally do, I had removed the spray hood. The damage was not serious some stitching had come undone on the leech but as the sail was old possibly as old as the boat I decided to replace it, two years ago the local sailmaker said it was on its last legs something like if you get another season out of it you will be lucky. I did a temporary repair to the old sail with some sail repair tape and ordered a new sail from Crusader Sails also a stack pack. The aim was to convert to slab reefing from the old roller reefing so I also ordered a new Barton 32mm slab reefing kit

Barton slab reefing kit

The new sail arrived a week ago so the first job was to temporarily bend it on to make sure that the major dimensions were OK, it fitted without any problems.

Trial fit

Once I had established that the sail would fit I went ahead and drilled and tapped the boom for 6mm countersunk machine screws, the track and screws were anointed with Duralac paste to prevent corrosion from the dissimilar metals, namely the stainless steel screws and the aluminium track and boom, in contact with each other.

Barton reefing kit attached to the boom

I put a couple of cleats at the forward end of the boom to make off the reefing lines I had originally intended to machine a radius on the bolting face of the cleats to match the boom which is circular in cross section however there was not sufficient material on the cleats so I had to machine a couple of pads to fit under the cleats.

Cleats with backing pads

The boom was again drilled and tapped for 6mm countersunk machine screws and the cleats secured again using Duralac paste.

Cleats fitted to the boom

The sail has in fact got three reefing points but as I was only expecting two for some reason I only purchased two cleats I will therefore obtain and fit a third cleat, the other outstanding detail is to fit some means of supporting the reefing lines along the boom to reduce the sagging. Lazy jacks were already rigged on the mast so I reused them to support the new stack pack, they could possibly do with being a bit higher up the mast I think that the recommended height is 70% of the mast height, at present they are just under the spreaders I shall see how they work before changing them.

Stack pack and lazy jacks

Several weeks ago I spotted another Moody 33 mk1 project on E-bay she was in a similar dismantled condition to New Morning when I bought her, I immediately thought do I want to do it all over again, there was a resounding do not even think about it from several friends and so common sense prevailed. However I had a Baldrick* moment. The boat had been professionally fitted with a new 37hp Beta engine eight years ago which had never been run and with a starting bid of £3000 and no reserve I thought if nobody else bids I could come in at the end and obtain a new engine for £3000, I would then swap it for the Perkins currently in New Morning and put the other boat back on E-bay 99p starting bid with no reserve and any money made would have been an added bonus. There were some possible problems the main one was that the other boat was in Emsworth so the storage fees were fairly high and any delay in selling would have reduced any financial advantage. However the whole project was scrubbed when the boat was taken off the auction site maybe it was no bad thing in the end.

* For those that do not reside in the UK Baldrick was a rather scruffy manservant played by Tony Robinson in a TV comedy series called Blackadder also staring Rowan Atkinson as Sir Edmund Blackadder. It was set in various periods of history. When the chips were down and they were about to lose their heads Baldrick always came up with the immortal words 'I have a cunning plan' and would then go on to outline s stupid plan to save themselves.

 

Further thoughts on the heater

 I have been looking into possibly installing the diesel heater in the steering gear space utilising CAD, that is cardboard aided design. I mocked up a bracket with the idea of glassing it to the inside of the transom. this will give a vertical surface to take the heater mounting bracket.

Mock up of heater bracket

This should allow the various connections to clear the steering gear without resorting to tight bends. Only other question is should I still go for a Russian made heater assuming of course that I can still get one.

I have also completed the woodwork in the heads by covering the gaps between the sole moulding upstand and the forward and aft bulkheads.

Gaps between sole and bulkheads

As can be seen the sole moulding is not a particularly good fit and from what I can make out was originally covered with an overlapping layer of the blue laminate, which the bulkheads were finished in, with varnished hardwood trim. Yacht brokers photographs of their boats for sale can be most useful even if you have no intention of buying the boat. As I did not have sufficient white laminate left I decided to use some more merenti dyed and varnished as the door frames. This was sizes to cover the gaps, if you get down on the sole the variable overlap does show up a bit but from a normal standing position I think it looks OK. It was finished with a fillet of white Puraflex 40 to seal the joint.

Timber trim varnished ready for fitting

All fitted

The heads are just about complete now I do need to finish fairing the gelcoat on the sole but as that will require applying more gelcoat it can wait until the warmer weather, The next task is to start getting ready for the upcoming season I hope that there will not be so many interruptions from the Wuhan flu this year.

Door frames finished this week

I finally wrapped up the door frames this week by completing the aft door. After completing the forward door frame I made up the final piece of the liner for the opening I had to glue two pieces together to get the right size it was then glued and screwed into place and then I cut two pieces of laminate for the infill on each side of the door. I already had the rest of the parts of the door frame made up so it was just a matter of securing them and plugging the screw holes, sanding all over and then applying two coats of Colron deep mahogany wood dye. Once the dye had fully dried it was just a matter of applying three coats of varnish and the job is done.

Aft door from forward

Aft door from aft

Aft door from aft

For the next project I will be looking at the diesel heater installation again I had originally planned on installing it in the void space at the aft end of the quarter berth, however this will entail fitting a square tee in the hot air duct almost immediately after the heater outlet which is not good duct work practise also the heater exhaust would need to be in the side of the boat again not recommended as when the boat is heeled water may enter the exhaust also I have heard of fenders being melted by being accidentally placed in way of the hot exhaust so it will be back to the drawing board next week.