Not Cooking on Gas.....
10 May 2016 | Hayling Island, Portsmouth, UK
Graham
Apologies for the delay in updating the blog but we have been incredibly busy! Every day is a minimum 12 hour working day at the moment but we did take some time out last weekend to walk to the seafront and have some excellent fish and chips on the first really sunny day since arriving at Hayling Island. Progress has been extensive over the past two weeks. Although some days are frustrating and you get the feeling that nothing has been achieved, looking back on the week you quickly realise how much has really been achieved. We finally managed to pull through the new cabling for the communications antennas under the flooring which ended up taking best part of five hours in total and generating some real back aches for a few days! The photo above shows the final demise of the fantastic Taylors 041 Gas Cooker, circa 1987. This was a sad day but a total global lack of spares meant that we were unable to replace the two burner units which had rusted to dust while we were in Saudi Arabia. The replacement shiny new cooker looks great in the galley and will be all the better once I reinstall the gas supply so that we can actually use it to cook with...Work on the bow thruster continues but is not yet completed, hopefully soon though or the two large holes in the bow will certainly let in the ocean very rapidly. Every day is very different working on the boat and you need to be a jack of all trades, master of, well, all really. Tracey has been doing an excellent job of cleaning all of the teak rubbing strakes, toe rails and stainless steel work prior to the full boat polish due later this week. This has been an extremely time consuming and tiring task. Luckily the weather has been great for the past week until today. The rudder has been dropped from the boat to allow new nylon bearings to be installed as the rudder had partially seized and was straining the steering cables. Whilst carrying out some other steering-related checks at the same time, I discovered that the electronic autopilot has finally given up the ghost. A quick search of Google identified no more spares available for the obsolete system so eBay to the rescue (yet again) to find a suitable control unit for a replacement steering computer that I bought off eBay about five years ago as a backup. The mast has also been removed from the boat by crane to allow easier changes of running rigging (ropes). It has also allowed me to replace the radar and check the general state of the mast, lights and aerials which are all in good condition. Unfortunately, some of the fixed stainless steel rigging also needs replacing so the job for Barry the Rigger is bigger than anticipated. A visit by John from FlexiTeak to measure up for the cockpit seating is now complete and new seats are expected late this week, some more preparation work needed to make ready for the fit – tomorrow’s top priority job! Yesterday, Julie and Martin from Comfort Afloat arrived on board and departed with all of our soft furnishings to initiate re-upholstering, some replacement and new curtains which were on their last legs after twenty years service. The foam-backed vinyl glued to the plywood ceilings in the saloon has totally disintegrated so half of the saloon roof is down at the moment. Purchase of a ten metre roll of new vinyl has been the first step towards a major repair job at some point in the next week! Installation is now near completion of our Eberspacher diesel heater although by the time I come to test it summer will be here so we won’t need it! Various other works remain ongoing: galley refurbishment is progressing well, cockpit locker woodwork repairs are now completed, the fridge is now operational running from a large solar panel and small 12V battery at night, repairs to the fibreglass on the transom following a minor incident some years ago in Gibraltar are complete and look good. In addition to all of the above, we have also managed to visit the ‘local’ a few times for great beer, some live acoustic music, good food and even an unexpected quiz night. Despite now being proficient in plumbing, electrical, electronic, rigging, fibre-glassing, painting and polishing, communications, navigation and err...sailing?, we have more to do than expected. So this week’s plan is to finish everything outstanding from the last two weeks and un-seize the anchor windlass, sand and apply antifoul to part of the boat and replace the badly corroded anchor chain. I think once we have completed all of that, we will be ready for some sea trials which I had planned to start on the 21 May. I think I must have dreamed that date as it seems most unlikely at the moment!!