Back onboard for a long time hopefully.
24 April 2015 | Messolonghi marina
Sailblog update 19th April 2015.
It's hard to believe that I've already been back living on Nanjo for three weeks, the time is flying by. The list of jobs seems to be getting longer, and even the simple ones are taking 4 times longer than expected. I've honestly only had one day off work, how that came about is a story for later!!
It's been great being back onboard, I can't begin to explain how I feel, knowing that "this is it". After all the years of working and planning on living on a yacht, sailing where I like and having a very simple life, it's all finally come together. I've woken up every morning so far, happy and really without any serious cares. Apart from the price of beer and spinach/fetta pies. Even tackling what have turned out to be laborious crap jobs, has made me smile at the end of them, knowing that each tick off the list is a step nearer to Nanjo being launched, and put back in the environment in which she belongs. Keeping her ashore for two long years, I now know was a mistake. I really should have taken her sailing if even for a week or two each year. A lot of the minor (well so far problems) have been down to her standing ashore.
A charging problem had me scratching my head and digging out wiring manuals and the multi-meter, even with the solar panels and wind gen now up and running, my charge controller had an annoying flashing red light. It turned out in the end to be the start battery failing and dragging the house batteries down, and some corrosion in a couple of wiring joints. A simple fix, new start battery and some emery cloth, but took me most of a day to sort.
My leaking windows, were as expected a bitch of a job. Just trying to remove the air conditioning tin foil I had used to seal them took two days, it just wouldn't come away in bits bigger than a mm, after two years it had done it's job well tho, and Nanjo was dry inside. So, I guess two days work was a small price to pay, they are now sealed with arbosil, which depending on what forum you visit is the best stuff for the job. Needless to say, since I've resealed them, I've had no rain!!
The anchor locker hatch boards that Bonita started for me were a nice job to finish of. Just a bit of sanding, two coats of epoxy, two coats of epoxy undercoat and three coats of white gloss, with one coat of non slip sand added. The job looks pucker, and hopefully should last years. The danger of having a can of white gloss onboard, is it makes anything creamy look dirty! A little test patch on my saloon sides really showed this up, so a job not on the list was added. Three coats later, and I'm really glad that I took the trouble, it's brightened up the interior no end, just need to put up my new curtains now.
Vernon the "white van man" arrived a week after I did, with my boxs from the UK. It was great to see him again, as he had taken out my stuff when I had my years career break. But, by now, Nanjo was pretty full up inside with the stuff I had brought out over the last years. Any guests will be sleeping in the cockpit this year, I really should have made a list of what I had already onboard. I've now got 7 hammers? and enough tools to rebuild Nelsons HMS Victory. Just about everything is triplicated, but, you know what it's like with tools? You can never have enough!!
I tackled what I thought would be a mornings work, putting in my new fridge compressor and vapouriser unit, brought out by Vernon. The vapouriser fitted in my fridge casing after only minor trimming/bending with pliers. The thermostat, went back where the old one had been as well. By now, I'm thinking I'm on a roll, and an early lunch looked on the cards. It wasn't to be, the compressor comes already fitted on a mounting plate with everything partially coupled up. If it went back where the old unit was, it would have been a bitch to couple up, and servicing would have been a nightmare. So, I found a little space for it under the cooker in a locker. Just needed to make up a plywood plinth for it to stand on, fibreglass it in and bolt it down. Luckily I had some spare 3/4 inch ply from the anchor locker job, and enough tools to knock the plinth up. It all went really well, as can be seen in one of the pics, easy to service, easy to wire up as well. Only the two copper pipes to connect and I'll be having a cold beer in the evening! Wrong, the copper couplings were of different sizes!! It's the same manufacturer, why. The frustrating thing is I've had the units in my home for 7 months and never checked them. Luckily a quick e-mail to "Stiff Nipples" in Nidri, and when I sail there he might be able to help. So hopefully a happy ending in a few months time.
I've been working on two or three projects at a time, allowing paint to dry or glue to stick while getting on with something else. Nanjo is a complete mess at the moment. The saloon is littered with tools, paint, white spirit and just about everything needed to reconstruct a yacht. The bow cabin, is more my shed at the moment, all the big items not needed have been put in there "out of sight". I'm expecting her to sit a few inches lower in the water when she's launched on May 4th.
At the moment, my biggest ongoing job is to replace the "go faster stripes" on Nanjos cabin sides with painted on ones. Another job that I've totally underestimated in time to complete. Just taking the old vinyl stickers off was a nightmare, they were another milimetre at a time, even with the aid of my hot air gun. Then the real problem revealed itself, the sodding sticky residue left behind. I've gone over everything four times now, and I'm still not happy. A quick internet search gave me a few ideas on what to use, but only after seeing a video of the proffessionals using a plastic wheel in an angle grinder, did I realise what I was up against. I'm writing this and so far it's been a three day job, I've yet to key the sides, mask up for the new lines and apply the green and cream paint!! My jobs list said "2 days". I'm now constantly revising the jobs to do before launching, and putting the jobs I can do in a bay somewhere list together (it's getting longer).
My day off work came about because the night before, I had been invited to Peter and Trixs yacht for the evening to sample cheese fondue and have a lovely time. As usual, I had a fantastic time, eat far to much and drank way to much. I eventually left at 4am, slightly the worse for wear, but felt great. To get off there yacht, you have to climb over the bow. There is a purpose built ladder and I've done it many a time. This time tho, all I remember is cocking my leg over the rail, and ending up in the sea!! Luckily Peter had been behind me and seen me suddenly dissapear, thankfully for me he was more sober, and between us, I managed to climb onto the jetty. My first thoughts were, the waters warmer than expected! Then "how the fuck did that happen". Peter escorted me back to Nanjo and watched me climb her ladder, if you look at the photos of where she is and all the metal and junk lying around. Falling off her ashore would not be a good idea. I had sobered up enough to notice the blood dripping from my arm, big toe and hand. Mostly done on the barnacles I reckon, but slapping on some savlon after washing the cuts seemed a good idea before going to sleep. Well, when I eventually woke up, half the day had gone, and i felt like I had been knocked down by a bus, even after standing in a gorgeous shower for ten minutes. A quick visit to Peter and Trix to show I was still alive, and we had a chat over a coffee, about the evening and my sudden departure. It could have been a lot worse, it's a concrete jetty, i luckily completely missed it. After a 5min bike ride into town for a spinach pie, I was back onboard and just relaxing. Spent the day and evening avoiding beer completely.
My best bud, Bonita is arriving on the 25th for a months stay and a cruise up to Corfu. But first she will have to work for a week, another top job to do is replace the crap stanchion bases that have been on Nanjo since I bought her. A quick try at getting a stanchion out, has proved what I expected, the alloy stanchion and stainless steel base have corroded together. Looks like an angle grinder will be needed to separate them!! Oh well, there goes another one day job.