March 2017
02 April 2017 | Hout Bay
steve
Beginning March and the mechanical components have been painted. Steel cutting and welding has commenced.....and stripping is continuing.
Stanchions and pinrails have been removed. Some small holes discovered thro the deck inside the stanchion / deck junction.
The strange external helm station has been removed and re-plated. The forward heads has some rust - why does this sound familiar ! ? Nothing serious so far tho.
Chain locker being stripped at the moment. Again, at first glance, all looks fairly ok !
Internally blasting has started in the ER.
Balance of the tanks have been glassed, split and molds removed. looks like we are going to keep all new tanks for water, giving total capacity of 1000L (plus a watermaker if it still works).
New tanks for black/grey systems will be made once engines in place and available space can be determined.
Some of the timber was sent back as it started to twist. So that means splitting is running 'behind schedule'.
Mid March, light sanding of hull above waterline has started to try and expose areas of concern.
Welder was fired as Andrew was not happy with their work. All 'new work' was cut out and redone to his standard.
Blasting inside is.......messy !! Stripping and scraping in localized areas continue.
On site 'redesign / fine tuning' happens all the time.
End March......oh boy !
A few holes found : (
The areas in the ER where there was concern turned out to have numerous pin-holes thro the skin. Decided to take out all 'suspect' steel and replace ! The chain locker, at the lowest point also has a hole. Again, decided to cut out and replace / repair. And not just the skin, the structure as well !
So far the largest area of concern in terms of rust is around the coach-house windows. One window in particular was quite bad and Andrew made the call to cut out and replace.
Regrettably the camera decided to stop recording for a while - again - so some of the interior views are.....'gone'
Blasting has been suspended....and the entire inside is now being needle chipped !
Damn its noisy !!!
This was done as there was concern that the blasting may miss areas of concern, so a more 'aggressive' method was turned to as an initial clean.
Maybe our sense of fear has been diminished by our previous attempt, but we aren't to stressed by the issues as they do seem localized / contained......I just hope we aren't speaking to soon !!
Unfortunately this has put the whole project back a touch tho.....and we wont talk about the budget, which we don't have wiggle room on, especially as the ZAR tanks !!
Externally, the above waterline is getting a second sanding. The new hatch positions have been cut (except 2), and all holes welded up.
The 2 new hatch positions to the aft cabin had to be relooked based on existing structure, and what is proposed for the deck layout. Important criteria was debated and 'fixed', and a compromise found.....well we hope it will work on the future deck layout....in theory it does : )))
The primary focus is to get the inside ready and painted, and the entire boat closed up.
Looking at the masts again, it was realized that they were different to what her sister-ship "Spirit of Victoria" was. This led to an idea of making them as 1 section, with no joints to hinder gaff movement; and to moving the aft shrouds back so as to obviate the need for running backstays.
The obvious idea of steel or aluminum was also mooted. Basic point of departure was if aluminum was as strong / stronger, and cheaper / same cost as, and as 'workable' for a pleb with a drill, screwdriver and a hammer....it would be considered.
For images see the side link 'Favourites - Stripping'