Arch proof of concept

Whilst I had a week back in England last week, Colin got on with some more boat jobs. The creaking floor is now fixed and varnished and some bits of interior varnishing finished off.

 Using some parts ordered from the UK, he also designed a proof of concept for our possible arch over the aft deck. Rather than having stainless tube welded, we will use stainless fittings to allow the tube to be fastened together. This will make manufacture of the arch much cheaper, although we still have to price it all up before deciding if we will go ahead and build it.

 One of the more unpleasant on-board jobs to keeping the toilet outlet pipe flowing smootly. Colin removed the pipe and cleaned it out by soaking overnight in vinegar and breaking off any larger pieces of 'stuff'. Having spent many hours having done this, he put it all back together and flushed through the system with fresh water. Only to find....... a pin hole leak! Rather than risk a repair, for €20, 2m of new sanitation hose was bought to replace the damaged pipe. Given that the pipe hasn't had a proper clean out since our winter in Falmouth nearly 3 years ago, we've done well not to get any blockages!

 Coming in to land last Saturday the pilot announced that it was 10c at Faro to which the whole plane responded with a groan. Thankfully it was a temporary blip and warm weather has returned making us keen to get some outside jobs started before the weather blips again. The Coelan coating we have used on our exterior woodwork has lifted off in places where water has worked it's way underneath. The surround of our turtle hatch (the cover into which our companionway hatch slides) was very badly damaged and the teak had gone black in places where it had been wet for so long and not dried out properly. So we removed the Coelan, gave it a good sand and it's almost back to its original colour. Where we had areas of Coelan damage elsewhere I've cut the damaged area away using a scalpel, lightly sanded then primed and re-coated with Coelan. It's not a perfect job as there is a raised area around the repair but it will keep the teak protected whilst we decide what to do next. We're not sure whether to go back to varnish or keep patching up the Coelan - we need to do some research on what survives best in the sun.

 
Enlarged holes for running lines through

 When we first set up the system for running the sail control lines back to the cockpit, we had to pass the lines through a low wooden screen, a splash guard, that surrounds the front of the cockpit. We made holes in the wood slightly larger than the lines and used line leads to prevent the lines rubbing on the inside of the holes. Unfortunately we experienced a lot of friction when using the lines from the cockpit, so bad that for furling the genoa we have to go outside the cockpit which defeats our original purpose. So Colin has enlarged the line holes in the splash guard which will hopefully remove the line friction.

 

This very well made (by Colin) wooden block and line-lead will hopefully solve the main halyard chafe problem up the top of the mast track. Colin now has the pleasure of going up there to fit it!

 So, a quarter of the way into our winter stay in Lagos and we've done quite well on getting lots of the smaller jobs done. However in a parallel to how as a student I suddenly found cleaning the house very interesting rather than revising for exams, we have been hiding from the trickier jobs and doing the small, easy jobs instead. Now it is time to tackle those bigger jobs - sorting out the fridge and making some dinghy chaps to protect it from the sun. Wish us luck!