A Week In The Cold

Time flies when you're focussed on rebuilding a boat and it's been over a week since I last posted an update.  The last week has been very cold in the boatyard which is both a good thing and a bad thing.  Good, because the frosty mornings make the boatyard and creek look lovely.

 Bad, because the cold leads to lots of condensation which stops us from filling, sanding and painting the hull.  It also has slowed down the hardening of the filler we are using so the sanding discs keep clogging up, which is very frustrating.

On a positive note, I have replaced all the beam shelf bolts and the additional deck planks arrived early in the week so Bridget got them all painted up and I have been fitting them on the foredeck.......the only thing is, I still don't think I have enough!

I gave the dead space where the rudder gear is a thorough cleaning and removed a large amount of debris, some of which had been there for many years.  I have refitted the stern tube and rudder shaft assembly, but I'm thinking that I should have lubricated the shaft first as the steering gear feels quite stiff.  There is a mechanical greasing system but I'm not sure it is capable of forcing grease all the way down.  It's probably best to remove the shaft and grease it.

The instruments are now all relocated and seem to be working ok, although the radar is making an annoying alarm sound.  I don't think it was doing this before but I'm not sure.  However, the radome is not connected so that might have something to do with it.  I was planning on temporarily wiring the radome to the main unit but the wires were cut when the boat was transported from Kent.  Why would you do that?  I need another day to splice the wiring loom together.

The woodburner is ordered and should be with us a week on Wednesday.  There's a bit of prep work needed before I can install it but other things are taking priority.

Back at it tomorrow!  In the meantime. here's a photo of our next project.....

Only Joking.........................!

More Timber Needed

I've been asked what I meant by plugging away.  When the top planks were replaced (the shear strakes) they were screwed onto the hull frames using stainless steel screws.  Each screw hole is counterbored so that the screwhead sits below the surface.  One method filling the holes is to use a filler, or fairing compound, but over time the filler can crack and fall out exposing the heads.  A better method is to use wooden plugs, cut to the correct size from the same type of timber as the plank itself.  These are glued in place and, once the glue has set, the excess is cut back and the whole thing is planed/sanded back to give a flush fit.  This is what the hull planks looked like this morning when we got to the boatyard:

As you can see there's a fair bit to clean up.  In the meantime Bridget has got cracking with mixing up the filler for the caulking seams and prepping the hull for sanding back to a smooth finish.

My main task today was to progress the laying of deck planks.  I'm finding this an extremely satisfying job as I now really feel as though we have turned the corner and we are in the rebuild phase.  I have managed to get the port side foredeck planks laid, but before I can progress any further I have to drill and refit all the beam-shelf bolts which have now arrived. I have also underestimated the amount of planking I need.  Not sure how that happened, given that maths and geometry are supposed to be my strong subjects!

Plugging Away

Yesterday was partly taken up with researching wood stoves and visiting a local manufacturer.  We have decided to fit a Salamander Hobbit stove.  They are designed and built by a local company and are ideal for small spaces.  Check out their website at https://salamanderstoves.com.  The issue I'm now wrestling with is how to seal the flue exit in the saloon roof.  More on that to follow in the coming days.  The rest of the day was spent battling Storm Brendan as it threatened to tear down my tarpaulins that are protecting the bow of Wendy Woo.

Today was much more productive.  Bridget got cracking with plugging the screw holes in the new shear strakes.  The process includes making the plugs using a specialist cutter and then gluing them in place, making sure the grain of the wood is aligned.  There are hundreds to do!

Given that Bridget has not used a pillar drill before, she took to the task and within a few hours all the holes were plugged.

In the meantime, I set about fitting deck planks.  I had been struggling with using slot-head screws as the bit kept jumping out and gouging the planks.  The sight of the parcel courier bringing me a box full of pozi-drive stainless screws was very welcome.  I find pozi-drive far easier to use and I quickly managed to get the planking fitted around the foredeck hatch.  There's still a long way to go, but I feel as though good progress has been made.

Incidentally, when we got to the boatyard this morning we were greeted by possibly the highest tide we have seen sine getting the boat out of the water.  We could almost have put her in reverse and motored off the ramp.  Must have been all the rain we have had!

Storm Brendan

Continued to work on the instrument panel today.  I have used the navigation table to make up a panel to fit alongside the electrical switch panel.  It took a while to get the right shape and then do all the marking out prior to cutting out the apertures.  I'm not particularly good with the router, but it's all practice.

One slot done, and I had hoped to finish the panel this evening, but then Storm Brendan made its presence felt.  Thankfully not to our boat, but a temporary shelter being used for storage took flight and threatened to take a trip up the river.  So I put down my tools and helped recover the debris in the growing dark.  It serves as a reminder that nature really is in charge, particularly in the marine environment.

Both breast hooks are now fitted which means that I can start to relay the deck planks.  Work on the instrument panel can be put to one side for now as the priority has to be getting the boat watertight.  Lots of screws to fit.

In the meantime, check out Creekside Limited on Facebook

More Spaghetti

I've been having some fun(?) over the past couple of days trying to identify and trace wiring.  When we bought Wendy Woo her mizzen mast was unstopped.  Also, when she was road moved from Ramsgate to Dartmouth her main mast was unstopped as well (obviously).  However, it would appear that when the masts were removed the electric cables serving various systems were just cut at deck level.  Given that there are cables serving navigation lights, deck lights, VHF aerials, radar antennae and other, possibly redundant systems, I have had to try and identify each one.  This isn't helped by the fact that the masts are still lying beside the hull and so I'm unable to connect systems together.  But this all appeals to my logical brain and I think I now know what each cable does.  I'll work out a way of testing things like the radar prior to fitting the masts as it will be easier to repair things at deck level.

No photographs of work today to here's one of earlier days:

Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud!

Well, I got cracking with removing the instrument panel today.  All cables disconnected, labelled and pulled through the bulkhead to where I plan to reinstall the displays.  There is now a rat's nest of wiring hanging down in the saloon....

I then removed the chart table and the cupboard below, but this is where the cloud to our silver lining comes in.  There has obviously been a leak through the coachroof for some time and the damp has led to mould and rot setting in to the bulkhead timber.  Although it's not really a cloud is it?  If we hadn't made the decision to fit a woodburner we would have been none the wiser to this festering corner of our home.  Oh well, the only thing to do is to cut out all the affected wood and replace it.

We would have had to fit a fireproof bulkhead anyway, so it's not really wasted effort.  I have cut out all the bulkhead timber and tomorrow I will rebuild with fresh wood prior to covering with heat resistant materials.  

Anyone Fancy Spaghetti?

Ok, so we have decided to fit a woodburning stove into our boat.  We have thought long and hard about whether to fit one and, if so, where would it go.  We didn't want to lose seating space in the saloon so the only option really is to remove the chart table and cupboard and build a hearth in its place.  I am a fan of paper charts.  They aren't reliant on fancy electronics, power supplies and software updates and so, to me, losing the chart table is a big decision.  However, I can always use the saloon table to do chartwork and perhaps I should grasp the nettle and buy myself some decent software for use on a laptop as my primary means of navigation.

However, it's not only the table that presents a problem.  The instrumentation is mounted on the bulkhead in front of the table and the electrical switch panel is next to it.  So all of this needs to be relocated.

I think I might be able to leave the switch panel in situ and protect it with a fireproof bulkhead, but the electronic displays need to be moved.  I have started to tackle the spaghetti of wiring behind the panel making sure all wires are labelled as they are diconnected.  I plan to pull the wiring through and build a new display panel on the side wall.  But should I keep all the instruments.  Is Navtex worth keeping? and the chart plotter is pretty dated now, particularly if I'm going down the route of using a laptop.  Any advice gratefully received.

More wiring tomorrow.....and oh yes, how to choose the right stove?