Pre-departure Lift & Polish

Nicky jetwashing BV

There's snow on the ground and we chose to play with a hosepipe and water. Given the air temperature you would be fully justified in questioning our sanity. Explaining that "my stern gland has a slight leak" would most likely raise an eyebrow or two rather than providing a full explanation, however, a few small drops of oil and water spotted dripping from our stern gland (propeller shaft seal) last September, and confirmed when we were sailing over Christmas, set in chain a decision-making process that led to a 'bracing' (= chuffing cold) few days working in the boatyard this week.

The transom polished up nicely

We had always wanted to give BV's hull a clean and polish just before our planned departure for NW Spain in 2 months time. That was for both cosmetic and practical reasons: all yachts sail much faster with a clean bottom and any extra polish on her topsides would help to protect BV from the strong sunshine we are hoping to find. Sadly back in November when I asked about space on the hard and the availability of the travel hoist in March, the yard staff looked at me as though I was a simpleton; surely I should have known that there would be no space on the hard and that the crane was already fully booked well into April lifting people's yachts back into the water in time for the 2013 season.

But for the small drops of oil we would have forgone polishing the topsides and used the nearby Sealift 2 submerging platform to lift us out in March. They lift you out for about 45 minutes, just long enough to jetwash BV's bottom before the platform is re-submerged and you have to move away to let the next yacht in. The drip, however, could not be ignored and it needed BV to be lifted out onto the hard to allow part of the drive shaft to be disconnected and drawn out. So, a deal was brokered to lift out BV in the last remaining space in January. It seemed like quite a good plan back in November when it was significantly warmer.

Prop polished up and then covered in lanolin wax

And so it was that this week I found myself at the helm of a 12 ton sailing yacht embarrassingly looking like it was about to become stuck sideways across the narrow entrance to the travelhoist pen. Proof that one of the unwritten rules of sailing is that there is never anyone watching when you 'park' a yacht perfectly, however, the whole world (or at least a good handful of boatyard staff) seems to be looking on when you get it wrong? Reversing a long fin keel yacht with a strong headwind is, admittedly, about the hardest manoeuvre to get right as they just want to go sideways when reverse is selected and the wind blows the bow away. But.... ones ego still takes a bruising when you are the one providing the 'entertainment' in a marina.

We had already discovered that if I went into the travelhoist forwards BV's forestay would hit the crossbeam when she was lifted, which is why she had to go in backwards. This wasn't a problem last time because the mast had been taken off first. The lift itself went okay apart from one heart stopping moment when the forward sling slipped just as she was being lifted out of the water. That could have ended our planned departure abruptly if BV had slipped out of the slings over the hardstanding; we have now learnt to always insist that the strops are lashed together wherever we are lifted in the future.

Once ashore the powerful  jetwash quickly cleaned off the small amount of slime and grot on the underside and then BV was moved into a cradle so that we could clean up the propeller and polish her topsides. Hard work, even with an electric polishing machine, but the results are spectacular.


















BV gleams with the reflections (including of the photographer) in her blue topsides; well worth the effort.

The new stern gland

The cosmetic improvements were most satisfying but the main reason for the lift was changing the stern gland. Not surprisingly we prioritise anything that is key to keeping the sea water on the outside of the hull so changing the stern gland at the first sign of any leak is a logical step. Our last one was very well made and, provided you looked after it with annual oil changes, was very long lived. Unfortunately it is no longer manufactured, I suspect because the profit margins were not there for a reliable, expensive to manufacture product. Getting a comparable replacement was surprisingly difficult because there is not much of the shaft between the stern tube and the shaft coupling. It seems that the last stern glad was quite compact and we found that the available dripless seals needed more clearance. After much searching, we found the stern gland pictured above. It's similar to the Volvo type of seal but with a couple of improvements: a water inlet to properly lubricate and flush the cutlass bearings plus a removable cap which allows the injection of silicon lubricating grease. Both should help keep it running well for several years to come. Fitting it was comparatively easy. The hardest part was driving out a rolled pin which goes through both the coupling and the drive shaft. Once that had been removed, and the bolts on the coupling loosened, we were able to draw out the shaft with me working on the inside and Nicky jiggling and pulling the propeller on the outside. The new stern gland was then fitted and the cleaned shaft pushed back into position with a small removable plastic device temporarily protecting the lips of the seal. After a bit of bashing to drive the pin back in, tightening of the bolts and connection of the water supply, the job was done. It needed a quick squeeze once BV was back in the water to let out any trapped air and since then we have not seen a single drop of water from it, which is the way we would like it to remain.

London Boat Show trophies

We have also been starting to collect together the last few bits and pieces that we need. In particular things that have left until close to our departure because they have an expiry date. For example, all four of the fire extinguishers have now been replaced so we can forget about them for a few years. The EPIRB (emergency beacon) battery also needed replacing but that is an expensive game that has to be done by a qualified technician. In the end, weighing up the costs, we decided to retire our 13 year old beacon and replace it with a new one that transmits for longer and has a longer period between battery replacements.

The London Boat Show provided an opportunity for us to pick up the 2013 almanacs plus a few other sundries. It was pretty exciting for us to actually be buying the electric charts for the Mediterranean and the last few courtesy ensigns for countries that we hope to be visiting over the next couple of years. It brings it home how close we actually are to setting off.

More Homework Required

Whilst we are waiting for the windows to be resealed we've taken the opportunity to remove the soft furnishings from BV. She's going to be our main home for quite some time so we wanted to check over all of the seat cushions and mattresses. The covers are all fine. They have now all been washed and we just need to reinforce the stitching in one or two places. The foam inside, however, was slightly saggy on the high-use seating areas and so we decided that it really should be replaced.

Getting hold of high quality replacement foam is very easy through suppliers on the internet but it tends to be available cut into pretty simple square and rectangular shapes. Our issue was that BV's mattresses and seat cushions needed considerably more sculpting to fit around the curves and the woodwork. Trying to cut those intricate shapes with a sharp knife would not have worked well and the only foam cutters we could find seemed to be very expensive top-of-the-range commercial spec equipment; definitely outside our price range for a one-off job on BV.

























Fortunately for us, all was not lost. Digging around on the internet we discovered a fantastic tip on how to cut foam... use an electric carving knife. Absolute genius! The reciprocating blades cut through the foam very easily and we found that, with a little care and teamwork with one of us watching each side, we were able to cut even the most intricate shapes really neatly. The new firm reflex foam has really made a difference. The mattresses and seat cushions are much firmer, they are certainly more comfortable and have a much better shape. Definitely a job worth doing and not difficult either with the old foam and the covers available as templates to aid the 'sculpting' process.

The start of stripping back the varnish

Nicky has turned her hand to sorting out the three troublesome cabin doors. Their last coats of varnish just didn't work out and appeared to lift an old lower coat in a few patches. Frustrating but there was nothing for it but to strip back the layers of varnish, sanding pretty much as far as bare wood. Tedious preparation work but really important to get right if the final effect is to do justice to the amount of effort involved and the quality of finish to which we aspire. Sadly, in the marine environment varnished areas will always need regular attention. Even if Nicky achieves the absolute perfect finish this time round it will be relatively temporary with BV needing some more TLC and varnish work on the same doors in a year or two. Whilst we are on our travels there is no doubt that keeping BV up to spec will prevent us from getting bored; there is always going to be an outstanding maintenance task or two to stop us from getting too lazy.

Nicky's 'varnishing shop' takes over the house

Varnishing the cabin doors whilst they were still fitted to BV during the winter was guaranteed to end in disappointment; varnish does not go on well in cold and damp air. So, to give ourselves the best chance of success, the cabin doors were brought home. Our spare bedroom was lined with plastic to make a warm and protected environment to complete the varnishing and between-coat sanding. Nicky thinks that she might get away with around seven coats of varnish with the last couple being in a satin finish.  That would be very good considering that you can only cover one side at a time and that each side needs about 24hrs to dry hard enough to be moved without leaving fingerprints on it. It's a long slow process.

As a result of our experiences with varnishing over the years I have to say that I am in awe of the sailors who own all wooden yachts; particularly those with varnished wooden topsides.  Whilst BV is beautifully fitted out in teak throughout the interior and that does take a lot of work to keep looking good, at least the surfaces are inside the boat and therefore protected from the worst of the elements and UV. I sometimes wonder how owners of wooden yachts ever get the time to actually go sailing in amongst the varnishing work.

Whilst Nicky has been busy with a varnish brush, I have been busy with a paint brush. The passerelle project is progressing reasonably well. An irritating setback there has also resulted in some stripping back because of a sub-standard topcoat finish. However, now we are using a different brand of undercoat and topcoat we seem to be back on track and the results are looking good so far. The final, hopefully gleaming, finish will be revealed in a later blog.

The Start of the Last Big Pre-departure Task

We knew that getting the windows out was likely to be a major task. On 8 January we removed all of the screws holding the windows in place and handed over to Barry the shipwright so that he could do the potentially damaging part of actually removing the windows and frames. The frames are made from aluminium and need to be levered out very carefully so that the are not distorted or the anodising damaged. Having removed hundreds of windows Barry has the experience to know just how much force can be used. Much as it would have been quite satisfying to do the work ourselves, if we had tried to learn how strong the frames are by removing BV's windows, we'd most likely have run up a big bill for new window frames; a potentially expensive way of learning we felt best to avoid.

The first window - not budging!

Despite Barry's best efforts, however, the first window did not want to come out. What was supposed to be a half day job to remove eight windows was starting to look like it would take two days. Barry was on the verge of delaying his afternoon clients' work when suddenly the first window popped out. It was a great relief to actually get the first window out and, even better, there was no damage to either the gelcoat or the aluminium frame. The only issue was that it had taken an hour and a half to remove just one window.

One done - only seven more to go!

Before

After

Amazingly the second window took just ten minutes to remove and then the same for each subsequent window. Barry was on a roll and got the whole job, including cleaning up the gelcoat with acetone, completed by early afternoon.

Closer inspection of the first frame showed that it had been put in with a different sealant. It had probably been removed at some stage and replaced with the wrong sort of sealant. We were very pleased that there was just one like that!



We have now dropped off the windows and frames with a company that specialises in making and refurbishing windows like ours. They will split the aluminium frames apart, remove the glass and then, after cleaning out all of the old perished rubber sealant, will rebuild them with new sealant so they are watertight again. That will take a couple of weeks to complete. In the interim, we will have to learn to live with Barry's idea of a zany new colour scheme for BV!

New Year Workout

After the Christmas excesses, whilst everyone else seems to be joining gyms and enthusiastically taking up intense fitness programmes, we have found an alternative way of working-out; replacing our anchor chain.

Our old chain definitely needed to be re-galvanised or replaced before we set off. We had 60 metres of 10 millimetre chain but have decided that, because we expect to be anchoring much more often, we should increase that. Despite the extra weight we have gone for 100 metres of 10 millimetre chain.

100 metres of chain weighs around 230 kilogrammes. After removing the old 60 metres of chain, lugging the new chain down to the pontoon and laying it out to mark the lengths, our muscles were definitely telling us that we had been moving over a third of a ton of steel.

We have spliced the chain to 50 metres of thick octoplait rope. The combined 150 metres of anchor chain and warp will allow us to anchor safely in up to about 35 metres depth of water. They somewhat fill the anchor locker but, with BV's canoe shaped bow, the extra chain forward has not changed the trim excessively; she actually now sits level rather than very slightly stern down.

So after all that work replacing the chain it's time to go to the gym for a rest!

Our First Sail in 2013

All of that waiting for a good weather window was worth it as the sea was much more settled when we finally set off from Guernsey on 2 January 2013. We had a fantastic crossing to Portsmouth which only took 16 hours. Nicky's navigation calculations worked out perfectly; we were pushed northwards from Guernsey and on through the Alderney Race by the tide, with our speed over the ground in double figures. Once across the Channel, we arrived at the Needles Channel just as the tide started to flow east to help us through the Solent as the wind dropped off at night. For most of the passage we had 15-23 knots of wind on the beam so BV sailed fast and comfortably. Visibility, however, was not great dropping to 1-3 miles mid Channel. Radar and AIS technology helped us cross the busy shipping lanes safely but despite the 'big picture' they provide, at times it still feels as though we are the frog trying to cross the motorway in that old computer game 'Frogger'.

The best part of the passage, however, was watching the sunrise.