Progress
Pretty horrible weather today until about 3. With the wind from the North and heavy rain it meant that the cockpit wasn't a good place to try doing epoxy work. Especially as work was on the floor that needed to be out of position. So this is where
Progress
Wow, a dry day! So we made excellent progress on our cockpit drains. First, we fitted the TruDesign through hulls, which the TruDesign seacocks will screw onto. We have followed their advice and epoxied them in (so in theory they are as strong as the hull itself). We sanded back
Electric
Well not much progress today because we nipped home last night as our old Diesel engine was being collected today. The forecast had also helped make the decision with another storm coming through. So rain nearly all day for the time we were in Manchester, rain for the journey back
Progress
So today we picked up a few jobs, none of which got completely finished. However, we did succeed with selling our Diesel engine (and have got paid this time!). First job was to create FR4 backing plates for the new seacocks (the TruDesign fittings need a minimum thickness which is
Progress
Having got the seacocks dry fitted we started on the top end of the new cockpit drains. Another scary job as we have had to cut the cockpit floor (removable section) and the supports for it. The shows marking out the cut in the cockpit floor which is where this
Progress
This morning was the scary task of making the new holes in the bottom of Vida (ironic given how much time was have spent filling old holes). Fortunately, the old raw seawater intake for the engine was positioned so that it is easier to access (not tangled up with the
Plans
So we have a clean and painted bilge below where the electric motor, batteries, motor controller, inverter, battery balancers etc are all going. Our "only" problem, before fitting everything, is that the bilge is gradually filling with water. There are currently quite a few sources of this, none
Progress
Today has been drier than forecast. So we have been getting on with hole related jobs. First I have turned the old fitting that held the stuffing box (the not quite waterproof, old fashioned way of sealing a propeller shaft) into a clean flange for a PSS Pro dripless seal.
Environmental
Some eagle eyed people might have spotted a new toy in the back of our van in the last post. Recently we were looking at the most environmentally safe way to remove the old anti-fouling paint. What we found is Peelaway Marine which sounds a lot better than the most
Environmental
So having had a big grumble in my last post, Teak decks. The worst “luxury” “upgrade” ever, it is time for the opposite. A celebration of the best upgrade you can make to your boat. The terrible pun in the post title probably gave away that the best upgrade is
Appliances
The need. Once we start cruising our plan is to spend the vast majority of time at anchor when we are not sailing. Partly this is to save money :-) For example, the nearest marinas to us at Conwy currently cost about £35 a night or £215 a week. A
Plans
In my last post (Deck repair question) I was writing about the inadequacies of our chainplate and particularly of the backing plate that have caused the only cracks in our deck. I shared it on the Rival Association's private FaceBook group and got some really helpful responses. It