Last weeks in Eastbourne

Two weeks into April and still the list of jobs to do appears to get bigger by the day!
Lynne has now left work and is now able to help me organise all the storage on the boat which means that we have spent the last week trying to squeeze all manner of items into lockers and behind seat cushions. It probably did not help the cause, purchasing a couple of second hand fold up bikes (Thanks Ewen and Pauline) but we thought they might come in useful along the way.


Fold up bike

At the start of the month, the new batteries were ordered and fitted. The original lead acid ones had lasted well but as they are located under the aft bunk they were a right pain to get to, to check and top up levels. Also, the House Bank was only 330AH and we wanted to take the opportunity to switch to Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) types and add an extra one in the un-used space beside the existing  batteries.
Having spent months reading the pro's and cons of different types of batteries it eventually came down to cost and we purchased a total of 6, 120AH batteries this means that we now have a 480Ah House Bank and new engine and bow thruster batteries.


New House Bank installation

Bow thruster and new battery

We also sent off our Mc Murdo EPIRBto be serviced as it was coming up to 5 years old. Many thanks to Sue Brown of Sartech Engineering for a seamless process.
Talking of Seams.....
A small tear at the base of the sprayhood next to one of the 3 zippers that keep the base in place, had been bugging us for a few weeks now. It would need a small repair at least. Friends Sue and Phil advised knowingly, that such repairs should be undertaken without fail before a Biscay passage. It was therefore timely to see Mark Davey of Marine Trimming whilst in the local boatyard. Mark kindly popped on the boat and to our horror, pulled the base of the sprayhood off the zips as the stitching turned to dust! Who would have thought that we get so much UV degredation in the UK! In the future we will take the sprayhood off when not in use for extended periods. You live and learn.

Last weekend, Lynne did a great job of servicing the engine under the supervision of our good friend Tim who is a marine mechanic. Tim and Tina from Shiraz (See our Dieppe Blog) will be joining us in the Med as soon as they can and until then, we will miss them very much.

The remaining checklist is just about complete and my next email will be to Allspars in Pymouth to book a rigging check, boom brake and whisker pole.


A month or so back I won an auction on eBay for a used passerelle. Lynne and I had been looking for one for a while but thought we would have to buy a new one. By chance, one happened to come along and the bidding began. From the pictures on the website, the passerelle looked to be very high quality and despite being stored in a garage for a decade this looked to be just the ticket. Thankfully or final bid was sucssesful and within a week Lynne was taking it apart, cleaning the teak and polishing the stainless steel. It became apparent that this was not just a passerelle but could also be used as a bow boarding ladder. The fitting that came with it would not fit on our bow roller so a local stainless steel fabricator was commissioned to make a new one. No pictures just at the moment but will take some soon.

The passerelle is necessary for Med mooring, to illustrate, here is a picture I took a while back on a flotilla vacation. Please note that most paserelle's have wheels on the 'dock end' and flippers are a pure subsitute and yes, in case you ask, there was not a diver under the ladder when it was lowered!

The beers cans came from the boat and lead to the local bar.

Typical Med Mooring!

And a local bar!

At the end of this month we will head to Plymouth in readiness for the June start of the ARC Portugal

Many thanks to so many family/friends/bertholders who have made our time at Sovereign Harbour so enjoyable and the Premier Marina staff who have been brilliant.

All being well, our next post will be from Plymouth.

Steve and Lynne

2012 Haul-Out

It is time once again for the annual haul-out. Actually, this year we took the decision to take Scarlet out of the water a couple of months earlier than normal to address any issues as soon as possible pending our plans to sail to the Med this year.

Scarlet's home for the next 4 weeks

The underside looked to be in good shape but on closer inspection, the anti-foul had started to blister in a number of places where the pre-purchase survey was carried out. I suspect that the paint was scraped away to the gel-coat to get a moisture reading and the patches were just painted over without being primed. Not a big deal but it would mean extra work to 'feather' the edges and apply a couple of coats of primer. The inside of the bow thruster tunnel was also looking a bit 'scabby' so I used a shave hook to remove the flaky paint.

 Thruster tunnel and one of may flaky survey patches on the hull.

Most of the paint in the tunnel now out and the edges of the survey patch now feathered in readiness for a couple of coats of primer. I removed the thruster blades to make access easier.

The stern gear also need a clean and the propeller was coated in barnacles. Over the years I have read many articles regarding prop cleaning but I tend to stick to removing the grunge, a light rub with some wet and dry and finally a polish with some Brasso.

Before



After

Once the survey patches were taken care of, I wet sanded the hull by hand and cleaned the residue off with a mild detergent. The weather by now, had turned very cold and the day time temperature struggled to get much above a few degrees C. This meant waiting for the weekend when it would be warm enough to apply the anti-fouling (Hempel Tiger Xtra). Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and the first snow of the year arrived.

Thankfully a few days later and most of the snow had gone and the temperature finally rose above freezing.


One issue of concern was only spotted at the last minute just before Scarlet went back in the water last year and this was a hairline crack at the top of the rudder. If the crack was left it would almost certainly result in water ingress and weaken the area around the rudder stock. In order to get to the area to repair the rudder, it first needed to be dropped by about six inches. Thanks to Matthew Yeomans of Mathews Boat Care, the repair went smoothly as you can see from the pictures below.

It is not easy to see but take my word for it, there is a small hairline fracture close to the rudder stock.

 As far as we could tell, little or no water ingress had taken place which was a great relief.

The finished result below

The rest of the work was straightforward and a week later, all was done. All that remained was to have a long soak in the bath, anti-fouling gets everywhere and pop Scarlet Lady back in her mooring.

         

In the coming months the original lead acid batteries will be replaced with Absorbed Glass Mat versions and we are considering fitting a Walder Boom Brake

As soon as the weather improves, we will have a series of shake down cruises before leaving for Plymouth in May.