The big day is getting nearer! I can feel it! The main jobs list is shortening each day! Interior lockers are now all painted and the keels have had a dose of fertan. The next few jobs I might even get done in one day if I’m extra lucky.
antifoul primer
antifoul
fit new fire extinguishers (bought already)
polish gelcoat (if I have time)
tidy up remaining woodwork (maybe do this after launch)
re-attach stanchion lines
I’ve also started bringing home tools that I don’t need at the yard now, and brought back the fenders for a good scrub. Unfortunately 2 of them have got punctures so those need to be replaced.
There isn’t very much in the way of prep jobs I can do away from the yard. I think next winter I will take MUCH more home, it’s just a question of finding space for it.
Getting ever closer to launch day now. All fibreglass strengthening work is done and yesterday I was able to tick off two things on my TODO list!
Re-paint inside bilges
Teak oil rubbing strake
Which were actually quite enjoyable jobs and didn’t take too long.
I had also planned to put a coat of antifoul primer on but decided to liberally apply fertan to the keels more than I did last year (I only had half a bottle spare) so this time I aimed at covering all the slightly rusty spots. Perhaps when Rosie next comes out of the water i’ll strip all the paint of the keels and go back to metal and epoxy them. Not a job for this year though.
The BSS is coming due too. I’ve contacted the examiner used by the last owner and should be able to get that done so I’ve treated Rosie to some new things:
2x new 1Kg 8A fire extinguishers
1x new Carbon-monoxide alarm
The BSS includes an item about fixed bilge pumps to prevent oil/fuel being discharged. The Centaur came with a big fixed whale pump. Ours still works but I’ve never had cause to use it. but it does reach right under the engine into the “oil safe” area. According to the BSS this means the pump outlet should use a anti-hydrocarbon 5PPM filter, so I think I’ll have to get that added-in.
In the same area. And I can’t believe I never noticed before, perhaps I was confused from seeing all the facebook photos of other Centaurs. Ours doesn’t have a waterlock on the engine exhaust.
Rosie’s MD11C is VERY noisy, especially compared to all the other broads boats. It’s slightly embarrassing that even in idle it is too loud to be relaxing. So, once she’s in the water I will strongly consider adding a Vetus waterlock after saving up a little.
More than a decade before I set foot on deck, Faraway II was the boat sailed by Gerry Hughes and Matthew Jackson on the first ever unaided circumnavigation of the British Isles in 1981 by a deaf crew.
Last couple of trips to the workshop have gone well! I got myself a new grinder and some flap disks and removed one of the old “factory-fitted” strengthening braces around the starboard keel area.
After watching some videos of Ben Sutcliffe and his famous hammer I thought I’d have a go too. At the start when I noticed the cracks after Rosie had been lifted out they looked only minor to me.
All around where the “rib” is bonded to the hull should be the same sound (there will be a dead sound on the keel stub face because there is Sikaflex the other side). You can hear in the video at around 14 seconds that the sound changes to a much lower tone. Which is the sound of the fiberglass there acting like a drum rather than a solid. You can hear the same sort of sound at about 35 seconds where I tap a non-structural area that I know is thin and has a gap underneath.
I went home, got myself a bigger grinder and some 60 grit flap disks and returned a week later.
Half way through using the small grinder I’d got rid of the easy bits, At this stage I’d only removed the thin areas that were probably only added to divide the two compartments from the bilges and under-sink area (this is the battery storage area)
The rib here is already quite wobbly and I was able to peel it away with surprising ease as you will see from the next photo!
The sparkly white area here is one of the places where the hammer tap sound was lowest. I’m no GRP expert, but to me that looks like no resin had penetrated the fibres there at all
You can see the area here where it simply peeled away!
Clean-up part way done
I have some structural foam that others had recommended for this job so set about cutting some to size.
This stuff isn’t really very strong at all, it is supposed to support making a structure out of fibreglass or other material. So you need to treat it like a former and laminate it. I used two layers either side (but forgot to take photos!)
Roll on to this half-term week and I have the worst of the epoxy done and the rib fitted snugly and forgot to take pictures of it again. But I did manage to tackle the stuck Blakes valves and take some photos of those. You might want to check-out Ben’s video on these.
I was able to free both with a dreaded adjustable spanner and using both hands, one on the bronze handle, the other on the spanner and eventually it came free to the sound of old seawater splashing out the bottom onto the workshop floor.
Bit of a clean up with some valve paste and put back together.
It’s a great relief to get this far and on to the home stretch, next up are a general clean-up of the cockpit (lots of brown stains from the engine removal) and cabin and then antifoul and maybe polishing the hull (it’s not too bad)
We live a long drive from our boat, throughout lockdown nipping to the yard hasn’t been an option at all. Over the next few weeks I should be able to do my first Saturday or Sunday trip up.
It has been quite a long time since I paused jobs, to some extent I will have to reassess what to do next, partly because I can’t quite remember what tools or consumables are at the boat. But I do have a top five list of things I can probably continue on my first 2021 fix day.
Next layers of glass by keel bulkheads
Service Blakes seacocks
Finish gelcoat repairs on bow
Aside from those, I’ve got general cleaning to do and some older jobs that I might be able to do.
Finished varnished hatch boards with stainless steel air vent fitted.
Replacement hatch boards are basically done now, last thing left is bringing them to Rosie Free and drilling the hasp in the correct place. I do have some holes marked and could do it now but it will only take a few minutes once I eventually get there and I can be 100% sure things line up.
My only slight worry is that the top board bows out ever so slightly more than the bottom one (hence the lip attached you see above to reduce this) there is a chance that the layers of varnish has made it too hard to get the boards in/out. Fingers crossed though.
Now, I didn’t want to spend the vast sums required on marine ply, it would have cost me about £50 for the wood required to do these boards. I spent £15 on some “exterior” ply instead. The ply I got was from B&Q, it was firm and the faces had a good colour but there were quite a few voids and folds that I had to fill with epoxy (only £5 araldite rapid, nothing too fancy) prior to varnishing. The wood drank about 350ml of Epiphanes varnish to seal up and finished with one thick coat of International varnish. So I’ve definitely spent less than I would have if I’d used marine ply.
Top hatch board with vent holes cut, before final varnish coat.
After cutting the vent holes in the top board I had three nice wheels of varnished ply cut out that looked a shame to just throw away. Someone on facebook suggested that “exterior” ply was more of a “maybe” than a promise about it’s water resistant qualities, so I thought I would begin a short experiment.
Exterior Plywood Experiment 15th March
I have a tray of rainwater, filled with bits of nasty reddish algae, thinking that this would be pretty bad news for the plywood this is the one I expect to see failure first. Next to it, the other two wheels are going to be left out, exposed to rain and sun but not wet all of the time. One of these has been lightly treated with varnish on it’s edges. The submerged one and the remaining outside one have raw cut, un-varnished edges.
Circles of exterior plywood, one submerged in water, two outside, one with lightly varnished edges, the other raw edges.
Exterior Plywood Experiment 28th March
Varnished plywood circles in water
The submerged circle is thus far undamaged, it’s wet but non sign at all of delamination or absorbing any water. I was fully expecting this to peel apart by now. Good news so far.
The submerged plywood wheel
The other two circles again look exactly the same as before. No significant change to report. Measuring the thickness of the discs they are all unchanged compared to the finished boards.
So, 2 weeks in all is good. Not a perfect test, but I will keep this going for as long as I can.
Another baby step back to the water today. I decided to finish off my new hatch boards.
New hole saw in hand i put in the vent holes in the top board.
I found myself with three little wheels of ply. So have setup a small experiment.
The ply I used was “exterior grade” not marine ply. I’ve sealed all the edges well and put a fair few coats of epfaines varnish on, but still want to see how good this ply is.
So, I have one disc in a tray of horrible rain water with algae, another unsealed and the last with a light coat of varnish on the cut edges.
I’m hopeful that even the submerged disc will be fine but, only time and rain will tell.
Well, Xmas, New years, Valentines and Pancake day are done and it’s normally this time of year many of us are busy sanding, filling, painting or re-wiring.
The weather has been rainy and Rosie Free is a 1hr 45minute drive away, so with lock down she may just as well be on the moon. But, I have managed to find some waterways near our house!
If you were totally nuts, you could probably paddle a kayak down here.. no chance of any sailing!
The weather has gotten a little nicer, warm enough just about to let varnish set properly in our shed so on with a couple more coats on the new tiller and hatch boards.
We might yet get back in the water! But I still have quite a few jobs left to do!
Made what feels like more progress with Rosie. The engine is back in, hull is now fully clean of brown horrible limescale and I’ve started repairing gel coat dents and scrapes.
Some more of the fibreglass work under the galley and main lounge seating has been done and looking quite good. Sadly, my extra tin of resin is still at home here as the second lockdown has kicked in.
With not much further opportunity for sailing or boat maintenance we’ve tackled a handful of jobs at home.
The new companionway boards have had a few coats of varnish and had an extra lip added both sides to prevent rain ingress. I still need to do another couple of coats and fit a vent.
And lastly, one fun easy job that had been quietly nagging me for months was that Rosie’s mainsail was missing her “CR” so, while the kids were at school, the ship’s dog helped me apply the missing letters to both sides.
It seems unlikely that I will make another trip to Rosie this year now, partly lockdown and partly that it might well be too cold for remaining epoxy work to cure properly in the cold shed.
I am optimistic that we can have her ship shape and on the water again for the start of Easter next year! Fingers crossed!
Centaur Free 