Just hanging about ...

Younger son has been down for a week during college half term and with a quiet week on the work front it seemed an ideal opportunity to tackle the work I wanted to do up the masts

Our VHF reception and transmission range on the masthead antenna has been rubbish since day one and I'd laid in a new Metz Manta whip antenna to replace the existing rigid glass fibre job (not, in my 'umble, a great choice for a masthead antenna on a yacht anyway)

Mark made the first of our several ascents up the main mast using my climbing gear. In the process, we made some further improvements to the rig which is now working really well. The only problem, common to all means of getting up the mast, is that it's difficult to get high enough to work right at the top. Indeed, due to his size, Mark simply couldn't reach high enough to get to grips with the old antenna.

My gear consists of a full body harness (actually a fall arrest harness) to which is attached a bosun's chair. The climbing line runs through an ascender with foot loops to a descender attached to the harness and then to a block clipped onto the ascender.

To ascend, you push the ascender up whilst bending your knees then stand up in the foot loops whilst pulling down on the free end of the line which, with your weight off it, runs freely through the descender . Then you sit back and the descender locks and you repeat the process.

To descend, the ascender and block are removed from the line and stowed in the gear pockets on the chair and you then abseil down on the descender

I also insist on rigging a fall arrester on a totally seperate halyard to the back of the harness. That runs freely up and down the line unless you fall at which point it locks and stops you hitting the deck with potentially fatal consequences

It's not actually that hard work to ascend once you get the technique right and it's about the safest possible setup available

So then I had a go ...

... and I had just enough reach to manage. Annoyingly, as I began to remove the old antenna from the stand off bracket, I discovered that the aluminium bracket was splitting and would fail at some point in the not too distant future.

Then I found that it was impossible to remove the screws securing it to the top plate! The only option was to hacksaw it off as flush as possible with the plate (the remains will be removed at some future date when we have the mast down)

Matters then became frustrating as for several days it was too windy to drill the mounting holes. It wasn't too uncomfortable up there but the mast head was vibrating and moving around in the wind.

There were other things to be getting on with though.

As well as the new VHF antenna on the main mast, I wanted to fit an AIS antenna on the mizzen (which will also double as a backup VHF antenna if the main antenna fails).

I decided it would be easier to lower the mizzen mast down and work on it on deck than climb it. There aren't the array of lines to use for climbing and fall arrest gear etc. on the mizzen. With the main halyard connected to the mizzen halyard and the mizzen forward shrouds removed, it proved relatively easy to lower it to the deck and then move it forward to gain access to the mast head.

With the mast down on deck, fitting the new antenna bracket was an easy job. We also, of course, had to run a coax cable down the mast.

Whilst we had it down, the squeaky halyard sheaves were liberally lubricated and I fitted a block and mousing line for a mizzen staysail halyard. We don't have a mizzen staysail yet but I intend to acquire one when I can!

We also removed the Dolphin vertical wind turbine for refurbishment or, if it isn't restorable, disposal.

Pagan looked rather odd as a sloop but she was soon restore to her two masted glory!

Hoisting the mast back up proved quite easy using the main mast halyard winch.

The new RAM3 remote mic for the new VHF needed fitting to the mizzen mast binnacle too.

This will give the helmsman full access to the VHF functions.

At the nav table, the existing VHF needed moving and the new VHF installing. Then all the various cables needed running in and connecting up.

Finally, yesterday morning presented a still, calm, day and I was able to fit the new bracket and antenna to the head of the main mast.

And then it was time to play with the toys ...

The existing M-Tech VHF has been retained as a backup and gets it's position fix from the chart plotter. In due course, it will probably get a dedicated rail mount antenna and it can also be attached to either of the mast head antennas at need

The new Standard Horizon GX-2000 has been mounted at a slight angle to make it more easily usable from the navigators seat position. It gets its position fix from the AIS transceiver

Mounting plates to store the Tack-Tick instrument heads have beeen fitted above the switch panels (the instruments normally mount on the rail above the hatch)

The charging stand for the hand held VHF has been screwed down to the corner of the nav table and various things moved around to better positions.

There are further changes to be made in due course in this setup - the switch panels are slated for replacement and the autohelm is also going to be upgraded later this winter.

With everything connected up and configured, I carried out VSWR checks on both new antennas. The mizzen AIS antenna is giving a very good VSWR of 1.5:1 but the main antenna is rather high at 2.8:1

That is almost certainly due to the length of the cable run, and maybe some deterioration of the existing cables, and at some point I'll replace the below deck cable with RG213, At twice the thickness of RG58, running RG213 down the mast in-situ would be a bit of a challenge so that will probably wait until we need to have the mast down

Despite the high VSWR reading, we are now reaching the coastguard loud and clear from our home berth, which we were not achieving before, and reception is dramatically improved.

Our AIS reception, previously very poor, is now astonishing ...

We're seeing everything out to 20 to 30 miles away no problem at all and picking up some vessels from as far as 70 or 80 miles away! That's not without it's downsides though. The more vessels the AIS transceiver can "see", the fewer transmission time slots are available to it. On the other hand, our AIS transmission range is now dramatically improved which means we should be visible on the tracking websites much of the time instead of intermittently.

Whereas previously we were not showing up on the tracking websites from Fambridge at all, now we are (via a shore station in Maldon)

All in all, an ultimately successful week. We didn't get as much done as I'd hoped but that's the way of it when working on boats!

Mark has, he assures me, enjoyed his week aboard Pagan and plans are afoot for Mark and Heather to join us next year for part of the Sojourn to the Solent

Feeling hot, hot, hot

This past week has been a bit of a marathon challenge to get the new blown air heating system installed. It was always expected to be one of the major jobs and it didn't disapoint!

The biggest challenge was getting the 90mm ducting from the engine bay, where I originally planned to install the heater, to the forecabin, heads and main wardrobe (which we'd casually assumed we'd use as a drying locker)

I rapidly realised my original plan of routing the ducting through the galley was a total non-starter. There just wasn't the space to work in even if there was actually the room for the ducting, which I had my doubts about.

After some scratching of the bonce I realised that it would be far easier to route the ducting under the nav table and into the port side settee lockers. Happily, I also discovered that there was just space to route the ducting underneath the GRP shower tray and toilet plinth.

Two further changes to the original plan ensued. The first was the decision to mount the heater in the port cockpit locker. This avoided all sorts of complications with the exhaust, fresh air intake etc.

The second was to scrap the vent in the wardrobe. This decision was taken psrtly on the grounds that once we'd acquired our lovely new foulies and hung them in the wardrobe along with our going ashore coats we found that everything was jammed in fairly snugly. Wet gear would not have dried out properly like that and indeed would have made any adjacent dry gear damp. It also avoided the neccessity of getting the ducting from port to starboard which was not going to be easy

The heater unit has been temporarily mounted on the cockpit coaming.

In due course, when the locker is fitted out with shelving and what have you, the heater will be moved to a more protected position a little lower down and further outboard.

For now, we'll have to be careful not to bash it with gear


The next major challenge was creating an access from the forward end of the port settee locker into the void beneath the toilet plinth. This was rather too close to the hull for comfort using a 120mm hole saw! (The hole needed to be over-size to accomodate the lagging)

So out came the reciprocating plunge saw. As pictured, I made a cautious start cutting a much smaller hole than I'd need so that I could then assess the position of the hull and the plinth.

It took a whole day to cut the required hole, feed the duct through into the cupboard beneath the heads sink and finally to cut holes through the locker dividers, end and the bulkhead between the saloon and the cockpit locker

It proved easier to remove the screwed down settee bases rather than work through the locker access hatches


I was very pleased to complete this part of the job indeed. How to run the ducting through the saloon had been a nagging worry for some considerable time.

We'll probably have to relocate the No.1 Beer Hold (on the left in the photo) though as even with the lagging the heating duct is likely to warm the locker up. And warm beer is simply not to be contemplated


Then it was time to start fitting the vents

The forecabin and heads vents were relatively easy to install

The only problem with these vents is that they are actually very close together in the cupboard under the sink (on the other side of the bulkhead in the pic) which made the pipework a wee bit tricky to get into place.

The end result was very satisfactory other than that I wished I'd ordered a white vent rather than a black one!

The saloon vent was more of a challenge. This involved routing a duct from the cockpit locker into the engine bay and then forwards to the gap between the navigators seat and the steps.

There was only just enough clearance between the engine water pump and the back of the removable panel but that wasn't the only problem!

I had to move the steps an inch to starboard, slightly offsetting them, in order to make enough space. I then had to cut the corner out of the removable access panel and screw it permanently to the engine bay surround before cutting the hole for the vent.

The duct from this vent goes to a T-piece in the engine bay, the other side of which enters the cockpit locker at the aft end. That branch then divides into a 90mm duct into the aft cabin and a 60mm duct to a vent by the helmsman's feet (no more shall I freeze on a cold night's sail!)

The feed to the engine bay "T" and the duct underneath the nav table meet at a "Y" fitting and thence back to the heater at last.

With interruptions to do things for customers etc., getting the ducting and vents installed took a whole five days to complete. Without interruptions, it would have taken at least three days.

"All" that remained to do was to install the fuel feed and fuel pump, fit the control unit by the switch panels and run the wiring harness to the controller and the batteries! That took another day and a bit

With everything connected up by early this afternoon I was delighted when it fired up. I was less delighted when it shut down again. This process went on, with an error indication of fuel feed problems, until the unit locked out and had to be reset.

After a fair amount of fiddling about, I discovered that one of the short lengths of rubber hose supplied with the kit had a partial blockage which was starving the heater of fuel. With the culprit swapped for a different bit of hose (they supply more than you need) all was well.

I opened a bottle of Doombar and put a beef curry on the stove to celebrate. Very nice too.

The heater works extremely well I must say! There is, as you'd expect, a certain amount of noise from the vents. In "Eco" mode it's considerably quieter than a fan heater although the noise becomes more intrusive in "Normal" and definitely would be annoying for long periods in "High" (or whatever it's called). But once the boat is warm, "Eco" mode seems quite adequate to keep it that way.

The fuel pump ticking is audible in the cabin once the ambient noise level has dropped at night. It will get gagged! What is most impressive compared to most blown air heating systems is that, again in "Eco" mode (I haven't stepped ashore with it on the higher settings) the heater is completely inaudible from the outside.

There's some final tidying up and making fast of ducting and cabling to do on the morrow, along with a major tidy up of the boat interior and cockpit! That aside, it's one of the biggest jobs on the "to do" list done!

Tanking it, ticking over, expanding the fleet and thinking ahead ...

Quite a long title, quite a lot of ground to cover tonight!

Top of the extensive winter "to do" list is replacing the main water tank. So my first mission was extracting the damn thing from under the v-berth.

This proved less difficult than I feared, with some assistance from Patrick ("Orca") without which I'd have definitely struggled.

Once the tank was out I was able to closely examine it and our decision to replace it with a new plastic tank was vindicated

The quality of construction is poor, the steel is to my mind too thin and the welds have clearly been re-welded in several places

There's very obvious signs of where the tank has been leaking in three places, all of them previous repairs.

Even repaired again, this tank is just going to be trouble and we'd rather get it sorted properly once and for all

So my next mission was to design the new tank. I could have simply recycled the dimensions of the existing tank but I'd found that it was significantly smaller than the available space. In fact, I calculated that by simply making the tank the same shape but to fit the space I could gain oer 5 gallons capacity. That may not sound much when you're used to having unlimited water on tap but it's worth between three days and a week longer between visits to a hose pipe.

I could, in fact, have gained perhaps a further five or six gallons by making the shape more complex but the trade off would have been increased cost.

So here is the final design. I've had, perforce, to retain the fittings in the end walls rather than the top face, which would be preferable, as reducing the height of the tank by the four inches necessary to install the fittings on top would have reduced the capacity substantially.

Tek Tanks responded with a quote within two hours, I'm waiting for Henderson Plastics to respond.

So I can't continue tanking it until that quote comes in.

So I throttled back to tickover...

Pagan has been squatting on the river pontoon since we got back from the Blackwater and this weekend the tides would be right to finally get back on our berth.

The Friday tide of 5.1m should have been just about enough but with a high pressure weather system and who knows what other factors, it came up short by nearly 0.2m as I found when I checked the depth at high water with the lead line. Added to which, we once again had a fairly stiff Easterly breeze.

Saturday, however, looked perfect. A 5.4m tide and a moderate Southerly breeze should serve nicely.

Since high water wasn't until late morning, I decided to tackle the excessively fast tickover problem. Since we repitched the prop this has become even more of a nuisance with Pagan making over 3 knots at tickover! That makes slow speed maneouvering a wee bit tricky to say the least!

Adjusting the throttle stop and sorting out the morse control cable mounting combined to get the old Merc rumbling at a sedentary 600rpm

The good ship Laurin arrived shortly after I'd finished and I had ample hands on deck and on the shore to assist with docking. Pagan was behaving herself particularly well and with good slow speed control now available we gently eased into our berth without any drama at all.

The Laurins then cooked brunch aboard Pagan as their cooker is playing up. They came back and cooked tea later that day and then back again this morning to cook breakfast! I'm not complaining!

This morning we need to "car" shuffle to pick up the Laurin's Landie from Burnham and whilst we were at it we picked up the new addition to our fleet ...

Whilst we were round at Marconi the conversation had turned to my search for a cheap sailing dinghy to use as a knockabout on the river. Our friends Neal and Jocelyn offered us their Super Graduate dinghy on launching trolley and road trailer for the princely sum of £0! She's not been getting used and she was sitting slightly forlornly in the dinghy park at Burnham Sailing Club

So we hitched her up behind the Landrover and fetched her back to Fambridge. I set about her with the pressure washer and she scrubbed up rather nicely. She shows the scars of a long life but she's serviceable and just what I wanted.

Mind you, I might have to fight people off with a big stick to sail her myself, there's a growing list of people who want to borrow her! That's fine by me

She'll get a name in due course when I decide what to call her. Something with a pagan-esque feel to it methinks

And that brings us, finally, to thinking ahead

Jane had to get her holiday bookings in sharpish for next year so we already know when our main trips will be. Back end of May into early June we'll have 12 days pottering around the Thames Estuary, our goal being to get to grips with sailing Pagan as a couple

Then mid July to early August will be, if plans come to pass, a big trip. A whole 25 days away on a sojourn to the Solent. I've been there before of course, but only as far as Chichester Harbour on a cruise and twice on a mission to bring boats back from Port Solent and the Hamble.

With crew provisionally pencilled in for the out (Glen) and return (Rik) legs, Jane will join ship for the middle two thirds of the trip. I'm hoping to get into Rye for a couple of days, spend some time in Chichester harbour exploring, make landfall on the Isle of Wight once or twice, maybe make it as far as Poole to pick Rik up and a visit to Portsmouth mainly 'cos I want to go and see the Mary Rose

Then at the beginning of September we've got another 12 day break. No firm plans for that yet but there's a possibilty we might fly out to Italy to join the crew of the good ship Laurin for a week or so. If that doesn't come to pass, we'll do something else!

Our first (mini) cruise

 Apologies, dear reader, for the tardiness in updating the blog this trip. I just never seemed to have the time while we were away. So here's the rest of the trip summed up in one post

Saturday

Following our Friday blast to Bradwell, we had a relaxing start to Saturday as we only needed to head 45 minutes upriver to Marconi Sailing Club where we picked up a buoy.

We were joining with several friends from the East Coast Forum for an afternoon of man overboard recovery practice followed by an evening BBQ. For Jane and I it was also pick up a mooring with Pagan practice (first time, fairly successful) and dinghy ashore for the evening and return in the dark practice (first time, also successful)

How many people can you get in a liferaft?

The MoB recovery session was interesting, illuminating and good fun (even the volunteer men and women overboard seemed to enjoy it) and worthy of a separate write up which it shall receive in due course. The evening BBQ and beer was equally enjoyable in the company of good friends old and new. I was forced on pain of pain to get the travel guitar out too and entertained the company with a few songs which seemed to go down well (well, they didn't ALL leave the room!)

The dinghy ride back to the boat was uneventful although we were both glad of our new foulies which are simply superb at keeping the wet where it belongs, on the outside. I made a further excursion to check that one of the other boat's crew had made it back again when I got a call to say their outboard had failed and they were rowing back. As the tide was making quite hard I wanted to be sure they were OK which they were.

Apparently, there were some sleepless nights aboard other boats as it was slightly choppy in the Blackwater but aboard Pagan we slept like logs.

Sunday

We awoke on Sunday to a pleasant but windy autumn day. I'd not been long awake when the phone rang and I remembered with a sinking heart that I'd promised to do a crew swap by dinghy for SV Laurin. Frankly, I really didn't fancy it at all and I was mightily relived to hear that firstly lines had been crossed and it was Roger on Sabre who was supposed to be doing the dinghy work and that Karen and Lisa had decided that conditions were really not suitable and that they'd run down to Bradwell and do the crew swap there

After a light breakfast I made a call to the lock keeper at Heybridge Basin. Happily, they could accommodate us overnight and gave us a lock in time nigh on an hour earlier than I'd expected

That turned out to be a good thing because as the morning wore on it got choppier and choppier and by the time it was time to drop the mooring both Jane and I were starting to feel a little queasy. There was to be no pretence of going sailing today, it was a 45 minute run upriver again and done under motor.

Locking in went OK and we were soon alongside in a handy spot above the lock. We'd have been in the lock for the night but for the fact that they needed to drain it at low water in the morning. A pint ashore at the Ship was followed by a meal aboard before we wandered down to the Jolly Sailor for a couple of drinks in the evening.

My occasional stomach problems struck with a vengeance when we got back aboard and rather spoilt an otherwise pleasant evening. I'd made the mistake, yet again, of succumbing to the temptation of mopping up my lunchtime soup with a couple of slices of bread and I really ought to know better.

Usually, it just results in stomach cramps which clear after a few hours but on this occasion I was properly ill until the early hours of the morning. Hey ho, the problem is responding gradually to my much improved diet and I've just got to avoid temptation in future!

Monday

Yet another leisurely start as we would not be locking out until early afternoon. We needed essential supplies as whilst the No.1 Beer Hold, the Wine Store and the Spirit Locker were holding up well and the Galley Stores would feed us for a couple of months at least, the vital tobacco supply, without a daily ration of which the crew would be sure to mutiny (and the skipper too) was dangerously low.

A pleasant walk up the canal to the shops about a mile away procured an ample supply of this essential ingredient for a happy and contented Pagan crew

We then perused and pondered the weather forecasts with much discussion about what to do. The forecast for Tuesday looked fairly brisk wind wise. Some way short of "no go" territory but rather more than we'd ideally like. We therefore pondered on the possibility of heading straight round into the Crouch from Heybridge.

However, with an afternoon lock out, it would be an arrival in the dark at Burnham (we didn't fancy anchoring in the Brankfleet given the forecast and our ancient ground tackle) and we didn't much fancy that either. Not that we're bothered by night sailing, it was more that we didn't fancy the trip

So we stuck to our plan of bimbling down to the Pyefleet and picking up a buoy for the night. We made a bit of a hash of the first attempt at picking up the buoy but got it on the second attempt. Of course, we had an audience!

It was a glorious evening in one of those special places ....

 
 Tuesday

 We awoke to a not unpleasant morning and soon sorted ourselves out to get underway.

Motoring out of the Pyfleet dead into the wind we made all plain sail, an evolution we're still getting the hang of, and set off down the Colne at a fair old lick.

The wind was supposed to be a Northerly veering Easterly later. It had veered early and was bang on the nose when we cleared the Colne Bar and wanted to shape up for the Spitway. It was also unpleasantly lumpy in the outer Blackwater, not an unusual circumstance.

I was also having trouble getting the sails set to my satisfaction, frustrating because she'd sailed so well on Friday. So we rolled away the genoa, pinned in the main and mizzen, and motored up to the Wallet Spitway buoy.

We crossed the Spitway with a wary eye on the depth, which happily never dropped below 1.2m below the keel, and then it was off with the motor as we turned downwind long the Swallowtail channel.

I found to my delight that Pagan sailed along very easily under main and mizzen alone and in 16 to 20 knots of breeze was making more than adequate progress. So adequate in fact that the genoa stayed furled all the way upriver to Fambridge where we arrived alongside several hours before high water.

Our one remaining concern now was getting Pagan back into her berth at or shortly after high water. With a strong Easterly blowing upriver it would be far from easy and I arranged for some help ashore with the lads in the yard.

Steve duly came round at the appointed hour and took one look at the situation and didn't like it at all. That triggered one of my personal alarms - when someone doesn't like something you're proposing, the wise skipper stops and reconsiders. I duly reconsidered and (given that the wind would not moderate for several days) Pagan will be taking up temporary residence on the river pontoon until the next spring tides!

Jane and I dined ashore at the Ferry Boat to celebrate the end of our first trip out and about on Pagan.

I'll write about our conclusions in a separate post later

A blast to Bradwell

Just a quickie cos it's late and I'm off to bed shortly

We left Burnham as planned on loose company with SV Laurin and once clear of the moorings set all plain sail

Laurin was some way ahead of us at this point but not for long! Pagan is no slouch :)

We nailed the passage plan perfectly and on the reach up the Ray'sn saw 8.1 knots on the log in about 16 knots apparent. Not bad for an old girl, not bad at all

We put a reef in the main of St. Peter's, having already rolled away a good bit of the genoa, as the wind strengthened.

Then as we cleared start point and shaped up to enter the Blackwater the wind stiffened again and with upwards of 24 knots on the nose we decided we'd had enough fun. Down came the sails and on went the donk for the final few miles

It was a really satisfying sail

The afternoon and evening was spent in the company of good friends and now it's time for bed

Fri 30 Sep Passage Plan

Dep Burnham 07:00 UTC (may be delayed)
Towards Bradwell via Raysand Channel
ETA Bradwell 12:30 UTC

No earlier than 09:00UTC at Raysand buoy
Clear St. Peter's Flats by 12:00UTC

Forecast W or SW 4 gusting 5, fine

Disaster averted, just

We set off at high water to head downriver to Burnham

Our first problem was getting out of our berth. We need to swing the stern 45 degrees to port whilst hardly moving to clear a mooring buoy off our port quarter

Usually, it's no great feat of boat handing because the prop walk in astern easily accomplishes the maneuver

Today, though, the wind was easily overcoming the prop walk and in the end I had no option but to jam the bow into the corner of the finger pontoon and use a big handful of power to get the stern to swing (springing off isn't an option as the finger is too short)

To cut a long story short, we made it off without leaving much if any paint behind bit when we get back in going to be upping my gentle request to get the buoy moved to a not so gentle request!

We merrily set off with Jane on deck bringing in fenders and lines and as we cleared the moorings I engaged the autohelm, which I routinely do, to give her a hand

I'd barely stepped away from the wheel when the autohelm inexplicably turned hard a-port. That was bad enough but when I dived back to the wheel to take control it refused to disengage

By now we were pointing straight at one of the boats on the moorings and yards away from hitting it with considerable force

I managed to wrestle the wheel round just enough, fighting the autohelm all the way, and combined with the help of the tide we missed by, literally an inch or two

Jane had, in response to my frantic yell for help, dashed back to the cockpit, and responding without hesitation to instructions dived into the cabin and switched off the power to the autohelm

Disaster averted indeed. We were both shaking and promptly agreed that a new autohelm is a must before the end of the winter

We'd have probably popped the genoa, even if we didn't hoist the main or mizzen, without that little saga. As it was, we were happy to bimble down under motor

Coming alongside we achieved quite neatly despite the strong wind but when we tried to walk the boat forward so as not to be in the middle of the gap we popped a fender out and added some new scrapes to the paintwork to go with the ones on the bow

Hey ho, it'll touch up

After putting on a harbour stow, we headed off to the shops for fresh meat and veg. On the way back, we stopped off at the chandlers for a couple of odds and ends

Jane cooked up a delicious sweet and sour pork and then it was time to raid the No.1 Beer Hold

Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, we aim to fetch up in Bradwell

Passage Plan - Thu 29 Sep 2016

At last, a passage plan! Not much of a passage planned, just a toddle downriver to Burnham for the night. But it's better than going nowhere which is what we've been doing since March

Forecast

Inshore waters Gibraltar Point to North Foreland: Westerly or sou'westerly 5 to 7 occasionally 4 later. Sea slight or moderate. Weather occasional rain or drizzle at first. Vis mModerate or good, occasionally poor

Meteo and Weatherpro forecasts consistent with Met Office

Actual at 07:30UTC North Fambridge: Sou'westerly 5, occasionally 4, gusting 6 at times

Tides

North Fambridge HW 11:48UTC 5.2m
Burnham LW 17:44UTC -0.1

Plan:

Depart North Fambridge 12:00UTC towards Burnham on Crouch
ETA Burnham Yacht Harbour app. 13:00UTC

Notes:

Dropping down to Burnham positions us for a dash across the Raysand into the Blackwater tomorrow, weather permitting. We also need to pick up some fresh food for a BBQ on Saturday

Working on the chain gang

In between paying work for customers, which is picking up again after the summer, I've been on a push to sort Pagan out so we can hopefully get away for a few days, of which more anon

A critical problem was water. As previously reported, we've had to take the 45 gallon tank under the v-berth out of service after it started leaking badly into the base of the cabin woodwork

Replacing that tank will be a major project and it's best left until we refit the forward cabin so we needed a temporary solution.

After considering various possibilities, I settled on the simple and cheap solution of wedging a 20 litre Jerry can into the starboard cockpit locker and running a hose from the water pump, conveniently situated below the gas locker, which just drops into the can



We've also got a 10l water carrier and a 20l collapsible one which, with some inconvenience, will allow us to carry enough water to last several days

My next target was the ground tackle. Although we're not planning on anchoring during our upcoming trip you never know when it might be needed in a hurry

So I hauled all the rusty chain out of the locker and cleaned up the manual windlass.



There's 50m of chain marked, bizarrely, at 8m intervals attached to a CQR plough anchor. None of it is in great condition and I wouldn't trust it in a gale but it'll do until we get around to replacing it

The windlass works but it's slow and hard work. The rusty chain has a tendency to not drop cleanly into the chain pipe which requires watching but otherwise it gets the job done

After washing down the foredeck to get rid of the rust flakes that had fallen off the chain, a final sort out of the cockpit lockers was all that was left to do on deck

My final job for the day was to replace the activation cartridge and gas cylinder in my lifejacket and giving it the once over.

Then it was time to hit the road back to Kettering for the night ready to pick Jane up and come back in the morning

We're aiming to be out and about from Thursday until Tuesday, fingers crossed on the weather!

Didn't we have a lovely time ...

... the day we went to Southampton

I'm always up for a freebie and when our marina announced they were running a coach to Southampton Boat Show with complimentary tickets I jumped at the chance!

I duly "booked" two seats on the coach PDQ!

Jane couldn't make it due to work so Glen drove down to Fambridge on Friday afternoon after work. We had a bit of a silly session in the pub that night so it was two slightly jaded old buffers who staggered up Ferry Road on Saturday morning to meet the coach at 8:00am

The journey down wasn't the quickest and on arrival at the show the first port of call was the facilities rapidly followed by coffee and a bacon roll.

I had a few things I wanted to investigate and a shopping list and almost the first stand we encountered was one I very much wanted to visit - the Nestaway boats stand.

A key element of my plans for our future sailing in "Pagan" has always been to have a decent expedition tender. I wanted something large enough to carry the two of us over some distance in sheltered waters that could be rowed, motored or sailed. My plan had been to buy or build a small sailing dinghy that would be stowed on davits and that could be brought on deck if necessary. And there's the rub. I'd come to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to work as I'd hoped.

The rig on "Pagan" makes stowing a rigid dinghy on deck difficult to organise and then I realised it was going to be a good deal more expensive to install suitable davits than I'd initially thought. So I was looking for alternatives and right away I found exactly what we need ...

The DingyGo is a 2.75m inflatable that can be used as just that, rowed or motored. But unlike other inflatables, it comes with a sailing rig. It may not be as olde worlde attractive as the wooden pram dinghy I originally envisaged but in practical terms it's a no-brainer. The DinghyGo is exactly what we need!

They are not cheap, compared to non-sailing inflatables, but when you add the cost of a pair of substantial davits (and the additional cost of installing them) to the cost of a suitable nesting pram dinghy the heading towards three grand price tag starts to look quite competitive.

The only question mark is figuring out some way to stow an auxiliary outboard when rigged as a sailing dinghy. A Torquedo electric outboard would seem to be the ideal solution. Another grand plus though! Sufficient unto the day as we won't be buying anything this year. The piggy bank will need a lot of fattening up before we can afford it!

My next mission was to find a decent foul weather jacket for Jane. She's got a pair of Gill salopettes she's happy with but we've struggled to find a small enough jacket to go with them. Searching through the sailing clothing racks on the biggest stands, I found a Musto BR2 Offshore ladies jacket in a size 8 which I think, and hope, will fit. Better still, it was marked down to a mere £149.95, a saving of £70 over the online price (from the reputable suppliers). So that went into the shopping basket

My foulies, which were bought cheap as a short term measure seven years ago, have never been brilliant and the zips are starting to go so whilst I was at it I bagged a matching Musto BR2 men's jacket and trousers. Very snazzy, very comfortable and what I need when we start getting more adventurous. I saved £50 over the online price so making a total saving of £120 or so which I'm not unhappy about!

My final mission was to look at replacing my lifejacket. In use, I'm perfectly happy with it but it's a bulky thing to stow away because it doesn't lie flat. And the gas cylinder indicator had gone red so it needed servicing anyway.

I tried on half a dozen alternatives and didn't like any of them very much so I changed my mind and decided to stick with what I've got.

We had a general wander round the show, looked at some boats and drank several cups of coffee, ate a cheeseburger (expensive but very tasty) before catching the coach back to Fambridge at 5:00pm

Another slow-ish run back saw us in the pub in good time to order some food, drink a pint or three and then retire before it got too late.

A good day out and mission accomplished. Many thanks to Yacht Havens for laying on the trip and to Steve and Adam for looking after us all on the day

So that was Saturday, yesterday was spent finishing off the task of turning "Pagan" back into a sailing boat instead of a workshop. I'd already got the genoa bent back on and sorted out the mizzen which had been refusing to fully hoist.

The main job which took most of the day, initially with assistance from Glen until he headed from home, was removing all the "stuff" that shouldn't be in the cockpit lockers and loading back aboard all the stuff that should!

That took most of the day but we're now ready to go sailing

And go sailing, we hope, we will be doing later this week. Jane has a week off work starting on Wednesday and we plan to depart Fambridge Thursday afternoon (the tide isn't quite high enough on Wednesday) probably to head down to Burnham for the night.

Then we'll head round to the Blackwater on Friday, not sure yet to where but quite probably Brightlingsea or the Pyefleet to pick up a buoy. If the weather doesn't intervene, we're meeting up with friends at Marconi Sailing Club to practice Man Overboard recovery techniques on Saturday afternoon and then it'll be dinghy ashore for BBQ and beer before spending the night on a buoy

I've got a tentative plan to then pop into Heybridge Basin for 24 hours Sunday / Monday before spending a night again on a buoy in the Pyefleet or in Brightlingsea Harbour so we can make it back to Fambridge on Tuesday as we must

We're praying for a bit of nice autumn weather as we haven't been anywhere this year other than the delivery trip when we bought "Pagan" back in March

In a hole

Our hole in the mud!

It's been a busy weekend getting as much sorting out on board done as possible as work is starting to come in as we come to the end of the sailing "season"

After launching, Pagan spent a couple of days alongside the river pontoon whilst I turned her back into a sailing boat rather than a workshop



It was blowing hard from the north yesterday, not ideal for getting onto our berth as the prop walk already pushes the stern away from the finger pontoon and adding a strong wind blowing us off makes the job doubly tricky

So today was the day.

With next to no wind by this afternoon, or was also an ideal chance to carry out a trial under power both the test the rebuilt stern gear and find out whether changing the prop pitch had been a success

Well she ran beautifully and better still with the extra inch of pitch she now happily chugs along at five and a half knots plus at around 1700rpm, a reduction of 500rpm which should significantly improve fuel consumption

And opening the throttle wide now gives us over seven knots at just over 3200rpm compared to 6.4 knots at 3600rpm

That's excellent as we're achieving close to theoretical hull speed at sensible rpm

The mechanicals seem to be working fine, the steering is now much improved and best of all the autohelm can now hold a course without assistance.

(It's still slated for replacement with a modern unit but now we can save up the pennies and do it in a year or two rather than having to dip into our reserves to pay for it)

The fun over, I shaped up to get into our berth which is not the easiest of maneuvers. It would have gone fine, with assistance from a couple of fellow boaters on the pontoon, if I'd not left her in gear when I dashed on deck to get a line on the centre cleat (I thought I'd knocked her into neutral but I hadn't)

No harm done other than a bit of paint scuffed on the stem. It'll not be the last I'm sure!

Much fiddling with mooring line lengths ensued until I was happy that I had Pagan back in place to sit in the mud



And happily she sat straight and level without drama

The "to do" list is still enormous but I'm over the moon to have got this vital but exhausting phase of the refit over

The water is where it should be...

... On the outside!

First thing this morning, I tackled the last job which was to do the cove line on the port side

Then it was a tidy up and sort out of lines and fenders ready to go back in

I can't find where I've put three of the four heavy duty mooring lines! They must be in the container. I'll worry about that tomorrow as we've got plenty of bits of string that'll do the job

The lads came round before lunch to get Pagan in the hoist and I slapped a quick coat of antifoul on the bottom of the keel before we trundled up to the slip



Shortly before midday, we were in the water



Then it was a thorough leak check before leaving the hoist and happily there weren't any!

Shortly thereafter, Pagan was alongside the river pontoon where I'll spend the night before moving her onto her berth tomorrow

I needed to run the engine in gear for an hour to bed in the new shaft seal and that wouldn't be a good idea on the mud berth

The engine started happily and ran sweetly. Better still, there was no sign of any issues with the new seal either



I must say she does look good alongside!

The afternoon was spent pressure washing the deck to remove the bird droppings that had accumulated since I last did it about ten days ago



I'm a relieved and happy skipper tonight

Moving

House and hopefully boat!

A few days up in Kettering saw us moved, at last, into the new house. Not that I'll be there much!

Back down to Fambridge today and the final push to get ready for launching involved getting the name on the boat, putting a new cove line on the topsides and painting the boot top at the waterline

And I have to say I'm pretty happy with the result...




All that's left to do in the morning is the cove line on the port side (the light ran out!) and a massive tidy up

We should be going back in around lunchtime and everything will be crossed that there's no leaks

A trying day

And one of those days you could really do without

The first of two big issues was the topsides paintwork. I was pretty chuffed when I finished painting yesterday and stood back to admire the result.

In the cold light of day this morning and on closer examination I was considerably less happy with the finish. From a distance and at a casual glance it looks OK but despite my best endeavours it's a pretty poor job when looked at properly

Now I know how to paint a boat. I've painted a few in my time. And if I say so myself I'm a pretty mean hand with a paintbrush or roller. The problem is that I tried to save money on the paint and what I bought just will not lay off to a good finish. It's goes on well enough but you can't lay off the brush or roller marks and it doesn't flow to a good finish like a quality paint would

My bad and one I'm going to have to live with until we have the time and the money to redo the job because I've neither the time, the money or the inclination to start again right now

As if that wasn't enough disappointment for one day. the slightly leaky water tank has now become a seriously leaky water tank. So bad in fact that we're going to have to stop using it because it's now leaking into the base of the v-berth woodwork and damaging the timber.

So I've had to drain the tank down and replacing it is now top priority. It's both extra work and extra expense we could well do without right now but there's no choice

Meanwhile, I'm off back to Kettering in the morning and then up to Stockton on the Grand Union Canal on Saturday to play a gig at an event I haven't been to for quite a few years. Then we're making the final house move so I won't be back aboard until next week

There'll be just enough time to stick the new names and cove line on, which will hopefully distract the eye from the less than perfect paintwork (!), before we go back in the water next Thursday

Shinier

It was an early start this morning. As soon as it was light enough to see what I was doing I set about flatting off the runs and hard edges where things hadn't gone quite to plan yesterday

Then a wipe down with sugar soap wipes was needed to remove any dust

The humidity was stubbornly staying up in the 90s, far too high to even think about painting. Happily, after lunch, it finally dropped quite dramatically and I was able to get on

After a brief and less than successful attempt to put the second coat on with a brush (bloody expensive brush at that) I suddenly remembered seeing a pack of two 4" varnish rollers in the painting box stashed in the container

Dug then out and happy days, they worked a treat.

The second coat has gone on much better than the first and there's ample paint for a third coat so that's what she'll get tomorrow

With a good thickness of paint to go at, next week I'll have at it with the polisher and some cutting compound

Pleased as punch with today's results but my shoulders aren't half complaining!

Shiny!

First coat on the topsides. Not perfect by any means but a definite improvement!

Some gentle flatting back first thing in the morning, clean down, dry off and try for a better finish on the second and hopefully final coat

Proper preparation. Oh and some fettling

.Since last I posted, I've spent two more days filling, fairing and sanding the topsides dealing with all the dings and scratches Pagan has picked up over the years. Given that the weather wasn't suitable for painting (mainly far too windy) it was time well spent

Then Sunday was all about a thorough clean to get all the sanding dust off. Simply pressure washing wasn't cutting the mustard and it needed a proper inch by inch hand wash to clean up properly ready to paint

Today (Monday) though wasn't the day for it. It started off wet and although it dried up later the humidity and dew point stayed stubbornly high until late afternoon

So it was down into the engine bay to fettle all the things in the list that needed doing before we relaunch

The first task was to sort out the throttle linkage between the Morse lever and the engine. Whilst the engine idles at about 900rpm, the lever wasn't fully closing the throttle which meant we were whizzing along at around 1500rpm rather too quickly for close quarters maneuvering

After investigating the problem, I found the Morse lever wasn't set up properly. I don't much like Morse controls at the best of times and a badly set up one is guaranteed to make my blood boil.

Once it was set up right the problem was solved although it will require an engine test to check it

The next job was to try and get some lubrication down the steering cables to see if the rather heavy steering could be freed up. It's fiddly as the access is very awkward but I got a fair bit of oil down the cable sleeves and it certainly seemed to help. The steering still isn't light although I've nothing to compare it with. I suspect I'll be coming back to this one

Then the last critical job before we launch was seen off. That was to fit a temporary breather to the PSS gland. When I sort out the engine plumbing to fit the calorifier (hot water tank) I'll plumb a water feed in to the stern gland but for now it needs a breather to prevent airlocks which would starve it of lubricating water (which it will for now draw up the stern tube)

And I was surprised and pleased to find that the graphics had arrived already. I ordered name and number graphics on Thursday and they were delivered this morning. Can't apply them until the paint is cured and it isn't even painted yet!

All in all, a good few days work



The engine bay with the new shaft coupling, PSS gland and temporary breather. All ready to go as long as nothing leaks!

It's not foul

Cos it's antifoul



I was on a mission today. Either the topsides had to be painted or two coats of antifoul applied and since the paint hadn't arrived yesterday the antifoul got it

(ideally I'd have preferred to do the topsides first but needs must as time is getting short. She has to be ready to go back in by next Friday before I head off for a few days to do other things)

It was hard graft getting two coats on in a day, aided by the weather which meant the overcoating time was less than 5 hours. There's just the patches under the pit props to do now and that job can be ticked off as finished

Whilst waiting for the first coat to dry I got online and ordered up some vinyl lettering - 3 sets of the boat name (one for each bow and one for the stern) and our home port and registration number to go on the stern

The weather over the weekend is looking a bit variable but I'm hoping to start on the topsides on Sunday or Monday (I've got paying work to do Friday /Saturday)

The steering committee

Was convened this morning

Tony came round to give me a hand with reinstalling the rudder



The job turned out to be easier than I expected and we soon had the rudder back where it should be

The rest of my day was spent putting the steering gear back together, getting the wheel properly aligned (it wasn't before we dismantled the steering!) and trying to sort out the rather stiff steering

I didn't succeed to any significant extent. It's either the cables, the hub or drag from the autohelm drive. Sufficient unto the day as I can sort that out once we're back in the water

I knocked off early for a serious practice session on the guitar getting ready for the gig I'm booked to play a week on Saturday

Then it was off to the pub for food and beer with Tony and Shelagh

Progress update

The sterngear is now all done. The only remaining engineering jobs are to fit a breather tube to the shaft seal and to nail the fuel filter back onto its mounting (I caught it with my foot and the screws pulled out!)

I've decided to just fit a breather to the shaft seal rather than plumb a water supply to it temporarily as I'll be revising the engine plumbing when I fit the calorifier. It just means that for now we'll have to "burp" the seal (push the bellows away from the seal to let some water in) after drying out

The first coat of Woodskin has gone on the rubbing strakes, two more to go, and the bits of the rudder and rudder post that won't be accessible have had two coats of antifoul

That means we should have the rudder back in in the morning.

I'm still waiting for the topsides paint which may arrive tomorrow or may be Thursday. As I've a job to do in Limehouse in the next few days I'll have to work around that. It may mean getting on with the antifoul although I'd rather paint the topsides first

And I've booked the relaunch for the 15th of September so we're now on a deadline!

As well as customer jobs, between now and then I've got a gig in Warwickshire and we're moving house having finally managed to buy a new place

That's the final step in the chain of events which started with putting the old house on the market the best part of a year ago.

Propped and flat

Over the last few days, I've reinstalled the stern gear all but. Just got the final tightening of the prop nut to do and the water feed to the new stern gland to sort out



The epoxy coating of the hull is nearly finished. James and Adam came round on Monday and pit propped the boat so I could drop the cradle pads and epoxy the final bits. Before and after...





I'm letting the protective coating harden off for a few days so I can feather in the edges before applying the primer coat

Meanwhile, after wasting a couple of days and more than a few quid on paint trying to touch up the topsides, I've given up and decided to repaint the whole lot. So I'm well on with sanding back the existing paintwork and filling the dings and scratches that have emerged



The paint, an economic marine enamel, is on order. Ideally I'd like to do the job with two pack epoxy based paint but that would require a great deal more preparation and really needs to be done indoors.

The weather and work will determine whether I can get everything done in time to relaunch a week on Monday which is my current target. Failing that, it's the 16th of September when the tides are next right to go back in

That wouldn't be the end of the world and if I can get a reasonable finish on the topsides now we can potentially avoid coming out next year (when I'd planned to repaint anyway) altogether

Getting shafted

It's been a bit wild and wooly here at Fambridge today so painting operations were suspended

Instead, I set about cleaning up and degreasing the shaft tube and prop shaft

I soon wished I'd done it sooner when I found that the shaft is showing some significant wear in way of the stuffing box

That's a potential problem because the new packless gland relies on two 'O' rings to form a seal on the shaft

A new shaft would cost money we can ill afford and delay getting back into the water for weeks

So I decided to assemble the tube, shaft and cutlass bearing and have a measure up



And it looks like the seal of the new gland will land on an undamaged area of the shaft

If that works out as I hope it'll be a major relief. There's no worries about the structural strength of the shaft, the wear isn't significant from that point of view, so provided we can get a seal we're in business

Blue for you

That's the final coat of epoxy on. Just the areas behind the pads to do (all three coats of course) which has to wait until the rest has cured off hard enough not to be damaged by the props

We're celebrating with a pint or two and lunch up the pub :)

What a grey day

Goodly and cream

No more poxy epoxy

At last! The sanders have been put back in their boxes (barring the two that I killed during the process of getting back to a sound hull which have gone in the skip!!, the keel is faired and primed and the hull is smooth and clean

Weather permitting, tomorrow we start applying the first of three coats of proper epoxy. We need the humidity to be low, the temperature moderate and no more than a gentle breeze ideally. It looks like it'll be rather warm with moderate humidity and breezy!

Delaying application of the epoxy will only be done if we absolutely have to so we'll be studying the weather forecast and actuals very closely over breakfast!

Smoootttthhhh

Well, almost!



The poxy epoxy is all gone, all bar the bits under the pads which will have to be done separately

And the process of filling and fairing is well under way

Getting her back to a sound base has, without a doubt, been the hardest job I've ever tackled on a boat (and one of the hardest things I've ever done period come to think of it)

The epoxy (the proper stuff this time) and antifoul should be waiting for me in the marina office but there's probably two or maybe three days work to do getting a nice fair hull with no dings, dents or scratches before we're ready to apply it

The prospects of getting back in the water before the end of the month are looking up but I'm not counting my chickens just yet

Heavy metal

2.7 tonnes of iron to be precise!

It's been a week or more of continued scraping and sanding interspersed with jobs for customers but at last I can see to the end of the job

The port side is all but cleaned back to a good surface with perhaps another five days work to do on the starboard side

Then I'll need to fill all the dings and scratches to get a fair surface before applying proper marine epoxy followed by an undercoat and antifoul

The topsides will need touching up and buffing but I don't plan to spend too much time on that at this stage. A full repaint is needed really but not this year

Other news of note is that we've sold Erbas for a good price and finally exchanged contracts on a new house. Within a fortnight then we'll finally have completed the house and boat changes after nearly a year of stress and setbacks

PS there's not much point in my posting daily blogs at the moment. One day is the same as the previous and the next until we get to the end of cleaning back the hull

Ask a silly question ....

Chap wandered over this morning and asked me "What's the best way to remove old antifoul then?"

I pondered for a moment or three and replied ...

"Well I've tried expensive chemical stripper. It's slow, hard work and, well, expensive"

"I've tried home made chemical stripper. It's slow, hard work and dangerous"

"I've tried powered scrapers. It's slow, hard work and risks damaging the gelcoat"

"I've tried tungsten carbide scrapers. It's slow, very hard work and the blades don't last long"

"And I've come to the conclusion that the best way to do the job is ..."

...

...

...

"Pay somebody else to do it!"

Jesting aside, my conclusion a week ago that another couple of days would see the job done was wildly inaccurate. After another four long days with chemicals, scrapers and sanders, I've made progress but I'm far from finished getting the hull back to a good base. The port side is done to about midships, but I've got the beamiest stretch still to scrape and sand whilst the starboard side is back to the stubborn stuff

The original plan would have had us back in the water today. Realistically, I can't see it happening for another month. Again realistically I won't be surprised if getting the hull back to a sound base takes another couple of weeks and then we've got to make good any scratches and dings before applying a new epoxy barrier followed by undercoat and whatever brand of antifoul I finally decide to waste my money on

Something will have to be done, at least short term, about the topsides paintwork too. (The "topsides" is the area of the hull between the waterline and the deck by the way). I'm hoping I can touch up the numerous scratches and dings and polish it up to a reasonable appearance at least for now. Ideally I'd strip the paint off the topsides as well and repaint the whole lot but there's neither the time nor the money to do that this year

And then we need to rebuild the stern gear. Everything is ready now for it all to start going back together so I'll make a start on that next week when my now permanently aching shoulders can't take any more scraping and sanding!

It's a family weekend this weekend so it'll be Monday afternoon before I get back on it. There's not been a lot of point posting daily blog updates as it's a dull and boring job which would make dull and boring reading

Bearing bodgers

I made an early start today back on the antifoul stripping.

I used the last of the caustic soda to make up a stronger batch than last time and I also decided to give it a longer time to work

So once it was slopped on, I set about doing some tidying up and popped up to the DIY store at Maldon to see if they had any more caustic. No joy

After a good three hours of "cooking" I set to with the pressure washer. I was delighted with the result. It removed several layers of antifoul at worst and all of it in some places. It even proved effective at removing the blue gunge

It will take another major go at the port side and a lot of spot treatment of the particularly tough bits but I reckon another two days work will have it done. With the evolved technique in hoping the starboard side will be done a lot quicker

Meanwhile, as I was blasting away with the pressure washer, a mate with access to a press popped by to pick up the cutlass bearing and housing which he's going to sort out for us

I'd completed the wash down by early afternoon so I decided to get on the road to Kettering early

On the way, I dived in to grab another half a dozen bottles of caustic which I hope will be enough to do the job

Back home, my mate messaged me to say they'd got the old bearing out and found that the new bearing would simply drop though the housing

The old bearing had been bodged with nicks in the brass casing to make it tight



There are two almost identical sizes of bearing. The metric bearing is 45mm and the imperial bearing is 1.75" which is 44.5mm

I'd struggled to decide which size I needed and eventually decided the housing entry must have a slight chamfer and went for the imperial size

Turns out I should have gone metric!

No great harm done. I've ordered the metric bearing to be delivered straight to my mate on Monday and I'll see if I can get a refund on the other one (at £32 it's not the end of the world if not)

It won't even hold things up as there's no way we'll be ready to start reinstalling the stern gear until late next week at the earliest