Keep bashing ...

 So following on from the first post about our fortnight of unplanned boat refitting ...

The starboard chain plates cleaned up nicely with no signs of any worrying corrosion etc. So they were refitted with nice new sealant to keep the water on the outside where it belongs ...

We're one lock nut short as I rejected one of the existing nuts as it had a crack in it. So as the chain plate pictured is the easy one to get at, if you look closely you'll see there's only one nut. An A4 stainless 10mm nut (they don't come cheap!) has been added to the shopping list.

We then ran into a fairly major problem around the mast step which took several days to engineer our way out of.

Let's just say that when the boat was built, they didn't take into account a need, forty odd years later, to access the nuts on the back of the bolts that secure the mast foot to the deck! We were able, with care, to cut access holes sufficient to get at the nuts from below although now that has to be made good again before the rig goes back on

The hot weather was really not helping progress by this stage. I'm not by nature or inclination a morning person but by lunchtime the temperature was reaching levels I find difficult to tolerate. So we'd get two or three hours work in before it got too hot to carry on and then hopefully another hour or two when it cooled down later.

One job that definitely needed doing before we abandoned ship ahead of the predicted really hot weather today and tomorrow (and we had to be home by tomorrow lunchtime anyway) was to remove one or both of the mizzen mast forward lower chainplates.

These chainplates are mounted half way along the extensive winch shelf either side of the cockpit and they have a small stainless steel backing plate to spread the load. That plate is obviously nowhere near big enough as the winch shelves are getting distorted upwards causing cracking in the gelcoat.

And as can be seen from the photo of the underside, in the cockpit locker, there's obviously been some water getting through as there's signs of rust around one of the nuts.

Grinding off the resin that had been slapped over the nuts and backing plate in hot weather was a lovely job but it had to be done so that we could decide what needs to be bought to sort this problem out.

With the fitting and plate removed, the holes in the deck were temporarily taped over to keep any rain out and we set about packing up and heading for home.

I've located a source of suitable A4 stainless plates of the right size and thickness at a reasonable price so they need to be ordered ahead of the next trip down in a couple of weeks or so. We also need to remove and re-bed the port side main chain plates - it's very obvious that the sealant under all the deck fittings has long since past it's use by date and everything needs re-bedding. We'll do what must be done now, now e.g. anything to do with the rig, everything else will have to wait a while but not too long!

We also need to sort out the mast electrics whilst the rig is down. I've ordered new low loss RG8X coaxial cable to replace the old thing RG58 that's currently on the main VHF antenna. On a run of 15m plus, RG58 just isn't good enough. There's also the dodgy steaming and deck light to sort out, it works when it feels like it and usually doesn't work when you need it! I think we'll just replace the damn thing and have done with it.

There's a realistic prospect, weather permitting, of being ready to have the rig put back on the boat by mid-August and that will beg the question of whether or not to launch for a few weeks.

We have a fortnight on board in September and I would rather like to spend it on the water rather than working on the boat. Apart from anything else, after four years ashore I would like to find out what works and what doesn't any more sooner rather than later. It would be a real PITA to launch next spring and then have to be hauled out again because of some unforseen problem.

Container Bashing and other things ...

 So here we are back on board for a solid fortnight with a lot to do ... and it has to be admitted that progress has been slow so far.

The priority is to tackle all the jobs that need or ought to be done whilst the rig is off the boat 'cos we really don't want to have to remove the masts again for many a long year.

And at the very top of that list is a job we've known was going to need doing for some time - removing the starboard cap shroud chain plates, cleaning them up (and hoping like hell they're good to be refitted!) and then refitting them with fresh sealant. It needs doing because there's clear signs of water weeping through from on deck and running down the plates either side of the main bulkhead ...

You can clearly see brown streaks, which aren't rust 'cos they're on top of the paint, on the plate inside the wardrobe on the forward face of the bulkhead and the matching plate on the much harder to get at aft face of the bulkhead isn't much better.

The first task was to remove the deck fitting ...

...  and that didn't prove too easy at all! But it came out in the end and then the chain plates themselves had to be removed. Getting at the nuts was easy but to get at the bolt heads and drive the bolts out meant removing the starboard saloon locker front and some butchery of the end structure of the locker itself with the reciprocating saw to cut holes for the bolts to pass through (photos to follow).

So far so good but by this stage I was getting absolutely fed up with not being able to find tools and material in our container next to where Pagan is ashore.

The container was in a reight mess with the work bench covered in "stuff" and access to our storage shelves and cupboard blocked by ladders, timber, two dinghies and all sorts of other "stuff."

So we broke off from working on the boat to have have container bashing session. First up, everything (near enough) out. Then everything back ... tidy!

Well, alright, tidy-ish! By the time I remembered to take a piccy, I was actually using the workbench, something we haven't been able to do for a while, and if you look closely you'll see the parts of the aforementioned chain plate on the bench about to be cleaned up.

In fact, as I write they're cleaned up and ready to go back on the boat but I'll post pics of that later.

The next job is cleaning up inside and out where the plates fit and then they can be reinstalled and we'll move on to the next job. Whatever that is. I'm just taking one job at a time!

P.S. I can hear some folks ask ... what is a "chain plate"? There's probably a few wondering what the hell "standing rigging" is too. So a quick and dirty glossary ...

The Rig: On a sailing vessel, "the rig" is everything associated with the bits you hang the sails on.

So that's the masts, obviously, but also the wires (or on traditional vessels the ropes) that hold the masts up (actually that isn't what they really do but it suffices for simplicity) and the fittings those wires attach to.

Shrouds: The shrouds are the wires (or ropes, see above) that go from the mast or masts to the sides of the boat. There's usually a shroud either side from the very top of the mast called the Port or Starboard "Cap Shroud" and shrouds from about two thirds of the way up the mast leading forward and aft called the Port or Starboard "Forward Lower Shroud" and "Aft Lower Shroud"

Just to complicate matters, Pagan. like most Westerlys, doesn't have forward lower shrouds either side, she has a single "Baby Stay" which serves the same purpose.

Stays: These are the wires that lead fowards and aft from the mast. The forestay goes from the top of the amst (or near enough) to the bow, the Backstay goes from the top of the mast to , you guessed it, the stern. 

Once again, we complicate matters 'cos we're a ketch so our backstay is actually split into two part way down and lands either side of the aft end of the cockpit overlapping the shrouds for the mizzen mast.

And finally, the generic term for the fittings that the shrouds and stays attach to is "Chain Plate". On sailing ships of old, the last few feet of each shroud or stay was actually made of chain and the whroud chains were shackled to a plate or plates securely bolted to the hull sides. Hence "chain plate"

And if you want to know more ... buy a book!