A frustrating day

My first mission this morning was to rig up a cargo hoist. Carrying things up and down a ladder is somewhat awkward and with my dodgy knee a potentially risky business

So I lashed the mizzen boom to port, dug a suitable crate out of the container, and made a couple of loops of nylon line to which I shackled the port mizzen sheet block

So now I can hoist and lower cargo to and from the deck in complete comfort and safety!

The first cargo was somewhat less than salubrious - the Portapotti tank needed emptying. The Elsan disposal point is round at the marina but I had to run round there to pick up the gear puller I'd ordered from Screwfix yesterday anyway

Whilst I was out, I nipped up to Wickes at Maldon for more paint stripper and a better scraper

On my return, I set about trying to remove the prop again. To my utter annoyance, the puller I'd ordered was no bigger than the one I'd got. A snotty email has been sent to Screwfix customer services about that.

Still, as it only cost £12 I've got more important things to do than worry about misleading product descriptions. After some head scratching and experimentation I fettled up a means of actually getting a pull on the base of the prop boss using parts from both pullers and a g-clamp

At last, I thought. And the g-clamp bent like a banana whilst the prop stayed stubbornly put

There's only one more thing I can think of to try. Maybe if I disconnect the prop shaft at the coupling, unbolt the stern tube and cutlass bearing housing then perhaps I can get enough down angle on the shaft to withdraw it complete. I suspect I'm on a hiding to nothing and the prop won't clear the rudder skeg but it's my last hope

The prop doesn't actually need to come off. It's the cutlass bearing housing I need to get off. So it doesn't really matter if the prop stays on the shaft if I can withdraw the shaft

Oh and on the subject of the prop pitch, the manufacturers got back to me to say that our speed test figures are roughly what they'd expect. I'm far from convinced. They say they'll supply a new pitch cassette set 1" coarser for £105+VAT. Their literature says, and I quote "Replacement pitch cassette for easy pitch adjustment - supplied free of charge.". Questions will be asked (again)

Defeated by the prop, for now at least, I cracked on with removing the layers of anti-foul from the port bow. Yesterday, I'd used Wickes own brand paint stripper and whilst it had some effect it wasn't brilliant. So I'd spent three times to money on Nitromors which at least smells like it's evil stuff. It proved more effective too but I hit a problem

There's several layers of old antifoul - there's two layers of worn out self eroding over a layer of hard racing and then there's a thick layer of truly horrible stuff. Beneath that is another layer of old antifoul and then you're finally down to a thin layer of epoxy over the original gelcoat

It's that thick layer of horrible stuff that's giving the trouble. In places, it's come off in slabs leaving craters that wouldn't disgrace the moon. In other places it's as hard as steel. The Nitromors will soften it up to a certain extent but then it's a pig to scrape off forming big lumps of very sticky gunk that clog the scraper blade within seconds. Unsoftened, it won't scrape worth a damn. It won't sand either, it just clogs the sanding disc

I can get it off, eventually, but it's going to take a lot of stripper, which isn't cheap, and the gods alone know how much time and effort. I've spent what amounts to a whole day on the port bow and I've stripped most, but by no means all, of it back for about four feet from the stem. Only another 29 feet to go and then there's the other side. I reckon I'm looking at two weeks work, at least and that's just to strip it. Then it will have to be cleaned up, any imperfections and the inevitable scraper damage made good before being antifouled

I've not totally up my mind made but I'm leaning heavily towards calling it quits for the time being. Certainly, if I carry on there is no chance at all we'll be back in the water before the end of the month and that would put paid to any chance of getting away for a sail this year. And in any case, there's a long list of more pressing jobs to attend to.

We'll see what tomorrow will bring