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
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
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