Getting ready to go back in the water

The last three months have been pretty wet in Rosneath, making it a pretty typical west coast of Scotland winter. Julian ordered and fitted two replacement oil pipes, and we mopped out the bilges thoroughly, but that was pretty much all we could do until the weather changed. 

Last week we finally got the dry spell we needed for outside work, and I managed to prepare the underwater areas for antifouling, and give Robinetta a complete coat of Lauderdale Blue paint. I also arranged for an engine service (changing the filters e.t.c.). The engineer said he could do this today, although he had not appeared by 16:00 when the rain started and I put the covers on.

With the engine nominally ready to go I asked for a launch slot. It seems that this early in the season there is no need to worry about being in a queue, and my preferred date of 30th March was immediately agreed. I then went back to Robinetta and anti-fouled her with Alex's help before the rain began.

We should be back in the water in a week, relaunching within the 3 months ashore we paid for. Our mooring has not been serviced yet, but the yard offered us the use of one of their own moorings until they could service ours. Now I need to transfer my attention to getting Worm back into commission. She has spent the winter in the garage, and should be ready once the hull has been primed and anti-fouled.

Cleaning out the water tanks and painting

First thing this morning I turned the engine on, so I could use the electric water pump to empty out the water tanks. As the water came through all frothy with bleach I realised that was the perfect time to wash down the rest of the cabin. By 9am I had a clean cabin, and had emptied, refilled, emptied and refilled the tanks. The engine had also had an hour of gentle use under load as a generator, so I felt happy about that.

 

A walk up to the local shop for milk for breakfast, then a drive to Maldon to buy provisions for the week took up the rest of the morning.

 

The only obvious change to Robinetta today is the paint work. Julian tidied up the stenciled name which had got over painted slightly last summer, and I got in Worm, and painted over the linseed putty mix that had been put in just before she went in the water last summer. She now looks smarter, but the assistant harbour master has confirmed that the mast can not go in until Tuesday, which leaves us only 4 days to head north before Julian has to be back at work...

 

 

 

Slow but steady progress

 

I have not been good at updating the blog recently. This does not mean that nothing has been happening!

 

I was told when I renewed the insurance for this year that I would need a survey before they would insure me for 2021. This was a much easier process that when Robinetta was wintering at Cairnbarn on the Crinan canal!

Luckily there was nothing major picked up on the survey, although it did find that the trim on the stern quarters was rotten. It was easy to remove, and will just mean a small repair.

 

I got advice on what to do with the hair line cracks that were opening up due to the wood drying out. These would close up when she went back in the water, but they needed something to stop the water tricking in too fast during the taking up process. The surveyor’s solution was linseed putty, mixed with linseed oil and a little metallic primer, until it was as sloppy as possible and still stay in the cracks. As the wood swells this will easily be squeezed out, and in the meantime the dry wood will absorb the oil. Painting linseed oil onto the hull during construction was common practice in the days when all boats were made of wood. We will be painting over the filled cracks, so time will tell if this treatment is a good idea appearance wise!

The engine also needed some TLC. It has not been run for several months due to not being able to get to Robinetta during lockdown; the throttle was stuck and the flexible fuel pipes needed replacing. This is being sorted, and hopefully the engine will start when we get her launched.

Alex has been in charge of painting the hull, as I have been suffering from skin problems on my hands that started with following government guidelines on hand washing. Palms that split open when they are flexed are not conducive to wood work or painting, so I have been acting as a chauffeur and overseer. Having only one of us working has slowed things down, but Robinetta is slowly coming back together, and I have my fingers crossed for an October relaunch.

Getting ready for the season

It has been a while since I last posted about getting Robinetta ready for the season. Work has been been done though. At home Julian is busy getting the chartplotter, depth gauge, radio and new AIS to talk to each other via a Pi, and I am making covers for the new seats and back cushions that we bought at the boat show.

Both of us spent the long Easter weekend in Bristol working on various bits and pieces, and I have been down a couple of times by myself. Leaving at 05:30 to beat the M25 traffic, and not getting home until 21:00 makes for a long day, so I have not felt like posting the progress made!

Mismatched blocks on the horse

My first task once she was back in the water was to get the running rigging ready. We are still down 4 blocks, which were in too bad a state to use this season. Julian wants to remake them himself, but in the meantime we are using an odd collection of mismatched blocks!

Today I am spending the night aboard. I have been painting the cabin, which needed it desperately, and the paint fumes have driven me to the pub for the evening.

Tomorrow an engineer is coming to service the engine and have a look at the stern gland. A steady trickle of water is coming through it, and we may need to have Robinetta lifted on the slings while he fixes it. Here is hoping it will not have to happen!

ready to anti-foul

Alex and I worked quite late today, but made good progress. We managed to get two coats of underwater primer on to the bare wood, so Alex will be rolling on the anti-foul tomorrow. He put a coat of white Toplac on the bulwarks today, so they now look finished, rather than in need of more layers!


The foredeck progresses, with Deks no1 on the cap rails, and a complete coat of blue Toplac inside the bulwarks. (Last season they were a patchwork of blue and silver). The deck itself still needs work though, with more damage revealed than expected once it was clean. Repairing and painting it is my task for tomorrow

Winter in the shed

Julian and I drove up to Largs on Saturday, with Alex, which gives us eighteen "man days" to spend on Robinetta and Worm this visit. We are half way through the week now, and the work is progressing, but there is always a lot to do! I made the new galley work surface at home, and after some fitting on site I could prepare the galley area to fit it. The paint needs touching up, so the work surface will not be put in place until the end of the week.

Julian had prepared the thru-hulls and their fittings at home too, and we now have a self draining cockpit again. He had also cleaned the other thru-hulls and replaced them. I bought a compass at the ExCel boat show, and Julian fitted it in the cockpit, including wiring up the light so we can use it at night. Not that we are planning night sailing, but you never know! Another task on Julian's list was tidying up the wiring, and he is in the middle of that.

Julian's first job was filling the gap in the forward starboard bulwalk, which took two days. Meanwhile Alex preparing the rest of the bulwalks for painting as well as touching up the primer below the waterline.

Alex's main work in the first couple of days was preparing Worm for a fresh layer of Woodskin inside and out, then painting it on. The temperature has not got above 5C, and even at 23C Woodskin needs 24 hours between coats. Hopefully leaving any second coats until the end of the week means the first will go off enough for the second to adhere properly.

The low temperature means that any varnish will take a long time to go off. The Epifanes teak "varnish" on the forward bulkhead was put on in 2009, and is beginning to peel. There is no way to give it enough coats to last under the current conditions, so I have decided to change it for Daks no 1, which can be multilayered on wet on wet (like varnol). Unfortunately that means all the varnish has to come off, so I have spent a lot of time sanding.

Apart from sanding I have repaired a couple of  bits of minor internal wood work, which have suffered through normal use. Nothing major, just screws and hinges that have come apart in the last couple of years. Hopefully they will all be done by the end of the week!

In the Shed

Half term means heading north to Largs and getting started on the winter work. Robinetta is under cover for the first time since we've owned her, and it's nice to know that when I mop out the bilges they are not going to fill again until she comes out of the shed!

I had a good look at the bulwarks where I found some rot at the start of the season. Luckily it is not as bad as it could have been, and I've scraped out the really soft bits and hopefully the rest will dry out before February when Julian will rout out the rot and insert a new bit of Siberian larch.

Alex spent all week painting the hull. It took that long because there were places that were down to bare wood, which needed two coats of grey metallic primer then two coats of undercoat before the toplac went on, then a final coat of Toplac on all over. In the pauses waiting for the paint to dry he sanded down the gaff, boom, and bowsprit, plus most of the varnished wood on the hull and rudder, and gave them three coats of varnish. Robinetta's paint work is still not finished though, since the bulwarks will need painting in the spring.

The portholes in the forward bulkhead have started to leak when it rains, so we've taken them out to let the wood around them dry out thoroughly, then we'll put them back with new mastic.There are also a couple of persistent leaks just under this bulkhead that needs tracking down.

We need the hatch surrounds rebuilt since they've been leaking for the last couple of years, but I don't feel confident in my woodworking skills and Julian does not have time, so we will be getting those done professionally. One bit of woodwork I do feel competent with is remaking the galley again, to accommodate the Orego stove. We've used it successfully for two seasons now, but I would like to get it on gimbals if I can.

I spent a fair amount of time grubbing around in the engine area, cleaning it up and giving regular doses of WD40 to the thru-hulls for the cockpit self drainers. These have been open ever since we bought Robinetta, and we never even thought about them since we were told they did not work. The surveyor who looked at Robinetta last winter reported that they were open, and the pipes that led upwards from the hull fitting were brittle and needed replacing. We replaced the pipes before launch, but could not get the thru-hulls to close, so we blocked them off at the top instead. I asked one of the boat builders about sealing the openings in the hull, and he said it would be much better to make them movable! He advised the WD40, and after three days of twice daily applications I finally got some movement. By the end of the week, when Julian could finally join Alex and me at the boat shed, the WD40 had worked through enough that he could get the cones out of the holes. He brought them home to clean them, and will replace them and repair the linkages to the remote opening handles in February.

Another great day

The weather is holding so far, and outside work is well advanced. We got a complete layer of tie coat on before lunch, and grey metallic primer where it was needed on the topsides, then after lunch it was time for varnish on the mast and bowsprit. The first coat of anti-foul went on mid-afternoon, then the varnish on the foredeck and cabin sides got a second coat.

I'm happy so far, since Robinetta could be craned in now, even if the weather broke this evening. There is still plenty of work to do, including checking the thru-hulls, before I'd want her launched, but the vital, weather dependent stuff is done.

Meanwhile work inside the cabin continued with only one aim, to get rid of the black mould that is growing on all the paint work. I bought some spray anti-fungal wash from Screwfix, and we took it in turns to spray and wipe throughout the day. There is still more of this wonderful task to complete tomorrow...

In between all this work we had a drink on the terrace at the Cairnbaan Hotel, and walked up the hill to show Alex the neolithic stone carvings. We ate our lunchtime sandwiches there, staring at the view down towards the canal. I am sure there are better places to keep a boat over winter, and get it prepared for launch, but on a warm sunny April day it's difficult to think of one.

Varnish and Woodskin

First day alone to Robinetta for a while, and a lot less gets done! I washed down the boom and had a good look at it. It's been sitting under the boat all winter (it would normally be on top) and got a bit damaged, so I sanded down the damaged varnish and gave the whole thing a thin coat of varnish. I'll try to give it another coat tomorrow.

The mast varnishing is finished, because Paul came every day last week and put on a coat. It's now had 6 coats, and that will have to do it, because the mast needs to be dressed tomorrow. The varnish is still very soft (certainly compared to the year old varnish on the boom!) so I did not put on another coat today. I think it's more important to let it harden off a bit.

I gave the bulwarks a coat of toplac, and finally decided what finish to use on the cockpit bare wood. I've gone with Woodskin. It's touch dry in four hours, but can't be overcoated for three days, which means I don't need to rush to get another coat on tomorrow!

Good painting weather

Another two days of wonderful weekend weather!

Alex and I went on Saturday and found that Paul had finished rebuilding the cockpit and stripped and refinished the mast. He'd given it one thinned coat of varnish and says he'll be back through the week to put on as many coats of varnish as he can. Julian put one on on Sunday too.

The rudder got its second coat of antifoul, so everything below the waterline is done. The foredeck got a coat of masonry paint on Saturday, then I painted inside the bulwarks and beneath them where Paul resealed the deck first thing on Sunday.

The cockpit fibreglass was under-coated on Saturday, and masonry painted on Sunday. All the woodwork in the cockpit is sanded down and waiting for varnish. I think we'll do that once we've launched and are away from the dust of the yard.

The anchor and chain are back on board, Julian greased the chain as we loaded it, and freed up any stuck links with a hammer. He wants to be reminded to grease the chain when we take it off next time...


The new diesel lift pump was fitted last week, and the engine de-winterised. There was a little diesel in the bilges when I checked them, so I moped them out. Hopefully that will be the last of it! I washed down the remaining cabin paint on Saturday (apart from a couple of bits I missed) and we took along the seat cushions on Sunday. The cabin is back in commission!

The galley adaptation is coming along well, but I'm running pretty short of formica since I need to cut a new piece for the side as well as beneath the hob. I think I'll end up piecing bits together...

Alex is varnishing the blocks for me, and he's nearly finished them. Just as well since we need to dress the mast next weekend. I'm really looking forward to getting Robinetta back in the water again. It's been ages since I went sailing!

Feels like progress

I finished rebuilding the heads over the weekend after Julian fettled up the sea-cocks, but most of my time was spent making a new infill for the galley work surface so we can fit the new hob. It's only 5mm outdoor ply, not 8mm marine quality like the rest of the galley, but its not going to be taking any of the weight of the hob and is only there to stop things falling down the gap. I want to cover the top with formica so it matches the rest though!

I put a second layer of Woodskin on the bits, but it was much too windy for varnishing the cap-rails. I did sand down the teak plugs that Julian fitted on the stern cap-rail though. It's looking good!

The foredeck bulwarks will get painted when the cockpit ones are done. I'll wait until Paul's finished to do that.

Alex came along on Sunday and repainted a smeary looking area of the topsides, then he moved inside and washed, rinsed, sanded, and painted the hull inside the cabin. It looks so much cleaner now!

We decided to leave the cabin ceiling another year, and the cupboards and benches will just get a scrub before the cushions get put on board. It feels like huge progress.

The last job of the weekend, just before it started to hail, was transferring on the vinyl lettering we bought at the ExCel Boatshow. The last set we bought survived without damage for 5 years, until we stripped all the paint off, so I was happy to used the system again.  Robinetta is now clearly identifiable! It makes going into strange ports easier if everyone can see who you are.

Another beautiful weekend

Another weekend working on the boat. Julian came with me on Saturday, and Alex on Sunday.

Julian ordered our new cooker last week, an Orego two burner spirit stove. It arrived on Thursday, so our first task was to have a look at how to fit it into the galley. We've worked out how to do it, but at some point I'll have to properly redesign the galley...

I spent most of my time rebuilding the anchor locker and sail locker in the forepeak, with occasional forays outside to help with bits of painting and varnishing.

Julian put the trim back round the bits and took apart the thru-hulls. He's going to try to get some polishing grit to make them work more smoothly. Bronze tapering cone thru-hulls need more maintenance that we've been giving them. He also took the trim off the top edge of the cabin facing into the foredeck. Alex stripped and varnished it the last year we were at Shotley, but the Epifanes has not fared well and had peeled off in many places.

When Julian was stripping the varnish he discovered that the trim was loose, so he took it off to check for rot. It  was sound, as was the wood beneath, so he cleaned it up, and screwed it back, bedded in new mastic. I put a fresh coat of epifanes on on Sunday, and will have to do the same every visit for the next five! I also started varnishing the cap rails in the foredeck.

I'm doing an experiment with Blakes Woodskin as a possible replacement for the varnol that I can't get any more, so I put a layer on the bits and their trim. I'll see how it looks next weekend.

Alex painted the topsides with a second layer of toplac, put Pre-Kote on the grey metallic primer on the bulwarks, and put a first layer of anti-foul on the rudder and a second on the hull. The weather was almost perfect for painting, just a touch too windy!

Paul has started rebuilding the cockpit, so everything looks on target thanks to the good weather. Only outstanding job that needs doing ASAP is the mast. I've got to get the yard to move it so we can fettle and dress it before launch date!

A productive weekend

A great couple of days working on Robinetta. Alex and I went on Saturday, and he prepared the hull above the water line for a coat of Toplac, while I took the winter covers off, put a coat of undercoat on in the forepeak, and grey metallic on the caulking Paul did on the foredeck. Julian stayed home and took off Worm's gunwales in between doing stuff for his OU course.

On Sunday Alex painted the hull, so Robinetta is now a beautiful blue all over her topsides again. The weather was perfect for it, sunny and warm so the paint dried well, but not so hot that it went off too quickly. Julian fitted the repaired cap-rail back to the cockpit and fully disassembled the rotten cockpit locker so Paul will have an easier time when he rebuilds it. I finished painting the forepeak, so it bright and white above the shelves and clean grey beneath. I hope to be able to rebuild the anchor and sail lockers next weekend.

The main activity of the day, and the reason all three of us went, was to re-hang the rudder. It went back easily, so that is a milestone passed in the winter work!

Gift of a Day

Last week was half term, but I only managed to get to Robinetta twice since I had other things to do and the weather was not up to much. I took Alex both times though, and he managed to get two coats of underwater primer on while I cleaned up the cockpit some more and washed down the forepeak. I was pretty sure it would be weekend working only until April, but then I heard the school I work at on Wednesday had cancelled for this week. I checked the weather and it was forecast to be sunny.

I headed for West Mersea as soon as I had put a layer of varnish on the gaff and rudder (which are at home), and got there at 0950. The weather was perfect, so as soon as I masked up the waterline I got out the roller and anti fouled the hull. At 10C it dried quickly in the sun and breeze, and it was soon touch dry. That took the morning, then after lunch I sanded down the grey metallic primer on the bulwarks to key it in for the next coat. That makes two, so I think I'll move on to primer undercoat next time...

After that it was into the forepeak to sand down the flaking paint (mask on of course, I have no idea what paint I'm dealing with here!). I'd remembered the vacuum cleaner so I hoovered the dust up then gave the bare wood a coat of grey metallic. The problem with painting is there are so many layers to go on if you want the job to last!

I've booked Robinetta's launching slot at the end of the first week of April. Fingers crossed we're ready by then....

Dry and Sunny!

Every fine day means we should head to the boat to get what we can done, so on Sunday Julian and I drove to West Mersea hoping to get a layer of underwater primer on the hull. Julian had a look at the putty that Paul had put over the bolt heads from when he redid the floors at the bow, and decided that he was unhappy with the slight drip he got when he pressed it. The putty is still very soft. He wanted Paul to check it before he painted it over, so I got him to sand down the cabin sides that continue the white stripe of the bulwalks. The paint there has been flaking off again, so needs redoing.

The bilge pump worked as soon as I tried it, most mysterious, so I did not need to dry the bilges, and since Julian was getting on with what I had intended to do I started rubbing down the bright work in the cockpit ready for re-varnolling. I'd done about half by lunch time. Unfortunately when I went to Marinestore to buy the Varnol they told me they had discontinued it. I'll have to rethink! That left me at a bit of a loose end, since I did not want to take off any more Varnol until I'd decided what to replace it with.

While brushing down the cockpit so my sanded off varnol did not blow onto the grey metallic paint Julian was putting on the bulwark I noticed that the fibreglass sheathing that butts against the cabin edge was pulling away a bit. That led me to tap at it, and my heart sank. An area the size of a side plate on the port side of the cockpit top sounded hollow. I felt around underneath it, and pulled out a lump of fungus that seemed like a fruiting body of some sort.

When Julian drilled into the cockpit top to fit the GPS mount back in April 2009 he reported that the wood seemed a bit soft, but that was on the starboard side, and that all still sounds fine (with no ominous fungus) beneath.

I called Julian, and we decided that we had to find out what was going on, so that meant taking off the locker seat and dismantling the port side of the cockpit.
 
The ply beneath the hollow fibreglass crumbled like wet fibre board when we exposed it, and the support strut for the locker seat also lacked strength. We worked back, and the support strut at the stern of the locker seat was also rotted, with crumbling ply above it. The ply was fine further back though, so it seems that the problem lies with the locker supports.

I got Paul to take a look at it today, and he'll rebuild it for us before we relaunch. I've also asked him to refinish the mast, as we really don't have time to do it with the uncertainties of the weather. He saw no problems with the softness of the putty, so Alex washed the salt off the hull and painted a layer of underwater primer. It will take a while to go off, but the next dry day we get it will be back to Robinetta for more painting.

Where the water comes in

Today was my first chance to get to West Mersea for a while due to work and weather, but it was a great day to go. Bright warm sun shine, and only a little breeze. The yard had moved Robinetta again, as the car park had been shrunk to only fit about ten cars, and she should not need to be moved again this winter. That meant I was able to get the electric hook up in place, so now I'll be able to brew up with the electric kettle.

The decks were damp with dew when I got there, but since I'd brought the heat gun and now had power I could burn the loose paint off the foredeck bulwark, which dried out the wood before I smoothed it down with the sander. I last painted this area before we left Shotley, and its not in bad condition overall, so I did not try to strip it totally. It's got a coat of grey metallic primer on all the bare bits now, and I'll probably leave it like that until the spring.

There is a distinct gap between the deck and the hull on the port side of the foredeck. The stopping has failed, and the caulking beneath is very loose. This may well be the source of one of our leaks this summer. 

As the wood of the hull dried out in the sun it was possible to see where a couple of areas stayed damp, as water trapped inside the hull leaked out. Paul had packed the one at the stern with bitumen when he recaulked it, but it looks as though it will need more attention this winter.

 

With the weather so perfect for it I sanded down where the mooring had abraded the antifouling down to bare wood and gave it a coat of underwater primer. The wood was in good condition and dry, so it made sense to get paint on it.

The old cooker had to go, so that went in the car to take to the dump, then I put the cover on the foredeck. There's rain forecast for tomorrow, and I want to keep it out of the boat as much as I can.

not back in yet

The tides were not good for getting Robinetta back into the water on Friday, so after I found out that the person we had invited to come sailing on Saturday would not be coming I told the yard she did not need to go in. This meant we could work on her on dry land over the weekend.

Julian got the fore hatch back in place on its hinges properly, and I gave it another couple of coats of Varnol. It's so easy to do, that the fact that it does not last as a finish doesn't worry me! I also got a second coat of varnish on the cap rails on the foredeck bulwarks. The main hatch was also ready for its finish, so I gave it six coats of Varnol. In between coats of Varnol I got Toplac on the bits of hull that Alex put primer on on Thursday, It's amazing what two good painting days can do to get a wooden boat looking smarter!

I made some new longer crutches for the boom, so I could bring the old ones home and re-varnish them properly.

There is still a lot I could do, the bits need attention, more coats of varnish and varnol are needed, and in an ideal world I'd sand down the whole of the blue hull and get a complete coat of Toplac on for the season. It's not going to happen though!

Out of the water

Robinetta came out of the water on Wednesday for her engine service, and will be back in tomorrow (Friday) so we can sail at the weekend. I got a call from the engineer saying he had tracked down the water leak to the raw water pump, and that a new one would be a good idea, so I ordered it from French Marine, and on a one day delivery was there this morning as promised. Hopefully, between that and the full service the engine will now work without kicking out steam when run at full power.

Since she was put on in such a rush in April it seemed sensible to take advantage of her being out of the water to do some extra painting, so I took Alex along today. The damage done by the ladder on the rubbing strake over the winter has now been sanded back and primed, the new bulwark wood has its second coat of toplac, and the main hatch has been sanded back to bare wood. (electric sanders are wonderful things!) I have also caulked and filled the gaps in the hatch in the hope that that will stop it leaking.

I disconnected the toilet and took it apart as we had noticed some leaks around it last time we were out. I now know a lot more about Lavac toilets, and have hopefully fixed the leak. There was a slight split in the outflow pipe, just under the jubilee clip, so I replaced the pipe as well as cleaning everything thoroughly and tightening all the bolts.  I left the bowl with some water in; hopefully it will still be there when I go back tomorrow!
  

It's supposed to be Spring

No sun today, and a NE wind that meant the 4C promised was barely 1C with wind chill. I didn't take Alex, who would have been working outside stripping off old Varnol.

I shut myself in the cabin, turned on the electric fire, and finished painting the galley above the worktop line. It had to be done! I can't say I'm happy with my work though, too many drips onto the locker paint below. I don't like them even though they'll be invisible once the cooker goes in.

After that I fitted the work surface into place. It's not fixed down at all, and the plumbing isn't done, but it should not need to come out again. I came home with a long list of things that still needed doing to make it work.

There were other hardy people at the yard, including Kalindy's owner who was anti fouling despite the low temperature. He said it was drying well though, maybe the 16 knots of wind helped!

Toplac all done

Alex and I went back to Robinetta today to finish the painting. There was no rain forecast, and the temperature looked good, so we went, even though the wind speed was higher than ideal.

I had the tide with me for the row, but the wind was against me, and the wind had the advantage; 16-17 mph NNW is hard work to row against! It took so long that Alex had a snack, and accidentally dropped some cellophane wrapping in the water. We had to chase it down and recapture it, which added a fair distance to the row!

Alex rubbed down and washed the bulwarks, then painted what he easily could from on board.  We had realised as we left Robinetta last time that the white stripe on the cabin sides were not nearly as well painted as the rest, so this time they would be finished off from Worm; it is much easier to see what you are doing that way!

I did a final touch up of the blue, and checked my design for the sail cover by fitting a tarpaulin mock up of the mast end. Very instructive! I had it nearly right, but in such a way that I had to recut the whole thing in situ.... The way I work making a mock up is essential!

Fingers crossed there is no more painting to do this season, and we can go sailing at the weekend!