Last couple of days we have been catching up with odd jobs, but not finishing any of them.
The priority is the bilge pumps since we don't want to go into the water without them working automatically. We cut out the hole for the pump control panel and fitted all the pumps and float switches, 3 of each. We have two bilge pumps, excluding the manual one. A small one that is the normal bilge pump and is left on auto all the time running from a float switch. The second is a much bigger one that can be either auto or manual. We tested the small one and it kept pace with the hose running into the bilges so we are pleased with that. The third pump/float switch combination is for the grey water holding tank.
I also sanded the cockpit ready for painting and Tim put Sikaflex between the deck rubbing strip and the hull. In the process he found a small part where the hull is delaminating which we will have to fix.
We have also been making the block to support the new winch to allow the chain to fall properly into the chain locker. We put all the chain in the locker too.
Ooops... nearly forgot the main news. We have a launch date! Wednesday January 13th at 9am. So we have to get all fixed by then.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Thursday, 24 December 2009
Bilge pumps and polishing
Today we started the morning with me working on the bilge pumps and Tim working on polishing the topsides. Neither of us finished our task!
However... the starboard side looks pretty amazing from the polishing. We had been sold some colour restorer and polish by Harris at Ocean Marine and to be honest I was skeptical. But the results were amazing. No it doesn't look like a freshly spray painted hull, but it does not shine and the water runs off much quicker.
The bilge pumps took a lot of work and we ended up going to see Costantinos at Comar Marine for some more plumbing pipe, clips and one way valves. We installed and tested the grey water holding tank and installed both bilge pumps and tested the smaller one. The float switch for the large one still needs fixing... another day.
However... the starboard side looks pretty amazing from the polishing. We had been sold some colour restorer and polish by Harris at Ocean Marine and to be honest I was skeptical. But the results were amazing. No it doesn't look like a freshly spray painted hull, but it does not shine and the water runs off much quicker.
The bilge pumps took a lot of work and we ended up going to see Costantinos at Comar Marine for some more plumbing pipe, clips and one way valves. We installed and tested the grey water holding tank and installed both bilge pumps and tested the smaller one. The float switch for the large one still needs fixing... another day.
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Sanding topsides
Tim spent most of the day sanding the topsides of the hull. We'd tried a small part of the hull - sanding and polishing and thought it would be a quick job. It wasn't. It took him most of the day just to sand it to get the gell coat to look pristine again. He then washed it down ready for polishing.
We noticed too that there was a gap between the rubbing strip and the hull. We'll fill this with Sikaflex.
Tim also finished all the preparation work for the Treadmaster. We still need to prepare the white paintwork since that has to be done before gluing the Treadmaster... but she's getting ready for launch.
We noticed too that there was a gap between the rubbing strip and the hull. We'll fill this with Sikaflex.
Tim also finished all the preparation work for the Treadmaster. We still need to prepare the white paintwork since that has to be done before gluing the Treadmaster... but she's getting ready for launch.
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Awlgrip anti-fouling
Anti-fouling is really rotten stuff, so Jacob was wearing hat, gloves, mask and protective glasses for painting the hull with me today. And it was a good job he was too... there were paint splatters on the hat, mask and eye glasses, and significant quantity on the gloves.
Because the paint dries so fast, Jacob and I were painting in shifts, so that the roller wouldn't dry out. I was doing the high bits and...
...Jacob was doing the low bits.
We also spent some time filling the ding on the port side a small problem at the port stern and some little gell coat holes at the bow all with gell coat.
Gell goat is horrid stuff to work with, at least that's what I find. It doesn't work like a filler, more like an over thick lumpy glue/paint that refuses to be smoothed and has to be filed smooth after it sets.
Hopefully tomorrow it will be hard enough to sand off and get smooth.
I also touched up the black line on the starboard side. The masking tape had not masked completely and there was a crinkly edge to it. So I hand painted the grey edge between the black and the grey.
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Acid bath and exhaust
Notable happenings today were Ken's extraction of the exhaust pipe... which had holes in multiple places. Unwrapping the bandage from it showed just how big they were!The shape of the exhaust meant Ken was somewhat concerned about how a new one could be manufactured.
It doesn't look like new, but it is totally clean brass now.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Epoxy hull guard
Today Jacob and I painted two coats of Awlgrip expoxy hull guard on King Malu. It was very tiring work. The hull guard paint is quite difficult to roller evenly.
But the final result leaves a protective coat over the entire hull below the water line and so definitely worth it.Monday, 14 December 2009
Fixing the ding!
Very early this morning... well... very early for me that is... I went down to King Malu and painted a second grey coat on the band around the stern. Then back to the office for staff meeting.
This afternoon I came back to the boat to fix the ding on the starboard side. First of all I ground out as far back as the cracks in the gel coat went so that there could be no water penetration through the cracks. Then chamfered the edges to that the new gel coat would take. Ahh... just asked Sue how to spell chamfered and she had never heard the word. It means to grind down the edge, like a bevel so that its not a hard edge.
Then I mixed up Epidermix 372 epoxy and layered Epidermix and glass-fibre matting into the hole. I then used the remaining Epidermix to fill other little holes below the water line.
When I got back to the office Tim came round and was slightly concerned that the Epidermix might run since I had layered it into quite a deep hole. We went down to the boat again and found that it looked fine not drooping at all. Epidermix is, I think, a South African epoxy and takes 7 days to cure fully. But hopefully will be solid enough not to droop over night.
This afternoon I came back to the boat to fix the ding on the starboard side. First of all I ground out as far back as the cracks in the gel coat went so that there could be no water penetration through the cracks. Then chamfered the edges to that the new gel coat would take. Ahh... just asked Sue how to spell chamfered and she had never heard the word. It means to grind down the edge, like a bevel so that its not a hard edge.
Then I mixed up Epidermix 372 epoxy and layered Epidermix and glass-fibre matting into the hole. I then used the remaining Epidermix to fill other little holes below the water line.
When I got back to the office Tim came round and was slightly concerned that the Epidermix might run since I had layered it into quite a deep hole. We went down to the boat again and found that it looked fine not drooping at all. Epidermix is, I think, a South African epoxy and takes 7 days to cure fully. But hopefully will be solid enough not to droop over night.
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Engine working and more!
Last week Tim felt we had turned the corner on getting King Malu ready, and this morning I was not so sure.
When I arrived at the boat Tim was already there and suggested that while Ken works on the engine we replace the stern gland packing. The 'stern gland packing' is some waxy/greasy rope that goes around the drive shaft to stop the water coming in. If a boat is left out of the water for too long [as King Malu has been] then the rope becomes brittle and doesn't block the water any longer.
Access to the stern gland is through the hanging locker in the rear cabin. And I think we have found the only design failure in the boat. The design failure? Well... the hanging locker doesn't go right to the floor and stops about 30-40cm from the floor. So, to access the stern gland you have to put towels on the the wood between the floor and the locker and then bend over with your tummy on the towels and hang down into the bilge area upside down! Not a comfortable position and one that you can only maintain for a few minutes before you black out!
So I started and removed the nuts from the stern gland and then removed the stern gland. I then tried and failed to remove the packing and so Tim took over. He opened the stern cabin hatch so that if he did black out we could get in and drag him out as he was effectively blocking the door into the stern cabin!
With some effort he managed to remove the old packing and we went off in search of new packing. None of the chandlers had it, one had gland packing, but the wrong size. However, in the way of Cyprus, Andreou Brothers, a hardware store had it. They sold it by weight and the cost of 60cm of gland packing? A 1 euro outlay.
Back at the boat Ken was ready to try restarting the engine. No luck. We tried a number of times. We were using ether to try to start the engine as the glow-plug was missing. No joy. Then... ooops... the top came off the ether aerosol spray. Where did the top go? It was only a serious loss if the top had gone down the air intake into the engine. So we were desperate to find it to ensure that it hadn't. Eventually Ken and Tim took off part of the air intake and checked it was not about to go into the engine. We never did find it.
Lunch and a welcome break. All sorts of theories were put about as to what to do with the engine. The most serious of which was to remove the top and bottom of the engine, remove the pistons, regrind and refix everything - basically totally recondition the entire engine... should only cost around 5,000 euros. No, we don't want to believe that!
Back from lunch and Tim repacked the stern gland and the the sun came out and I dashed out to paint the grey topcoat at the stern. Ken checked out the engine and we decided to have another go. She ran! We let the throttle go back to idle and she ran at idle. We stoped the engine and then restarted without ether. She ran beautifully at idle.
Just as we were congratulating Ken the phone rang. It was Steph with some more ideas about the engine. Tim put him on speaker phone and then after Steph had suggested all his ideas, Tim interrupted to tell him the good news. Absolute silence from the other end of the line. Eventually Steph found his voice and asked how it happened. With a totally straight face [or straight voice] Tim said 'Ken laid hands on the engine, Richard prayed it it came to life'. Steph found difficulty in believing this and Tim admitted that it was true that the engine was working but left the truth of anything else ambiguous.
Final task was to check out the running rigging [that's the ropes for the non-sailors reading this blog]. Some of the ropes were fine, some needed replacing. Surprisingly it was the old [possibly original] ropes that were fine and the newer braid-on-twisted that needed replacing. There is one rope that is possibly OK, but could do with replacing. Its the genoa halyard, which is a 6mm wire connected to a 12mm braid rope. Not a nice rope to replace. I think Dan may be able to do wire to rope splices so we will wait till he comes in April and ask him then.
Then check out the list of purchases. Measure the size of the cooker to replace that, check horseshoe, check the blocks/rope needed for the mainsheet... and a few other items.
Tim and I were feeling on a high, what with the engine running, most of the ropes not needing replacing and enough dry/sun to be able to get a coat of paint on the stern grey band, this had been a good day.
When I arrived at the boat Tim was already there and suggested that while Ken works on the engine we replace the stern gland packing. The 'stern gland packing' is some waxy/greasy rope that goes around the drive shaft to stop the water coming in. If a boat is left out of the water for too long [as King Malu has been] then the rope becomes brittle and doesn't block the water any longer.
Access to the stern gland is through the hanging locker in the rear cabin. And I think we have found the only design failure in the boat. The design failure? Well... the hanging locker doesn't go right to the floor and stops about 30-40cm from the floor. So, to access the stern gland you have to put towels on the the wood between the floor and the locker and then bend over with your tummy on the towels and hang down into the bilge area upside down! Not a comfortable position and one that you can only maintain for a few minutes before you black out!
So I started and removed the nuts from the stern gland and then removed the stern gland. I then tried and failed to remove the packing and so Tim took over. He opened the stern cabin hatch so that if he did black out we could get in and drag him out as he was effectively blocking the door into the stern cabin!
With some effort he managed to remove the old packing and we went off in search of new packing. None of the chandlers had it, one had gland packing, but the wrong size. However, in the way of Cyprus, Andreou Brothers, a hardware store had it. They sold it by weight and the cost of 60cm of gland packing? A 1 euro outlay.
Back at the boat Ken was ready to try restarting the engine. No luck. We tried a number of times. We were using ether to try to start the engine as the glow-plug was missing. No joy. Then... ooops... the top came off the ether aerosol spray. Where did the top go? It was only a serious loss if the top had gone down the air intake into the engine. So we were desperate to find it to ensure that it hadn't. Eventually Ken and Tim took off part of the air intake and checked it was not about to go into the engine. We never did find it.
Lunch and a welcome break. All sorts of theories were put about as to what to do with the engine. The most serious of which was to remove the top and bottom of the engine, remove the pistons, regrind and refix everything - basically totally recondition the entire engine... should only cost around 5,000 euros. No, we don't want to believe that!
Back from lunch and Tim repacked the stern gland and the the sun came out and I dashed out to paint the grey topcoat at the stern. Ken checked out the engine and we decided to have another go. She ran! We let the throttle go back to idle and she ran at idle. We stoped the engine and then restarted without ether. She ran beautifully at idle.
Just as we were congratulating Ken the phone rang. It was Steph with some more ideas about the engine. Tim put him on speaker phone and then after Steph had suggested all his ideas, Tim interrupted to tell him the good news. Absolute silence from the other end of the line. Eventually Steph found his voice and asked how it happened. With a totally straight face [or straight voice] Tim said 'Ken laid hands on the engine, Richard prayed it it came to life'. Steph found difficulty in believing this and Tim admitted that it was true that the engine was working but left the truth of anything else ambiguous.
Final task was to check out the running rigging [that's the ropes for the non-sailors reading this blog]. Some of the ropes were fine, some needed replacing. Surprisingly it was the old [possibly original] ropes that were fine and the newer braid-on-twisted that needed replacing. There is one rope that is possibly OK, but could do with replacing. Its the genoa halyard, which is a 6mm wire connected to a 12mm braid rope. Not a nice rope to replace. I think Dan may be able to do wire to rope splices so we will wait till he comes in April and ask him then.
Then check out the list of purchases. Measure the size of the cooker to replace that, check horseshoe, check the blocks/rope needed for the mainsheet... and a few other items.
Tim and I were feeling on a high, what with the engine running, most of the ropes not needing replacing and enough dry/sun to be able to get a coat of paint on the stern grey band, this had been a good day.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Weather report?
I had taken three days off which looked like the first two would be fine and the third one would fine for the morning. This morning I got up and at 8am checked weather.com and was thrilled to see the forecast to show fine all day. So I went down to the boat. Tim was already there doing some fine sanding on the deck. The weather looked great.
We cleaned up the deck and then I started doing the second top coat for the grey band, grey stripe and the stern. It was much better with Tim there as he moved the trestles we had borrowed from another boat and I kept painting.
At 11:00 it became overcast. About 11:30 it started to spit with rain. Oh no... but then it stopped and I finished the painting. While I was doing that Tim looked at the 'ding' on the starboard side that the previous owner had claimed was superficial. It is superficial, but not as superficial as he had claimed. We will have to dig out the bad, refill with glass-fibre and epoxy and then overfill with gel-coat.
Tim covered the hole with plastic sheet and then taped it all round to stop water getting into the hull.
Tim went back to the office and I cleaned up and went home for an early lunch. It rained. I looked at the weather forecast again... it now showed showers all day. Bad news.
I went back to the boat after lunch. It seemed that the polyurethane paint had set sufficiently that I could remove the blue masking tape. She looked great.
I then remembered that I had intended hand painting the stern grey stripe so returned home to get an artist brush for that.
Just as I was starting that, Tim came down and admired the new paintwork. She really is getting to look great. He suggested getting a signwriter to re-do the name and port information as if we use adhesive lettering it would not fully cover the old and not look as good as signwriting over the old.
I was not liking the hand painting the grey stripe at the stern. I had tried using masking tape but could not get it to follow the line. Tim got the masking tape and with added pressure persuaded the tape to follow the line. I painted the grey stripe [undercoat]. Great team - almost every time something I cannot do Tim does and vice versa.
Next is to lightly sand and polish the hull and then paint the anti-fouling. All we need is four days of no rain.
We cleaned up the deck and then I started doing the second top coat for the grey band, grey stripe and the stern. It was much better with Tim there as he moved the trestles we had borrowed from another boat and I kept painting.
Tim covered the hole with plastic sheet and then taped it all round to stop water getting into the hull.
Tim went back to the office and I cleaned up and went home for an early lunch. It rained. I looked at the weather forecast again... it now showed showers all day. Bad news.
I then remembered that I had intended hand painting the stern grey stripe so returned home to get an artist brush for that.
I was not liking the hand painting the grey stripe at the stern. I had tried using masking tape but could not get it to follow the line. Tim got the masking tape and with added pressure persuaded the tape to follow the line. I painted the grey stripe [undercoat]. Great team - almost every time something I cannot do Tim does and vice versa.
Next is to lightly sand and polish the hull and then paint the anti-fouling. All we need is four days of no rain.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Painting
Last weekend Tim and I felt we had turned a corner with King Malu, no longer taking apart, but putting back together. That doesn't mean there isn't more to take apart or that there isn't a lot to do, but that we had changed mode so to speak.
Today I spent painting. Yesterday I did the undercoat on the grey band and the stern and today I put the first topcoat on.
This was my first time with multi-part epoxy and multi-part polyurethane paints. I must say the epoxy undercoat did feel a little like painting with glue at times.
It was quite tricky to ensure that the polyurethane top coat covered evenly and didn't run. I think I did manage it though as there are no runs on the band. When Tim arrived and saw it he thought again about painting the entire hull. Not this year!
It says you can re-coat without sanding, but to get a better result then sand with very fine sandpaper. I think we might try that - sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper.
We also spent a little time cleaning up the deck ready for undercoating that. We didn't get that finished... but did quite a lot. When I say 'we' I mean Jacob and me. Jacob came down for the whole day and was a tremendous help.
Later in the afternoon he went to see one of our near neighbours arriving. They have been lifting out boats continually every day for the last few days. Aren't you glad boat lifts only stay within the marina. Imagine meeting this traveling at 4 mph on a busy street.
The sound of power washing after lift out echoes across the marina. When it stops the silence is refreshing... till us or someone else starts grinding away with a power orbital sander or similar!
I'm really looking forward to seeing King Malu in the boat lift on her way back to the water. Hopefully before Christmas.
Every spot on the hard looks like it will be taken with a boat. Many are being repaired or maintained for the new season, but a fair number have 'For Sale' signs up.
The sailing boat next to us is up for sale and we see people coming to view on a few occasions. The reason for sale is that the cabin is too low for the current owner who has to stoop to get around the cabin. It's a fair sized yacht - similar to King Malu - but obviously with a lower deck. Fortunately King Malu has a high deck which means Tim, who is taller than me, can stand and walk everywhere without bending... even though he has to remember to duck through the cabin doorways or he would crack his head.
This was my first time with multi-part epoxy and multi-part polyurethane paints. I must say the epoxy undercoat did feel a little like painting with glue at times.
It was quite tricky to ensure that the polyurethane top coat covered evenly and didn't run. I think I did manage it though as there are no runs on the band. When Tim arrived and saw it he thought again about painting the entire hull. Not this year!
It says you can re-coat without sanding, but to get a better result then sand with very fine sandpaper. I think we might try that - sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper.
We also spent a little time cleaning up the deck ready for undercoating that. We didn't get that finished... but did quite a lot. When I say 'we' I mean Jacob and me. Jacob came down for the whole day and was a tremendous help.
The sound of power washing after lift out echoes across the marina. When it stops the silence is refreshing... till us or someone else starts grinding away with a power orbital sander or similar!
I'm really looking forward to seeing King Malu in the boat lift on her way back to the water. Hopefully before Christmas.
The sailing boat next to us is up for sale and we see people coming to view on a few occasions. The reason for sale is that the cabin is too low for the current owner who has to stoop to get around the cabin. It's a fair sized yacht - similar to King Malu - but obviously with a lower deck. Fortunately King Malu has a high deck which means Tim, who is taller than me, can stand and walk everywhere without bending... even though he has to remember to duck through the cabin doorways or he would crack his head.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Water, water everywhere...
I'm generally the owl and Tim generally the lark. So for him to find me at the boat by 7am this morning was a shock to the system. He and Mark arrived a few minutes after me... having bet each other that I would not be there before them. Had they actually bet, Mark would have been the richer.
Why so early? Well, the weather this weekend has been terrible. Rain, rain, thunder, lightening, rain and more rain... the forecast for today was that the best of the weather would be before 11am. And the forecast was correct.
The good news is that all the grinding off the old ant-fouling is complete. Tim has had his last hot red shower. Yes, you did read that right, not a red hot shower, but a hot red shower... the old Jotun anti-fouling was red and got everywhere. Even wearing a mask and goggles it in most places. Now that is complete.
We also completed the grinding off of the old Treadmaster glue. There is a little work to do sanding round the edges, but that is all gone. We vacuumed and cleaned off what we could but lets hope the rain washes it away, since the glue becomes a solid cement like substance when it gets wet, dries and is hardened by the sun.
I also managed to sand down the grey band along both sides of the hull ready for painting. The intention had been to do the first two coats Monday and Tuesday, and third coat Friday. But the rain is set for Monday and Friday so I hope to do them Tuesday through Thursday. But... we found an extra task to add the the list and the order will have to be changed both because of the rain. How come? Well, having removed the grab handles and toast racks we had put gaffer tape over the holes. But this didn't stop the water coming through!
Not only there, but there were drips from somewhere else on the cabin roof. This is our first time with rain and King Malu. We removed more of the ceiling panels and discovered a rotting panel under the main hatch. Putting a screwdriver through this rooting marine ply panel was like opening a tap! Ahhh... the boat has settled slightly for'ard over eight years and so any water from the cockpit seating runs into the runners for the main hatch. Because it has settled for'ard the water then runs into the space above the main hatch and sits there as a pond on this marine ply board. Over eight years the wood has rotted.
Today before we left we put up a plastic tent over the boom to try to reduce the amount of water running into this space and thence into the saloon.
So apart from all the grinding, what else has happened this week? We had two deliveries of supplies. One from Limassol and one from the UK. I had a meeting this week in Limassol so collected all the paints from Ocean Marine and brought them back to Larnaka.
The second from the UK came from MailSpeedMarine.com and they certainly lived up to their name, for speed that is. They have an amazing deal on at the moment for a 2.7 metre inflatable dinghy as a tender for yachts. It's only 299 GBP. They said they could arrange delivery to Cyprus included within that price. To both Tim's and my amazement that was delivery overnight by UPS. They have won a customer, with service like that we will buy from them again.
The engine... well that was not so good news sadly. Ken came down on Saturday morning with new injector valves and spent a couple of hours fitting them and sorting everything out for a test run. This happened about mid day. The engine turned over, coughed, spluttered and died. Quite a few times. There was fuel leaking from the injector pump, but that probably didn't cause it to not run, so Ken has gone away to think.
However, with all the grinding off finished, we feel we have turned the corner. From dismantling and grinding to rebuilding and painting. A step forward.
Why so early? Well, the weather this weekend has been terrible. Rain, rain, thunder, lightening, rain and more rain... the forecast for today was that the best of the weather would be before 11am. And the forecast was correct.
The good news is that all the grinding off the old ant-fouling is complete. Tim has had his last hot red shower. Yes, you did read that right, not a red hot shower, but a hot red shower... the old Jotun anti-fouling was red and got everywhere. Even wearing a mask and goggles it in most places. Now that is complete.
We also completed the grinding off of the old Treadmaster glue. There is a little work to do sanding round the edges, but that is all gone. We vacuumed and cleaned off what we could but lets hope the rain washes it away, since the glue becomes a solid cement like substance when it gets wet, dries and is hardened by the sun.
I also managed to sand down the grey band along both sides of the hull ready for painting. The intention had been to do the first two coats Monday and Tuesday, and third coat Friday. But the rain is set for Monday and Friday so I hope to do them Tuesday through Thursday. But... we found an extra task to add the the list and the order will have to be changed both because of the rain. How come? Well, having removed the grab handles and toast racks we had put gaffer tape over the holes. But this didn't stop the water coming through!
Not only there, but there were drips from somewhere else on the cabin roof. This is our first time with rain and King Malu. We removed more of the ceiling panels and discovered a rotting panel under the main hatch. Putting a screwdriver through this rooting marine ply panel was like opening a tap! Ahhh... the boat has settled slightly for'ard over eight years and so any water from the cockpit seating runs into the runners for the main hatch. Because it has settled for'ard the water then runs into the space above the main hatch and sits there as a pond on this marine ply board. Over eight years the wood has rotted.
Today before we left we put up a plastic tent over the boom to try to reduce the amount of water running into this space and thence into the saloon.
So apart from all the grinding, what else has happened this week? We had two deliveries of supplies. One from Limassol and one from the UK. I had a meeting this week in Limassol so collected all the paints from Ocean Marine and brought them back to Larnaka.The second from the UK came from MailSpeedMarine.com and they certainly lived up to their name, for speed that is. They have an amazing deal on at the moment for a 2.7 metre inflatable dinghy as a tender for yachts. It's only 299 GBP. They said they could arrange delivery to Cyprus included within that price. To both Tim's and my amazement that was delivery overnight by UPS. They have won a customer, with service like that we will buy from them again.The engine... well that was not so good news sadly. Ken came down on Saturday morning with new injector valves and spent a couple of hours fitting them and sorting everything out for a test run. This happened about mid day. The engine turned over, coughed, spluttered and died. Quite a few times. There was fuel leaking from the injector pump, but that probably didn't cause it to not run, so Ken has gone away to think.
However, with all the grinding off finished, we feel we have turned the corner. From dismantling and grinding to rebuilding and painting. A step forward.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Travel and Express?
I was sent some of the special rollers, some extra paint and instructions for the Awlgrip paint by Ocean Marine in Limassol. Rather than using Akis Express they used Travel and Express. My first time in 12 years with Travel and Express for parcels... Harris from Ocean Marine apparently sends the parcel off at 2pm so I am sitting waiting for a call. None comes all afternoon. Eventually at 5:15 I call Harris.
Harris says, 'I definitely sent it at 2pm, Travel and Express don't call you just go down there, it will be waiting... I don't know exactly where they are but they are near the marina...'
I remember seeing Travel and Express when going to get parts from Andreou Brothers. So off I go as fast as allowed... get to Travel and Express and they say, 'No this is not Travel and Express parcel office, that is the other one... you need to go to the end of the road, turn left, at the lights straight on... 800 metres it is there in front of you... quick you have five minutes they shut at 5:30'
As I come out of that Travel and Express office the heavens open and I am soaked!
I run to the car.
I follow their instructions and cannot find it. Retrace my steps, try again. No luck. Go to Akis Express wondering if the two are linked somehow. No, they are not. Get new instructions: 'Turn left at the lights, down the road then left and right and it is on the corner...' I am parked wrong side of the road at 5:30pm... navigate out through the traffic, follow their instructions. No joy.
Try again, wondering which left after the right they meant as the second left does go down to the marina and would be close to the Marina as Harris said. At the end of that road there is another taxi company. No, they are not Travel and Express they are Akropolis Taxis. Stop and ask them. 'Turn left, go to the first lights, straight on, at the bakery turn left, it is on the corner...' I follow these instructions, but they take me to the first Travel and Express office which had redirected me to the second.
OK, let's try again with their instructions: 'You need to go to the end of the road, turn left, at the lights straight on... 800 metres it is there in front of you...' I turn left at the end of the road, and get to the lights. At the lights I spot a Travel and Express transit van. As soon as the lights change I chase it... and find, yes, the Travel and Express parcel office.
The cashier is closed, but a helpful man gives me the parcel and takes the money [because I have the right change] and tapes it to the signed receipt. Now we have the rollers and brushes and instructions for the painting tomorrow!
Harris says, 'I definitely sent it at 2pm, Travel and Express don't call you just go down there, it will be waiting... I don't know exactly where they are but they are near the marina...'
I remember seeing Travel and Express when going to get parts from Andreou Brothers. So off I go as fast as allowed... get to Travel and Express and they say, 'No this is not Travel and Express parcel office, that is the other one... you need to go to the end of the road, turn left, at the lights straight on... 800 metres it is there in front of you... quick you have five minutes they shut at 5:30'
As I come out of that Travel and Express office the heavens open and I am soaked!
I run to the car.
I follow their instructions and cannot find it. Retrace my steps, try again. No luck. Go to Akis Express wondering if the two are linked somehow. No, they are not. Get new instructions: 'Turn left at the lights, down the road then left and right and it is on the corner...' I am parked wrong side of the road at 5:30pm... navigate out through the traffic, follow their instructions. No joy.
Try again, wondering which left after the right they meant as the second left does go down to the marina and would be close to the Marina as Harris said. At the end of that road there is another taxi company. No, they are not Travel and Express they are Akropolis Taxis. Stop and ask them. 'Turn left, go to the first lights, straight on, at the bakery turn left, it is on the corner...' I follow these instructions, but they take me to the first Travel and Express office which had redirected me to the second.
OK, let's try again with their instructions: 'You need to go to the end of the road, turn left, at the lights straight on... 800 metres it is there in front of you...' I turn left at the end of the road, and get to the lights. At the lights I spot a Travel and Express transit van. As soon as the lights change I chase it... and find, yes, the Travel and Express parcel office.
The cashier is closed, but a helpful man gives me the parcel and takes the money [because I have the right change] and tapes it to the signed receipt. Now we have the rollers and brushes and instructions for the painting tomorrow!
Monday, 30 November 2009
Grab handles and toast rack...
In order to fit the Treadmaster we have to remove all the deck fittings, especially the grab handles and toast racks. So this morning before work I went down to the boat to start that. Before I arrived Tim had been there removing more anti-fouling. If all goes to plan he will remove the last of it on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
So... to remove the grab handles and toast racks on the foredeck you have to remove all the ceiling panels. That is an art in itself. In the for'ard heads you could not get at the nuts because there is a medicine cabinet there. So that had to come off. I don't think I had ever felt such a heavy and sturdy medicine cabinet anywhere.
Some of the nuts were difficult to shift but eventually all came off. In taking off the ceiling panels I saw that where the front vent comes through the deck from the dorade the previous owner had not sealed the deck panels so the balsa wood sandwich was exposed. That's another task for later - seal the balsa to stop damp penetration.
Having removed all the bolts I then set to to remove the grab handles and toast rack. Toast rack? These are the upright stainless steel rails around the masts that look like toast racks but are there to lean against when you adjust the sails. The toast racks were well and truly fixed solidly. I couldn't even move them 1 millimetre! The grab handles I chipped out the glue/Treadmaster under each bolt with a screw driver and then used it to lever them up. All except one. I exerted myself on that, twisted my back slightly and bent the extremely strong screw driver!
After work in the evening I came back with Tim. With his strength he moved the grab handle and with a heavy piece of wood dislodged and removed the toast racks. Well we know one thing now - when they are fixed in place they are good and solid to grab or lean against!
So... to remove the grab handles and toast racks on the foredeck you have to remove all the ceiling panels. That is an art in itself. In the for'ard heads you could not get at the nuts because there is a medicine cabinet there. So that had to come off. I don't think I had ever felt such a heavy and sturdy medicine cabinet anywhere.
Some of the nuts were difficult to shift but eventually all came off. In taking off the ceiling panels I saw that where the front vent comes through the deck from the dorade the previous owner had not sealed the deck panels so the balsa wood sandwich was exposed. That's another task for later - seal the balsa to stop damp penetration.
Having removed all the bolts I then set to to remove the grab handles and toast rack. Toast rack? These are the upright stainless steel rails around the masts that look like toast racks but are there to lean against when you adjust the sails. The toast racks were well and truly fixed solidly. I couldn't even move them 1 millimetre! The grab handles I chipped out the glue/Treadmaster under each bolt with a screw driver and then used it to lever them up. All except one. I exerted myself on that, twisted my back slightly and bent the extremely strong screw driver!
After work in the evening I came back with Tim. With his strength he moved the grab handle and with a heavy piece of wood dislodged and removed the toast racks. Well we know one thing now - when they are fixed in place they are good and solid to grab or lean against!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
When is a 13A socket not a 13A socket?
I'm sitting here at the end of the day wondering where it all went... I know that I worked all day, but what did I achieve?
We had seen there were a flew blemishes in the below water line epoxy surface. So I spent some time grinding them out down a couple of millimetres ready for re-filling with new epoxy. There are not many and they are very small. They are not like the bubbles you get from osmosis, more like little chips in the surface that just need to be repaired. I have a small rounded grind stone on my battery operated drill and use that.
I went to put the battery on charge [its getting old and doesn't hold much charge these days] only to find that I had left the 220 volt system in the middle of a task. I wanted to connect up the two 13A sockets above the navigation table [only one was connected] and when I opened it up to connect the second one I had found that one was corroded and the wires could not be undone. So I bought two new sockets to replace them both and make them match.
When I removed the sockets to replace them I found that the previous owner had used non-standard 13A sockets and the new ones wouldn't fit. Ahhh... suddenly things elsewhere made sense. There were two sockets [one in the saloon, one in the for'ard cabin] that were not fixed firmly into the wall. The reason was they were the non-standard sockets and the backing plates were standard. So... I removed the non-standard sockets and fitted my new standard size ones, took the two non-standard sockets and used those in the non-standard backing plate above the nav table! A five minute task had become a one hour task. We find this a lot on the boat.
I spend some time sanding by hand the top and back of the rudder - places that the orbital sander cannot reach. I used some of the old sanding disks which I folded over on the blade of a paint scraper and painstakingly removed all the anti-fouling [and a few barnacles] from the gaps.
Final job was to trim the Sikaflex around the speed log hole. It looked very neat.
This weekend felt like we had moved forward a lot.
We had seen there were a flew blemishes in the below water line epoxy surface. So I spent some time grinding them out down a couple of millimetres ready for re-filling with new epoxy. There are not many and they are very small. They are not like the bubbles you get from osmosis, more like little chips in the surface that just need to be repaired. I have a small rounded grind stone on my battery operated drill and use that.
I went to put the battery on charge [its getting old and doesn't hold much charge these days] only to find that I had left the 220 volt system in the middle of a task. I wanted to connect up the two 13A sockets above the navigation table [only one was connected] and when I opened it up to connect the second one I had found that one was corroded and the wires could not be undone. So I bought two new sockets to replace them both and make them match.
When I removed the sockets to replace them I found that the previous owner had used non-standard 13A sockets and the new ones wouldn't fit. Ahhh... suddenly things elsewhere made sense. There were two sockets [one in the saloon, one in the for'ard cabin] that were not fixed firmly into the wall. The reason was they were the non-standard sockets and the backing plates were standard. So... I removed the non-standard sockets and fitted my new standard size ones, took the two non-standard sockets and used those in the non-standard backing plate above the nav table! A five minute task had become a one hour task. We find this a lot on the boat.
I spend some time sanding by hand the top and back of the rudder - places that the orbital sander cannot reach. I used some of the old sanding disks which I folded over on the blade of a paint scraper and painstakingly removed all the anti-fouling [and a few barnacles] from the gaps.
Final job was to trim the Sikaflex around the speed log hole. It looked very neat.
This weekend felt like we had moved forward a lot.
New windlass, fitting sea cocks, engine work and more
I went Comar Marine on the way to the boat as I wanted Sikaflex for sealing the new sea cock later in the day. I got distracted looking around. They had a very nice set of davits, which we will need sometime in the future for the tender. I also looked at the electrical panels and some of the other chandlery. I renovated the 12 volt distribution panel this year, but it will at some stage [maybe two years time] need some more serious work on it. Anyway, they only had one tube of Sikaflex, which had expired in September, so they gave it to me.
Back at King Malu, Tim was still grinding away at the ant-fouling. He reckons its building up his arms. I'm sure it is. My right arm is still not right and I get twinges every so often in my shoulder, so I'm very thankful Tim is so strong at this.
I started cleaning up the sea cock to go back into the stern cabin. I wanted it as clean as possible for the Sikaflex to stick to, and was also using light grinding compound on the inner part to make it seal with the Blakes grease.
Ken arrived and started work looking at the engine... a few minutes later Costas arrived with the new windlass.
The old 'Sea Lion' windlass is no more. We had done all we could to revive it, but eventually gave up. It started a week ago... The mechanism was stuck solid so we needed to service it. The gypsy was also needing replacing. Taking off the gypsy took some days and broke in the process. This involved squirting WD40 into it, using an engine puller and a couple of spanners as wedges. Two days work.
Next was to get into the mechanism. We turned the windlass on its end and filled up the holes with WD40. Ken said, 'Every time you pass, use the hammer and tap around all the bolts'. I decided to only do this morning and afternoon as tapping aluminium with a heavy hammer at 10pm is a good way to make yourself unpopular with the neighbours! The aim of this was that the vibration of the hammering would help the WD40 penetrate down the shafts of the bolts. So for days I had hammered the windlass when I passed.
However getting in to the mechanism proved impossible. The bolts were totally embedded into the aluminium casting. Then we found that it would be impossible to get spares so anything needed would have to be machined specially. All this meant that even though a new windlass would be expensive, it would be cheaper than maintaining the old one. So yesterday the old windlass was declared dead.
So we bought a Quick Hector windlass from Damianu Marine. Costas is a great guy. Very helpful and knowledgeable. We spend some time working out how to mount the new windlass to optimize the its action on the chain. Basically we need it as high as possible so that the chain will go round nearly 90 degrees of the gypsy. Being smaller than the old windlass we will need to raise it about 8-10 cm. We're now looking for suitable wood to make a plinth for it to be mounted on.
The other thing Costas brought was the speed log which will need to be mounted in the hull. So we cut a pilot from the inside and then with his hole cutter, cut a mounting hole from the outside. We were shocked by the thickness of the hull. Nearly four centimetres: About nine layers of glass fibre. They don't make boats like that now!
We then decided that we should empty the fuel tank as we wanted to flush out all the old diesel before trying to start the engine. This looked like an easy task. We would remove an engine room sea cock, run a pipe down from the inlet to the lift pump for the generator and siphon the fuel into a drum for disposal. The first part was easy. Siphoning just didn't work. Eventually we used the old fresh water pump to pump it out. Not very much fuel in the tank.
Ken then decided to take of the injectors for servicing. He found the washers were all missing and the injectors very carboned up. We are slowing learning more about this Ford York engine as we go. One thing we found today was where the impeller fixes. Replacing impellers is something that happens relatively frequently and sadly is not all that easy on this engine as you have to remove the oil filter to do so. Oh well...
Final job of the day was to fix the new sea cock for the galley. We had borrowed a couple of hole cutters and these proved invaluable. We were making plastic washers - approx 10 cm diametre and 1 cm thick - from an old bread board of Tim's. Cutting them to size with the hole cutters made extremely neat washers. Then we cut through the hull. Higher up this time and the thickness only about 2.5 cm thick, still much greater than a modern production yacht. Aligning the holes for the bolts proved significantly more difficult than anticipated, but we won eventually and glued the outer brass ring and bolts in place with Sikaflex, leaving it to cure overnight before doing the inside in the morning.
All in all, good days work!
Back at King Malu, Tim was still grinding away at the ant-fouling. He reckons its building up his arms. I'm sure it is. My right arm is still not right and I get twinges every so often in my shoulder, so I'm very thankful Tim is so strong at this.
I started cleaning up the sea cock to go back into the stern cabin. I wanted it as clean as possible for the Sikaflex to stick to, and was also using light grinding compound on the inner part to make it seal with the Blakes grease.
Ken arrived and started work looking at the engine... a few minutes later Costas arrived with the new windlass.
The old 'Sea Lion' windlass is no more. We had done all we could to revive it, but eventually gave up. It started a week ago... The mechanism was stuck solid so we needed to service it. The gypsy was also needing replacing. Taking off the gypsy took some days and broke in the process. This involved squirting WD40 into it, using an engine puller and a couple of spanners as wedges. Two days work.
Next was to get into the mechanism. We turned the windlass on its end and filled up the holes with WD40. Ken said, 'Every time you pass, use the hammer and tap around all the bolts'. I decided to only do this morning and afternoon as tapping aluminium with a heavy hammer at 10pm is a good way to make yourself unpopular with the neighbours! The aim of this was that the vibration of the hammering would help the WD40 penetrate down the shafts of the bolts. So for days I had hammered the windlass when I passed.
However getting in to the mechanism proved impossible. The bolts were totally embedded into the aluminium casting. Then we found that it would be impossible to get spares so anything needed would have to be machined specially. All this meant that even though a new windlass would be expensive, it would be cheaper than maintaining the old one. So yesterday the old windlass was declared dead.
So we bought a Quick Hector windlass from Damianu Marine. Costas is a great guy. Very helpful and knowledgeable. We spend some time working out how to mount the new windlass to optimize the its action on the chain. Basically we need it as high as possible so that the chain will go round nearly 90 degrees of the gypsy. Being smaller than the old windlass we will need to raise it about 8-10 cm. We're now looking for suitable wood to make a plinth for it to be mounted on.The other thing Costas brought was the speed log which will need to be mounted in the hull. So we cut a pilot from the inside and then with his hole cutter, cut a mounting hole from the outside. We were shocked by the thickness of the hull. Nearly four centimetres: About nine layers of glass fibre. They don't make boats like that now!
We then decided that we should empty the fuel tank as we wanted to flush out all the old diesel before trying to start the engine. This looked like an easy task. We would remove an engine room sea cock, run a pipe down from the inlet to the lift pump for the generator and siphon the fuel into a drum for disposal. The first part was easy. Siphoning just didn't work. Eventually we used the old fresh water pump to pump it out. Not very much fuel in the tank.
Ken then decided to take of the injectors for servicing. He found the washers were all missing and the injectors very carboned up. We are slowing learning more about this Ford York engine as we go. One thing we found today was where the impeller fixes. Replacing impellers is something that happens relatively frequently and sadly is not all that easy on this engine as you have to remove the oil filter to do so. Oh well...
Final job of the day was to fix the new sea cock for the galley. We had borrowed a couple of hole cutters and these proved invaluable. We were making plastic washers - approx 10 cm diametre and 1 cm thick - from an old bread board of Tim's. Cutting them to size with the hole cutters made extremely neat washers. Then we cut through the hull. Higher up this time and the thickness only about 2.5 cm thick, still much greater than a modern production yacht. Aligning the holes for the bolts proved significantly more difficult than anticipated, but we won eventually and glued the outer brass ring and bolts in place with Sikaflex, leaving it to cure overnight before doing the inside in the morning.
All in all, good days work!
Friday, 27 November 2009
Inspection by the DMS Ships Inspector
One part of registration for yachts wishing to be Cyprus flagged is an inspection by the DMS Ships Inspector. Ours happened today. The inspector arrived at 9am and looked at the hull and boat in general and decided [in not many seconds] she was strong and seaworthy.
Then he checked checked out the measurements from the Camper and Nicholson manual. Found one was missing for him to calculate the tonnage... which was distance from the bottom of the bilges to the main desk height... so measured that.
Then explained about the signage needed [brass tonnage/registration plate and yacht name placement on the hull] and then left.
Painless. Next step is he sends his report in on Monday. Then they allocate a number, send us that and the tonnage. Then we make the brass plate and fix it to the boat [we will put it next to the Camper and Nicholson build plate]. We also get the signage for the hull... the DMS come and inspect that and we are registered.
Then he checked checked out the measurements from the Camper and Nicholson manual. Found one was missing for him to calculate the tonnage... which was distance from the bottom of the bilges to the main desk height... so measured that.
Then explained about the signage needed [brass tonnage/registration plate and yacht name placement on the hull] and then left.
Painless. Next step is he sends his report in on Monday. Then they allocate a number, send us that and the tonnage. Then we make the brass plate and fix it to the boat [we will put it next to the Camper and Nicholson build plate]. We also get the signage for the hull... the DMS come and inspect that and we are registered.
Monday, 23 November 2009
How to dispose of out of date flares in Cyprus
We had found some outdated flares and Very Pistol flares on King Malu. When I say outdated, they expired in July 1992, so they were very out of date.
I went up to see Maroulla at the Marina office. She made a phone call and told me to take them to the central police station. So off I went to the police station, a beautiful colonial style building walking distance from the marina.
The desk sergeant looked across at the flares and told me that they didn't deal with them, it was the Fire Brigade. He made a phone call and then wrote down the number for me. I asked him if he could call the Fire Brigade for me as I was sure they would not understand. 'I'm not your secretary' was the curt reply. As a true Englishman I apologized profusely.
So I went outside the police station and phoned the Fire Brigade on my mobile. I was correct they didn't understand me and connected me first to one person and then to another and another and finally to the Fire Chief.
'I have some out of date flares that need to be disposed of...'
'Explosion? Where is the explosion?'
'No, no explosion, distress flares from my boat...'
'You have a fire on your boat. Do you want me to send a Fire Engine?'
'No, no, please don't. These are rescue flares that are out of date and need to be destroyed.'
'Where are you?'
'I'm at the marina entrance...'
'OK, I will be with you in five minutes.'
True to his word the Fire Chief arrived in his bright red pickup with blue and red lights flashing within 5 minutes at the marina. He took one look at the flares and said, 'No, we don't deal with those, the police deal with them.' I explained that I had come from the police and that they were the people who had given me his number. He rolled his eyes as if to make a comment about inter-service rivalry and said, 'Come with me, we'll sort it out.'
He picked up his walkie-talkie and spoke to the fire station, explaining that the Englishman's boat was not sinking and didn't need pumping out. There was no need to send a fire engine! He explained the radio call to me since I didn't speak Greek. Then, off we walked, he in full fire chief uniform and me carrying a large bag of very out of date flares to the police station. As we walked he asked me what we called them in English.
'Flares', I replied.
'Flars', he said.
'No, flairs.' I said trying to emphasise the air not the ar.
'Ah, flars' he corrected himself.
With a twinkle in his eye he said that the Fire Brigade only put out fires, it was the Police who started them, so the flares were definitely their responsibility.
We arrived at the police station and the same desk sergeant was sitting there. I placed the bulging bag of flares back on the desk. This time the dialogue was directly between the Fire Chief and desk sergeant and was in Greek. The Fire Chief removed one of the flares and showed the desk sergeant the date. July 1992. The desk sergeant was outranked, but still maintained that they didn't deal with expired flares.
So, with me in tow, the Fire Chief went to see the Police Chief. We all shook hands. Now I had loads of fancy stars on epaulettes trying to sort out the problem of the expired flares. The Fire Chief removed one of the flares and showed the head of police the date. July 1992.
The Police Chief sent us to the head of the Criminal Investigation Department [CID]. The Fire Chief and he were also old friends and so we all shook hands. At last we were at the right place. The CID are the people who [somehow] dispose of old flares. Everyone [except the desk sergeant] had been helpful and the Fire Chief explained, 'We like to help foreigners, we do our best for all foreigners.' Thank you, yes.
They looked at the flares and asked about the dates. I explained that they had been on the yacht we had just bought a month ago that had been on the hard for eight years but the expiry date on the flares was July 1992. The eyes of the CID men nearly boggled out of their head. 17 years out of date flares is not a common sight! They handled them gingerly.
The head of CID delegated the task to one of his detectives who immediately asked to see my passport. I went off to the marina to collect it. When I returned the desk sergeant merely nodded my passing and I went to the detective concerned. He had completed a full page report about the flares, itemizing each and every flare, every smoke flare, every rocket and every Very pistol flare. Now he needed my passport number, my driving license number, my address and my phone number. Did he want the name of the boat too? Oh yes, of course and the name of the boat. They had learned administration in Cyprus at the hands of the British.
I left, thankful the for Fire Chief who had guided me around the intricacies of the police department.
I went up to see Maroulla at the Marina office. She made a phone call and told me to take them to the central police station. So off I went to the police station, a beautiful colonial style building walking distance from the marina.
The desk sergeant looked across at the flares and told me that they didn't deal with them, it was the Fire Brigade. He made a phone call and then wrote down the number for me. I asked him if he could call the Fire Brigade for me as I was sure they would not understand. 'I'm not your secretary' was the curt reply. As a true Englishman I apologized profusely.
So I went outside the police station and phoned the Fire Brigade on my mobile. I was correct they didn't understand me and connected me first to one person and then to another and another and finally to the Fire Chief.
'I have some out of date flares that need to be disposed of...'
'Explosion? Where is the explosion?'
'No, no explosion, distress flares from my boat...'
'You have a fire on your boat. Do you want me to send a Fire Engine?'
'No, no, please don't. These are rescue flares that are out of date and need to be destroyed.'
'Where are you?'
'I'm at the marina entrance...'
'OK, I will be with you in five minutes.'
True to his word the Fire Chief arrived in his bright red pickup with blue and red lights flashing within 5 minutes at the marina. He took one look at the flares and said, 'No, we don't deal with those, the police deal with them.' I explained that I had come from the police and that they were the people who had given me his number. He rolled his eyes as if to make a comment about inter-service rivalry and said, 'Come with me, we'll sort it out.'
He picked up his walkie-talkie and spoke to the fire station, explaining that the Englishman's boat was not sinking and didn't need pumping out. There was no need to send a fire engine! He explained the radio call to me since I didn't speak Greek. Then, off we walked, he in full fire chief uniform and me carrying a large bag of very out of date flares to the police station. As we walked he asked me what we called them in English.
'Flares', I replied.
'Flars', he said.
'No, flairs.' I said trying to emphasise the air not the ar.
'Ah, flars' he corrected himself.
With a twinkle in his eye he said that the Fire Brigade only put out fires, it was the Police who started them, so the flares were definitely their responsibility.
We arrived at the police station and the same desk sergeant was sitting there. I placed the bulging bag of flares back on the desk. This time the dialogue was directly between the Fire Chief and desk sergeant and was in Greek. The Fire Chief removed one of the flares and showed the desk sergeant the date. July 1992. The desk sergeant was outranked, but still maintained that they didn't deal with expired flares.
So, with me in tow, the Fire Chief went to see the Police Chief. We all shook hands. Now I had loads of fancy stars on epaulettes trying to sort out the problem of the expired flares. The Fire Chief removed one of the flares and showed the head of police the date. July 1992.
The Police Chief sent us to the head of the Criminal Investigation Department [CID]. The Fire Chief and he were also old friends and so we all shook hands. At last we were at the right place. The CID are the people who [somehow] dispose of old flares. Everyone [except the desk sergeant] had been helpful and the Fire Chief explained, 'We like to help foreigners, we do our best for all foreigners.' Thank you, yes.
They looked at the flares and asked about the dates. I explained that they had been on the yacht we had just bought a month ago that had been on the hard for eight years but the expiry date on the flares was July 1992. The eyes of the CID men nearly boggled out of their head. 17 years out of date flares is not a common sight! They handled them gingerly.
The head of CID delegated the task to one of his detectives who immediately asked to see my passport. I went off to the marina to collect it. When I returned the desk sergeant merely nodded my passing and I went to the detective concerned. He had completed a full page report about the flares, itemizing each and every flare, every smoke flare, every rocket and every Very pistol flare. Now he needed my passport number, my driving license number, my address and my phone number. Did he want the name of the boat too? Oh yes, of course and the name of the boat. They had learned administration in Cyprus at the hands of the British.
I left, thankful the for Fire Chief who had guided me around the intricacies of the police department.
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Wiring almost complete...
I arrived at the boat about 9am, having hoped to be there a little before. Tim had removed more of the antifouling and it was looking great. He wanted some more sanding disks so we all went out - me, Tim and Jacob, as I wanted some extra wire.
At the shop that sells sanding disks we asked about diesel generators, as we are not sure of the health of the one on the boat. But, they only sell petrol ones. No way do we want petrol on board!
On the way back we popped into see Costas at Raymarine and Captain Alan at Seacrest Marine. We may need a new capstan so talked to Alan about that.
Back to the boat and tried to get the second battery bank working. No chance. Got out the meter and checked - no connection from the battery to the switch. So where on earth was the wire routed? Up came the floorboards... found another 120amp cable... tested that... no connection... then another 120amp cable... tested that... no connection... eventually I had 7 extra 120 amp cables in my hand none of which connected to the battery or the battery switch. So I called Stefan.
With some words from Stef and my own further delving I did find out how it was connected. Lunch time. I was discouraged. It was going much slower than I expected.
Back to work after lunch and then things went much faster than expected. By the time it was dark we had connected the three ring main/freezer circuits to an extension box ready for the consumer unit in the morning. The battery charger was now working and automatically switching on when the shore power is connected and not when the inverter is. And... the inverter was working and providing power. The battery charger remote control was showing what was happening to the batteries [including the battery and chassis temperatures] and the remote for the inverter also working.
So... hopefully tomorrow morning I will connect the ring mains/freezer circuits, connect the three 12volt circuits still pending, connect the battery monitor system and put the panels back on the wall!
At the shop that sells sanding disks we asked about diesel generators, as we are not sure of the health of the one on the boat. But, they only sell petrol ones. No way do we want petrol on board!
On the way back we popped into see Costas at Raymarine and Captain Alan at Seacrest Marine. We may need a new capstan so talked to Alan about that.
Back to the boat and tried to get the second battery bank working. No chance. Got out the meter and checked - no connection from the battery to the switch. So where on earth was the wire routed? Up came the floorboards... found another 120amp cable... tested that... no connection... then another 120amp cable... tested that... no connection... eventually I had 7 extra 120 amp cables in my hand none of which connected to the battery or the battery switch. So I called Stefan.
With some words from Stef and my own further delving I did find out how it was connected. Lunch time. I was discouraged. It was going much slower than I expected.
Back to work after lunch and then things went much faster than expected. By the time it was dark we had connected the three ring main/freezer circuits to an extension box ready for the consumer unit in the morning. The battery charger was now working and automatically switching on when the shore power is connected and not when the inverter is. And... the inverter was working and providing power. The battery charger remote control was showing what was happening to the batteries [including the battery and chassis temperatures] and the remote for the inverter also working.
So... hopefully tomorrow morning I will connect the ring mains/freezer circuits, connect the three 12volt circuits still pending, connect the battery monitor system and put the panels back on the wall!
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Batteries
The new batteries were in the battery compartment but not connected. I had looked all over the boat for cables to interconnect them, but found too few. There were a couple of old tired cables, two equally tired battery clips, plus two broken ones. So I bought brand new shiny ones from the car electrical store and asked about cables. Yes, they had cables, no they didn't make them up. So I thought about going to a car electrician and see if he had the tools to swage the terminals.
As I thought about this I thought back to the battery room at the BBC World Service many years ago and the thick copper strips joining the batteries. That is what I really needed for the two battery banks. But where from? I thought of Ken, my engineer friend, but that would need explaining to him and waiting for him to source the metal strip. What I needed was a copper strip approx three centimetres wide and three millimetres thick... oh well, have to think about that.
The other thing I had to do was to try and swap the 50 amp and 40 amp breakers for a single 80 amp breaker. The windlass takes a huge current and the previous owner had put two 40 amp breakers in parallel. I had not realised this when I had ordered the breakers. By preference I would like a single 80 amp breaker. So I went back to the electrical store and returned the old breakers. No, they didn't have 80 amp breakers, but what they did have was a dual pole 63 amp breaker. Ideal. I bought that. As I was turning to go I saw what I wanted: Copper lightening conductor - three centimetres wide by three millimetres thick copper strip. 'One metre, please'.
Now I have really smart looking battery banks and just need to attach terminals to the strips to allow the battery banks to be connected to the boat electrics.
Postscript: I was telling the story to a friend who is from the Shetland Isles today. He was the engineer for the airport there and engineer for a transmitter station in the Far East... I got to the point of 'What I really need is copper strip, approx three centrimetres wide and three millimetres thick...' when he interrupted with, 'What you need is lightening conductor strip'. You live and learn.
As I thought about this I thought back to the battery room at the BBC World Service many years ago and the thick copper strips joining the batteries. That is what I really needed for the two battery banks. But where from? I thought of Ken, my engineer friend, but that would need explaining to him and waiting for him to source the metal strip. What I needed was a copper strip approx three centimetres wide and three millimetres thick... oh well, have to think about that.
The other thing I had to do was to try and swap the 50 amp and 40 amp breakers for a single 80 amp breaker. The windlass takes a huge current and the previous owner had put two 40 amp breakers in parallel. I had not realised this when I had ordered the breakers. By preference I would like a single 80 amp breaker. So I went back to the electrical store and returned the old breakers. No, they didn't have 80 amp breakers, but what they did have was a dual pole 63 amp breaker. Ideal. I bought that. As I was turning to go I saw what I wanted: Copper lightening conductor - three centimetres wide by three millimetres thick copper strip. 'One metre, please'.
Now I have really smart looking battery banks and just need to attach terminals to the strips to allow the battery banks to be connected to the boat electrics.
Postscript: I was telling the story to a friend who is from the Shetland Isles today. He was the engineer for the airport there and engineer for a transmitter station in the Far East... I got to the point of 'What I really need is copper strip, approx three centrimetres wide and three millimetres thick...' when he interrupted with, 'What you need is lightening conductor strip'. You live and learn.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Solar cells, wiring and anti-fouling
This morning I took Neil, Paula and James to Limassol. They are returning to the UK by ship. On the way back I picked up three solar cells from David for King Malu. Two are flexible and one is on a frame. We will have to work out how to mount them.
When I got back to the boat I found Tim had completed removing all the anti-fouling. Or so he had thought... Alan, who runs a boat repair, boat sales, etc, etc company came by and told him that he really needed to remove it right back to the barrier coat. This was about the same as George the chandler had said... so... still more to do there. But looks like an easier job than removing the first thick coat. The hull and deck is really cleaning up nicely. Almost feels like by next weekend we will have turned the corner, from taking apart/stripping to putting back together.
When I arrived I did a bit more of the 12 volt wiring and put the batteries in the battery box. Couldn't wire them as there are not enough good battery terminals. Buy some more tomorrow.
Then went back for lunch with Sue. Just as I was about to leave Tim arrived and updated me on the conversation with Alan. After lunch I picked up Jacob and we went back to do some more wiring.
When we arrived Tim was washing down King Malu with the power washer. Today we had enough pressure that it worked properly... most of the time at least. The teak rubbing strip had loads of dirt come off it and the teak in the cockpit seems to come up better each time. But 'each time' the water runs so dirty you cannot believe how much stuff is in the wood!
Water got into the sail locker in the process so we left it to dry and went round to look at different biminis on other boats in the marina. We are trying to find a way to get the maximum usable bimini on King Malu so we have the absolute maximum amount of shade. So many options, its going to be difficult. We will try out with plastic piping first to work out the best way.
Then I got back to the wiring. This time the 220volt wiring. I wired in the phase reverse switch, galvanic isolator and the Stirling Power switch to the consumer unit. Turned on and... loud screech from the unit. The power was the wrong way round incoming and it showed off the phase reverse switch absolutely perfectly. Very impressive.
Well, that was a good weekend's work.
When I got back to the boat I found Tim had completed removing all the anti-fouling. Or so he had thought... Alan, who runs a boat repair, boat sales, etc, etc company came by and told him that he really needed to remove it right back to the barrier coat. This was about the same as George the chandler had said... so... still more to do there. But looks like an easier job than removing the first thick coat. The hull and deck is really cleaning up nicely. Almost feels like by next weekend we will have turned the corner, from taking apart/stripping to putting back together.
When I arrived I did a bit more of the 12 volt wiring and put the batteries in the battery box. Couldn't wire them as there are not enough good battery terminals. Buy some more tomorrow.
Then went back for lunch with Sue. Just as I was about to leave Tim arrived and updated me on the conversation with Alan. After lunch I picked up Jacob and we went back to do some more wiring.
When we arrived Tim was washing down King Malu with the power washer. Today we had enough pressure that it worked properly... most of the time at least. The teak rubbing strip had loads of dirt come off it and the teak in the cockpit seems to come up better each time. But 'each time' the water runs so dirty you cannot believe how much stuff is in the wood!
Water got into the sail locker in the process so we left it to dry and went round to look at different biminis on other boats in the marina. We are trying to find a way to get the maximum usable bimini on King Malu so we have the absolute maximum amount of shade. So many options, its going to be difficult. We will try out with plastic piping first to work out the best way.
Then I got back to the wiring. This time the 220volt wiring. I wired in the phase reverse switch, galvanic isolator and the Stirling Power switch to the consumer unit. Turned on and... loud screech from the unit. The power was the wrong way round incoming and it showed off the phase reverse switch absolutely perfectly. Very impressive.
Well, that was a good weekend's work.
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Boat electrics
Got down to King Malu by about 8:30 and started working on the wiring. Tim was already grinding away at the port side removing anti-fouling. I fitted all the MCBs and then worked out how to split the buss bars so that we have three battery 'pools', two of which are on the breaker panel.Let me explain the logic. You don't want to have your boat unable to start the engine so its pretty normal to have a single starter battery and then a 'domestic' supply for everything else. However... now that we are heading towards electronic navigation etc, there are two areas you want to protect: Starting the engine and the navigation instruments. So we decided to get three pools of batteries, one battery for starting the engine or generator, one or two batteries for navigation instruments and two or three batteries for domestic supply.
Soon after I started Ken turned up and so I stopped for a bit to help him. He is making a new manual winch handle for if the anchor winch motor fails. We found problems with the gypsy for the winch and the winch itself, so ended up removing the whole winch motor to work on it off the boat. I went back to wiring...Then Michael turned up, he returns to the UK tomorrow so wanted to come to see the boat. I showed him round and he took some photos... the ones you see on this blog entry.
Then Costas, the Raymarine rep, turned up. We have placed the contract with him for Raymarine navigation equipment and he came round with the depth sounder which we need to fit before we put King Malu in the water. You need a 52mm flat downward looking space on the hull to fit the sensor. We don't have that. So option 1 is to slightly shave off the side of the sensor and option 2 is to use the existing sensor. Next week he will come back with test gear to check out the existing sensor. I went back to the wiring...
Showing Michael round I realise the boat is getting pretty untidy: It really needs a good clean and tidy up. Michael leaves. I get back to the wiring...Ken then turned his ministrations to the engine. All the belts and all the hoses need replacing and he was particularly keen to work out how to replace the timing belt. He couldn't find any of the timing marks needed for checking the timing on a replacement belt. So I looked out the Ford manual, which was absolutely covered with oil [obviously a well used book] and between us we figured out how to do the timing for the engine and also how the secondary water cooling system worked. He then turned his ministrations to the final stuck sea cock. I went back to the wiring...
So now while wiring I have grinding noises coming through the hull from Tim and banging noises coming from the sail locker from Ken. And I'm thinking 'Do I need a 10amp or 6amp breaker in this or that position...' BANG, BANG, 'Yes, I can get that to work if I move the lighting supplies three breakers up and and the blowers three breakers down...' GRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNND.Suddenly no more banging, no more grinding and a yell of 'YES' from the sail locker. The final sea cock has been freed and Tim has finished all the grinding off anti-fouling for the day. So out comes grinding paste and fine glass paper to polish the sea cock and to grease it with Blakes grease. And that's it for the day. I don't get back to the wiring, but tidy and clean up the boat as Ken and Tim head off for showers.
Tomorrow I will get back to the wiring!
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Two steps forward, one step back…
In fitting the new digital control for the electrics I needed to wire the instruments into the 12V supply. Easy? No.
The negative buss-bar for the 12V supply was originally glued to the hull, just above the positive. In 33 years the glue has died out and the negative buss-bar dropped to behind the positive, making it inaccessible. Chatted with Tim: create new negative buss-bar below the positive and rewire the panel. The negative buss-bar was corroded, so seems like a good idea.
I buy a triangular shaped wood length and a quarter-circle wood length, cut them to length and glue the quarter-circle to the top so that it protects the buss-bar. Cut the buss-bar to length. screw one end, screw the middle, straighten out the bend to screw the other end and it snaps!
No problem, I have another length of buss-bar. Start again. Works fine this time. I'll just try it in place before sticking it with glue. It drops off the ledge I will glue it onto into a cavity below.
No problem, I'll reach down and get it. Big problem. The cavity is deep and inaccessible. So it looks like I shall have to cut an access hole to this cavity, fit an access door in order to retrieve the buss-bar and glue in place before rewiring the negative [and positive at the same time now] in order to get power for the new digital power control systems… or… maybe a bent metal coathanger as a fishing hook.
The negative buss-bar for the 12V supply was originally glued to the hull, just above the positive. In 33 years the glue has died out and the negative buss-bar dropped to behind the positive, making it inaccessible. Chatted with Tim: create new negative buss-bar below the positive and rewire the panel. The negative buss-bar was corroded, so seems like a good idea.
I buy a triangular shaped wood length and a quarter-circle wood length, cut them to length and glue the quarter-circle to the top so that it protects the buss-bar. Cut the buss-bar to length. screw one end, screw the middle, straighten out the bend to screw the other end and it snaps!
No problem, I have another length of buss-bar. Start again. Works fine this time. I'll just try it in place before sticking it with glue. It drops off the ledge I will glue it onto into a cavity below.
No problem, I'll reach down and get it. Big problem. The cavity is deep and inaccessible. So it looks like I shall have to cut an access hole to this cavity, fit an access door in order to retrieve the buss-bar and glue in place before rewiring the negative [and positive at the same time now] in order to get power for the new digital power control systems… or… maybe a bent metal coathanger as a fishing hook.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Batteries
Early this morning [for me] I went down to the boat and did some cleaning up and measuring lengths for extra wires. While I was there Tim phoned about the places on the deck that cleaning off the old Treadmaster the wire brush had gone through the gelcoat and was showing the resin of the fibreglass. We shall have to re-gelcoat those areas.
After lunch Tim and I went looking for batteries. I am installing a Sterling Power charging and power management system on King Malu and according to Sterling Power we don't need expensive Gel batteries but need a charging system that looks after sealed wet cells well. We shall have to see.
The cost of sealed batteries here varied from 100-150 euros each approx, so going for the cheaper ones and letting the charger sort it out will save approx 200 euros on the cost of the new batteries.
Well, actually we went looking first for face masks. The face masks and safety goggles we had been using for cleaning the antifouling off the hull were not effective enough and on Saturday Tim had dust in his eyes and they stung like anything. Sunday no better, so now find total seal goggles!
After lunch Tim and I went looking for batteries. I am installing a Sterling Power charging and power management system on King Malu and according to Sterling Power we don't need expensive Gel batteries but need a charging system that looks after sealed wet cells well. We shall have to see.
The cost of sealed batteries here varied from 100-150 euros each approx, so going for the cheaper ones and letting the charger sort it out will save approx 200 euros on the cost of the new batteries.
Well, actually we went looking first for face masks. The face masks and safety goggles we had been using for cleaning the antifouling off the hull were not effective enough and on Saturday Tim had dust in his eyes and they stung like anything. Sunday no better, so now find total seal goggles!
Monday, 9 November 2009
New electrics
I spent the weekend working on the electrics. That has been my main role. Tim and Mark and others have worked on removing the old Treadmaster and started cleaning off the anti-fouling.
Anyway... the electrics... if I tell you the original shore power connection had a 13amp plug to 13amp plug cable to plug King Malu into the electricity you will understand why I have been starting from scratch almost. I first of all fitted a new 16amp blue male connector in the sail locker so that the mains intake is safe. I then fitted a new consumer unit with an RCD in the cabin and removed all the old MCBs.
That was mainly last Wednesday... today... I started on the 12volt and integration system: We bought almost everything from Sterling Power who seem to produce some of the best small ship power control electronics we can find in the world.
We'll see how well they work in practice.
I fitted a 2700 watt inverter, a digital charger, 12volt monitoring system and an automatic 220volt changeover system [shore power, generator or inverter].
Sunday I spent most of my time cutting holes and fitting the new controllers into the panel and trying to make it all look neat and tidy.
The photo shows the panel before I started, with all the old analogue meters. A week or so and I will post what it looks like now.
Still not finished and I hope by the end of next weekend I will have done so and can move on to something else.
Anyway... the electrics... if I tell you the original shore power connection had a 13amp plug to 13amp plug cable to plug King Malu into the electricity you will understand why I have been starting from scratch almost. I first of all fitted a new 16amp blue male connector in the sail locker so that the mains intake is safe. I then fitted a new consumer unit with an RCD in the cabin and removed all the old MCBs.
That was mainly last Wednesday... today... I started on the 12volt and integration system: We bought almost everything from Sterling Power who seem to produce some of the best small ship power control electronics we can find in the world.We'll see how well they work in practice.
I fitted a 2700 watt inverter, a digital charger, 12volt monitoring system and an automatic 220volt changeover system [shore power, generator or inverter].
Sunday I spent most of my time cutting holes and fitting the new controllers into the panel and trying to make it all look neat and tidy.The photo shows the panel before I started, with all the old analogue meters. A week or so and I will post what it looks like now.
Still not finished and I hope by the end of next weekend I will have done so and can move on to something else.
Monday, 2 November 2009
Hard work begins
Well, now the hard work has begun. Some mornings last week and over the weekend Tim came down to remove the old Treadmaster from the deck.No, this wasn't the state of the deck when we took the boat over, this is with the old Treadmaster chiseled up and not yet swept up. One thing we found was that in the sun the old Treadmaster and glue melted into a horrible sticky mess if you didn't sweep up almost immediately.
I thought removing the old Treadmaster would be a nightmare, but was just very hard work.Mark was helping and the first job was to chisel up all the old Treadmaster. It has done well, the surface is over 20 years old, but now has to be totally removed.
Not the kind of job to be done in the height of summer!
After the Treadmaster is romoved all the old glue will have to be removed so that the new Treadmaster can be stuck down with new epoxy.Tim tried many techniques, but the most effective was a wire brush attached to an angle grinder.
Cleaning off the old glue has revealed a few places of minor crazing on the deck which we will have to investigate.
I have replaced the shore power for the boat. Originally it had a 13A plug to 13A cable to plug in the boat, but that is distinctly dangerous, so it now has a 16A blue splashproof connector.
Been working on sea cocks too. At least two of them were seized. With some gentle persuasion Tim managed to get both free. One will need the wedge between the seacock and the hull changed.
Checked out some of the motor problems. Last weekend Ken came down and gave a thumbs up to the motor[s] and now need to derust, clean and get working.
Last weekend David came over about the solar power for the boat, bringing the regulator and forgetting the solar cells... oh well... will collect from Limassol sometime.
This Saturday the Raymarine guy came over and quoted for new navonics for the boat.
Well, that sort of brings us up to date, and will try to update more regularly.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Amazing boat
OK, this is amazing day! Tim and I am now part owners each of 39 ft Nicholson... and I am thrilled. Being part owner of a yacht will definitely change my life.Nicholsons are some of the best designed and build boats in the world. Sir Francis Chichester's Gypsy Moth was a Nicholson, as were some of the royal yachts [Prince Philip owned a Nicholson].
From the build plate you can see she is number 0003 of the 39s - there were only 60 ever built. She was originally Nicholson's show boat in Italy, was bought by a retired RN commander, then by an American who sailed her round the world, stopping in Cyprus and now selling her to us.The aim is to get her sea worthy by December and then do on water maintenance ready to sail in the spring... and then sometime next year have a cruise to the Greek Islands. All the running rigging needs replacing, but none of the standing rigging... electronics are almost non-existant, so we will need new radio etc. We're thinking of using a NetBook based navigation system using OziExplorer software... plus paper charts [the boat comes with loads of charts]. The dinghy needs some TLC and the life-raft needs a service. Tomorrow we start...
Malu BTW is interesting word... in Hawaiian it means peace or peacefullness, in Malay/Arabic it means shy or hidden. So she is either the King of Peace or the Hidden King... interesting name?
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Out with the old... in with the new...
When the previous owner Stef bought King Malu from the owner before him, he paid almost exactly the same amount as the cost was today. Of course, the pound is not worth so much today as it was then!The new bill of sale looks remarkably similar actually. It had to be stamped by a Cyprus official. This was done in a gazebo just outside Fanormoneni church. Tim said it felt kind of funny doing this big transaction in a gazebo!
Stef sailed her without registering but on a 'Certificate of American ownership' which was a lovely old document with ribbon and a seal.But... it left us and our lawyers with a headache to get it registered in Cyprus.
Registration is now proceeding... we hope...
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