Had another good weekend. Got the last seacock installed for the cockpit drains. Trying to do it myself wasn't easy though. I used the boat hook to keep the thru-hull in place and got the seacock base started on the threads. I then used a zip-tie to attach to another seacock to keep it from spinning. Got out of the boat and tightened the thru-hull down. Epoxy squeezed out from the base, that needed cleaning up. Luckily I was able to do this early in the morning where I could wait the whole day for the epoxy to cure. Unfortunately, I didn't finish curing. The outside of the fiberglass base was solid but when I removed the thru-hull, the center was still pliable/soft. I put the blue drain hose back through the hole for rain water to drain in the meantime. Soon, I'll be able to seal this seacock, and get new hoses on the hose-barbs. The current hoses on the other three are not very secure, at best I was abe to get one hose clamp around the hose.
Other project I wanted to do was attach the anchor chain to the boat. Not sure there was ever a place to attach the chain or rode, so I got a U-bolt, drilled holes to attach it. Then I put a soft shackle I made on it and the end of the chain, so now, when I deploy the anchor, the chain is not all going to find the bottom. The chain is about 140ft, so I could probably cut some of that down and attach some rode. Not sure the rode that came with the boat had ever been used or if it's even good to use.
These two things were projects I've had on my list a long time. I'm happy I can cross off a couple things. A good part of the visit, I was working on the rudder. When I tap on the rudder, there were hollow sounding areas, I cut part of the skin out to get epoxy behind those areas. I plan to post more on this when I have more work on it completed.
Squeezed epoxy into the gap before tightening thru-hull
I may cut the extra length off the threads
Last couple weekends have been pretty productive. I've been able to cross off a few projects off my list. Every little bit helps. Thanks for stopping by.
Today started of cold. I look out the window of the house and see frost on the grass and car. It seemed to be a good day to stay home. Instead, I decided to get out of the house and head to the boat. It was clear today without a cloud in the sky. There was also a nice breeze blowing.
I went to the boat thinking I could do some cleaning, maybe winterize but something told me to try sailing again. Winterizing will wait.
Like the previous attempt and the videos I took before, I motored out and through the canal to the other lake. There was hardly anyone out. There was a few speedboats with guys going fishing. There was maybe 5 or 6 sailboats near the canal and maybe a few more farther down. I don't know how strong the wind blew but it was more than the last time.
Sailing went well. While looking at the GPS, I would say my average speed was around 3-3.5 knots. I was able to get the boat up to 5-5.5 knots but that also involved the boat leaning over 25-30 degrees from the healing gauge mounted by the companionway.
I had the main and jib out and did a couple tacks. After an hour or so, I dropped sails and floated while I went down below and picked up all the stuff that got thrown around all over the place while heeled over. I raised only the mainsail and sailed back to the canal and motored the rest of the way back to the marina. I was sailing for about an hour and a half so it wasn't long but I still enjoyed myself very much.
Back at the dock, I took care of a few other things. I looked at the tiller thinking that it needs to be repaired in some way. The end is split and a few soft spots. Right now, I'm thinking some epoxy in the crack and a clamp to keep it together might help. Then it could get stripped down with new varnish applied.
I went to the Annapolis sailboat show recently and got a new anchor from Mantus to replace the Delta anchor that was on the bow. Changing out the anchor wasn't too bad. When the anchor was raised, it didn't sit on the bow like the Delta. Luckily, the Mantus rollbar can be removed which will allow it to sit better. I saw things online that the anchor will still set pretty good without the rollbar.
The biggest project of the day was the removal of the head and holding tank. I wanted to switch it out for a composting head. I was thinking a Natures Head but after looking at the options at the Annapolis Sailboat show, I thought the Airhead would be a better fit. There was a two inch screw holding it down on each side and applied with some sort of adhesive. Some of the wood around the edges were soft. After removing the screws, I hammered a flat-head screwdriver in between the tank and the wood and pried it apart. Took a few minutes to pry apart all the edges. Once all the edges were loose, I cut the few hoses leading away from the tank/toilet and covered them with plastic bags and rubber bands. The tank itself was deeper than I originally expected. I thought it was only big enough as what was visible from the top. As soon as I picked it up, there was dust/dirt falling from it. I didn't realize until I got it to the parking lot that there was a big gaping hole on the back side about 2" x 3". Thankfully, I never tried using it or testing it out. I would hate the clean up from a mess like that. Good thing I decided to take it out since it needed replaced anyway.
Pictures of the head.
Next step of this would be to remove the rest of the hoses that will free up some space under the counter. Then cleaning up all the old caulking and prepare the space for a new head. I'm thinking to epoxy a 1/2" plywood board to the hole the holding tank was in. The plywood would also be fully epoxied too to protect it from moisture. I was thinking of a light sheet of fiberglass but don't think it would really be necessary. Epoxy coating, I think, would (or should) be enough to protect it.
Today was a busy day. The weather was nice and cool since some rain came through the last couple days. It's been mostly cloudy today but the sun is finally showing up in the afternoon.
I started off the day working on installing a new water strainer. I bought a Groco ARG-500 from Hopkins-Carter and it got here pretty quickly. I ordered fittings for it from another source and waiting for those to come in a couple days. Then at that time, I'll add the fittings and get some hose to go with it. I had to take off the little one that was already there. I cut the hose going to the water pump, then unscrewed the bracket behind the strainer.
Up close, you can see that someone used to be able to see through this.
Here's a size comparison between the old and new strainers.
First attempt at mounting the filter, It looked like it might interfere with part of the engine...
...so I moved it down a little in hopes it will be clear of any engine shaking/vibration.
And the mount itself.
After installing the strainer, I used a dremel to grind out the threads from the epoxy when I installed the base for the new seacock. I wanted to get the thru-hull to go through and thread only into the flange base. I didn't get any pictures of this process. Since there was a lot of dust associated with this, I used the shop-vac at the same time which really helped to keep things cleaned up.
I used the little shop-vac to do some general cleanup around the boat. I also vacuumed some loose debris in the head. I vacuumed up the storage spaces around the salon/seating area. I decided to show just how much storage space there is in the Nor'sea. The white card I placed is the size of a credit card, so you can get an idea of the space available. The same space is available on both sides.
When I cleaned up to the forward storage locker, I took the sails out and decided to take the rope and chain out of it too. I only measured the chain and I planed on measuring the rope too but didn't do it just yet.
I lowered the anchor to the ground so I could stretch it out for measurement. It turns out that there is 140' of chain in this pile.
I went to a hardware store and bought some bright orange and yellow spray paint. While there are marks on the chain, I wanted to put new ones on that were a little brighter. I put the orange marks at 25', 75', 125' and yellow marks at 50' 100'
I installed the chain back on the boat once the paint dried. I didn't see any attachment points for the chain or rope and looking at installing something to keep the anchor from getting away from me.
When I look around online and see forum posts where people are looking for a boat with a lot of space because of their height, I think that you can't have everything. I'm 6'5" and I can not stand up straight while down below but I can still fit comfortably when I'm laying in a quarterberth or when the salon is converted to sleeping space. I don't feel at all cramped in my boat. I've now been in every part of my boat and don't really have any problem reaching into any part of it. Now to show that I've been IN every part of my boat, here I am sitting in the sail/anchor locker. :-)
