Preparations and tender maintenance

 Preparations continue, the job list is static at 26 jobs to complete but I have the Garmin tracker just about sorted out. https://share.garmin.com/SVLouisa. Messaging with the family is partially working. I wanted to get some heavy weather practice so went out in an F8. Three reefs and all seemed good, made progress downwind and limited progress upwind. 8 hours in the middle of winter and no other boats about was great. I don't think there has been much sunshine around since I was last down but the solar panels are holding the batteries up well. The inner jib needs modifying which I think I can do myself.

Louisa was looking fine in the morning gloom when I left her.

This visit to the boat was as much about maintaining the tender as it was about Louisa and sailing. When I was last out the gunwale started to come adrift so I devised a new rubbing strake made from 1/2" water pipe and insulating foam. 

I think it worked well, it is held on with cable ties and seems like an improvement.

Offshore preparation and ongoing maintenance

 As part of my offshore preparations I have been sorting out my safety gear. I have had an immersion suit for a couple of years but couldn't get into it when I was on Mischief in the cabin, there just wasn't enough room. I tried again on Louisa and it took a few minutes. 

The boat was on her swinging mooring and despite being near 0C outside I was very warm in the suit.

Another job I progressed was re-installing the self steering gear following giving it a service. 

It went back on very easily and I tested it in the river both upwind and downwind in a F7 with 2 reefs set. It worked flawlessly so very happy with that.

On the maintenance list was a mid season scrub, the hull wasn't too badly fouled but the water line is getting bad. I pressure washed the hull and scraped the waterline but will wait until spring to apply antifoul. The Seajet Shogun 033 was holding up well so that is what I'll use again.

There has been an old salt's tale that mixing chilli powder with antifouling makes it more effective. A good friend of mine assures me that barnacles don't have taste receptors but chilli has more than just flavour / heat. To put my mind at rest this same friend cleaned the prop with sand paper and got a very nice finish. We found the manufacturer's  name on the prop and above it (port side) I applied chilli loaded Lanoguard grease, on the other blade Lanoguard grease was applied.

  When she is next on the scrubbing dock we shall see if their is any discernible difference.

So a successful, albeit cold, weekend.

New Sails

 New sails arrived and with there being no wind it was an ideal opportunity to fit them. Testing them will have to wait for a breeze.

The main sail has a deep third reef and the logo looks great.

The spare gooseneck is a great fit and when the main gooseneck has been welded up ti should be an even better fit. 

More progress and new plans

 It has been a long time since my last post and here are some of the reasons:

A storm jib, I'll need that for my planned trip to Newport, RI, USA in 2022. 

During the last four months I have been trying to get sea miles under my belt while completing preparations for JC 2022. The start date is 8th May 2022 and I still have almost 60 items on the to do list. I have closed out over 30 of the larger jobs including: additional winches, rigging overhaul, re-bedding windows, RF systems, electrical systems, replacement running rigging, ordering new sails, solar panels, weather proofing and sleeping / stowage arrangements.

My plans for the trip are in their early stages but I intend to follow a more southerly route so that I have ports of refuge such as Azores and Bermuda to run to rather than the shorter Northerly route. Ice and fog scare me and the storms are normally more frequent and severe on the northerly great circle route. My estimated passage duration is 40 days but this could well be longer.

Work left to do includes: fit and tune new sails, service and refit the Sea Feather self steering gear, strengthen the gooseneck fitting and generally secure the boat for offshore sailing.   

Progress on jobs

 A couple of trips to the boat since strict lock down lifted and things are coming along. I am hoping that I have dodged a bullet with the dip stick problem. After getting it out with a set of large mole grips I have straightened it out, changed the oil and so far all seems good. I have installed a gimbal from my jet boil and a vice in the cabin which can double as a table bracket. On the big job list; I have almost completed replacing the lower stays. The old ones were undersized at 1/8" and of indeterminate age. I have fitted 5mm stays with swaged eyes at the mast end and swageless eyes at deck level. All with the help of a friend whilst the mast was up. Other jobs include checking out the sail wardrobe and fitting a proper sea bunk. Photos to follow.

Mooring check and a problem

 I visited Louisa to check the moorings and timed it so that I had a full tide onboard. The moorings were fine and I checked a couple of other club boats. One was very twisted so I reset the lines, another, my old Achilles 24, was OK but the sail cover had come off so I retied it. Back on Louisa I fitted a swivel to the mooring buoy but as I haven't built up any trust in it yet I fitted a safety line. While on board I made progress on the heating which I am calling finished for now and the solar panels. I also tried a dry fit of the winch bases and I think that they are good enough to make the actual bases in agba. As normal I charged the batteries up with the engine and whilst doing this the engine started to make a very strange noise. It sounded like it was about to let go so I turned it off pronto. Upon checking I found that the dipstick was loose. When I tried to pull it out it was stuck in the engine so I assume it had come loose and the oily end had caught on the crank shaft and been bent. After trying to extract it for 30 mins I gave up. My plan is to change the engine oil and filter and check for metal fragments. If bad, I might flush the engine out with diesel but if no too bad I'll resort to checking the oil level by pumping the oil out into a calibrated container. I suspect that the dipstick is made from stainless steel but if not I'll place a couple of strong magnets under the sump to hold the metal filings.