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.
