Emptying the boat, setting up workplace
Just a short visit to boatyard today, to pack remaining equipment for home storage, moving some wood for coming renovation and setting up workplace on Meritaten.
As last year, I stretched a tarp over my boat, to avoid water drops from leaks in the roof. Strong halogen lamp pointed up, towards that big white screen will give me nice, daylight-like light to work on the deck and cockpit floor.
The main tasks for this winter are:
deck renovation, including valdeck gluing (nåtlimning). Changing stem cleat into two massive cleats, possibly backed with Samson post belowdecks
new cabin sole (durk) - wider, spanning from side to side
new ladder into the cabin, possibly with a sitting place for navigation station & kitchen. Backplate to the ladder with proper sound isolation - Yanmar engine is loud!
fo’c’sle re-build: removing unused bunks, installing chemical toilet, storage for sails, anchors, tools and ropes. Moving batteries closer to the middle of the boat, for better weight distribution
new, foldable cabin table, to save space and have it more stable than the current, wobbly table
rising cockpit sole, to gain more distance for cockpit drains. New engine-access hatches, sealed and properly sound-isolated. At the same time I plan to change the way cabin is sealed from water - I’ll remove hinged doors (they will make nice storage in fo’c’sle) and replace them with sealed plate or dagger boards. Change achterpik doors to sealed hatch, similar to cabin hatch.
cockpit renovation - new winches with cleats on pilars, remove old winches and their shelves, plugging all old screw holes. Wooding sarg and benches, staining and varnishing. New port-side storage (closable), cockpit storage hatch sealed and with massive hinges. Mahogny faner on cabin front, where plywood is discoloured by previous water ingress. Removing old compass and plugging the opening. New (but old) compass installed closer to steerman position on port bench, with light diode
closing unused thru-hull openings for marine toilet and VDO log (which is not working anyway)
re-tightening garboard plank - replacing old (possibly brass) screws with bronze. I believe this is my source of leak, under the engine compartment.
These are the main, big things. If time allows I want also:
re-wire electrical system, with new fuse panel and LED lights in the cabin
make navigation station above pilot berth, slidable under the cockpit starboard bench
new navigation lights - port and starboard lights moved onto stem pulpit, mast light moved lower, to have it accessed from the deck. Anchor light above the cockpit (battery driven)
anchoring tape installed on stem pulpit - outside, to clear from genua
finish kitchen bank, similarly to what Rolf has on “Freja” - so that pots don’t fall down while the boat is sailing
instal POD/GeHå heater and radiators, with silent water pump for initial circulation
wooden wrap around the mast in the cabin - to have it nicer. Now the aluminium pipe is a eye-sore in otherwise wooden cabin
new, wooden arm-head for engine control arm (Yanmar original rubber head is in pieces)
finish bunk plates under madrases - ventilation holes, epoxying and varnishing, new plate for pilot bunk (lower)
make adapter pipes to stiffen up spreaders on the main mast
Wish list for coming years:
baby-stag to stiffen up the mast
re-rigging the fore triangle - moving forward genua roller onto peke, adding second stag for rising smaller sail (cutter rigg)
new deck hatch with acrylic dome. That will give more light and headroom to fo’c’sle. And it is my all-time dream to have a dome on the boat!
