Double launch. Seacock trouble.

May 17, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

All started very well.

Early in the morning it was pouring rain, ugly weather. I showed up in the boatyard and we loaded Meritaten onto launching cart. We were the first boat to launch today. Rain turned into skyfall.

As every year this moment rises blood pressure: how much will she leak the first hour?

To my surprise (and expectations) I could not see any substantial leaks! Drips of water here and there, nothing to worry about.

Anders lifted my mast from storage and I rigged it for stepping on the keel. That went quickly, too.

Next boat was about to be launched in half an hour so I rigged the mast, without tensioning the rig yet, and motored away from the slip. Lennart came to prepare mast for Andrina so we had a chat. As every year - he joked that I have the wrong mast.
Yes, I know… it’s aluminium. It should be wood!

After arriving into my summer place just few hundred meters away I worked on ropes and some housekeeping procedures, monitoring level of water in the bilge.

Somewhere there was a leak which was slowly adding water even though I could see that all plank seams in the cabin and fo’c’sle are already tight and dry. Probably in the engine room, I thought. It was small enough to not worry about - after all the boat needs few hours to swell so it will go away by tomorrow. I could not see anything below the engine anyhow so nothing could be done.

Then, just as I was leaving, I opened the engine room to close seawater intake seacock. Then I saw it - it was leaking around the damn seacock! It was loose! I moved it slightly (it should not be possible to move a seacock!) and leakage increased. Damn!

Quick action followed - to seal it temporary, so that bilge pump will not have to work too hard before I fix with Anders taking the boat on hard for repairs. “Stay Afloat” did the job alright but it is only temporary, I cannot sail the boat with such an issue.

I agreed with Anders that we take Meritaten up at the end of the day - there were many boats to launch today.

I came back at five. Anders was not there but I decided to motor back to slip anyhow. Weather was trying to cheer me up.

We loaded the boat on the cart and took her out from water.

After lots of cursing and many trials to unscrew the seacock, thru-hull and splitter Anders said that we need to cut the thing out. Angle grinder took care of the external collar and I could bang out the rest.

Time budget was shrinking as Anders needed to head home. I was desperate to fix this today and put the boat back to water. Otherwise she would need to wait another few days to weekend or I needed another day off from work!

Eventually we found replacement parts in Shipyard’s vast workshop. Sika onto seacock, Loctite for threads and we screwed everything together… just to find out that we need to do it again because I reverted pipes fitting for the engine and kitchen. Yet again Sika and Loctite. I was sweating and cursing. Finally all was in place. We launched her again and the seacock is not leaking. Anders went home and I was relieved.

I’m not perfectly happy with the way it is installed. It’s still a bit sensitive. Moreover - the thru-hull is placed on planks seam, very unfortunate location. I need to rebuild this after the season, with proper wooden block backing and sealing this entire area, as described by USCG standards. I will probably replace this whole thing with silicon-bronze seacock. The old one broke while I was trying to unscrew it. It was old, yes, but being made of brass (which contains zinc) contributed to accelerated ageing. Bronze will last forever.

Relieved and no longet time pressed I left the slip and parked on the side. Gathered tools and kept my eye on the bilge. No increase in water. We are good to go back.

Back to my summer place. A few minutes to secure the boat in the evening sun. Neighbour’s Goliath boat shadows Meritaten which seems so small.

We have a go for launch!

May 16, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Last items on launching checklist done today.

“Winter dress” was removed and taken to storage. I checked the hull for any openings but it seems that cold and wet spring has kept the wood humidified. No seams were open.

Antifouling applied on primed areas and along waterline. I had a bit rest so I painted the whole rudder and propeller opening - marine critters seem to like these places.

Marked Tufnol winches with tape, so that Anders hopefully not uses them for attaching 3,2 ton boat to launching platform.

Interior emptied from remaining tools and materials. Toilet valve closed, engine water intake opened. Deck equipment secured.

I forgot to make a proper deck fixture for this fisherman anchor so it will hang here for a while. It’s so heavy that I don’t want to store it under deck - I know that then I will never use it! It has to be at hand.

Danish sailor who was living these few days on his Caruselle was luckily still at his boat. I asked him if he found steering panel for Wallas heater.
He did!
It looks like home-made project but matches my boat quite well in fact.

Having some time left I took measurements for auto-pilot placement.

First I needed to extend rudder axis all the way up, as a base for measurements.

Checking with something longer if I eyeballed the axis correctly.

Then we take a right angle to that axis. Some tape-creativity was needed.

Then we measure given distance at this right angle, determining a line in the air. From this line we take another right angle and imagine new line intersecting with the tiller. No photo of this step.

A few measurements gave the same result: autopilot should be connected almost at the tiller’s base.

Yet another line at the right angle to determine where the second end of Raymarine should be placed. A bit outside of the aft pulpit.

Damn far from where I sit in the cockpit!

I checked on Rolf’s page that Freja has it installed far closer to the steersman.. Much more convenient.

Lennart on his Andrina has, on the other hand, attachment points in the same spot as I measured. Janne has made very nice fixtures for both ends.

I think I will follow Lennart/Janne and do simillar arrangement on Meritaten. But that will happen during the season or next year.

Waiting for launching crew!

Final preparations

May 16, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Rudder tiller came back onto Meritaten, after receiving I-forgot-how-many layers of Owatrol Teak. It is glossy now and looks like varnished but the feel when touching it is different from varnish. Better grip, slightly softer feel. I’ll see how long it stays before oiling becomes necessary.

To avoid damage from tiller lock (this sliding fork in stainless steel) I fitted soft rubber tubing on both sides. Old tubing got hard with time and feels like plastic. Tiller had too much play between pins, causing noise when we were sleeping on anchor and denting the wood.

Added padding makes the fit a bit tighter and should prevent wood damage. I added wooden balls on top, for nicer look and higher fork.

Dyviken (plug for draining the bilge on land) is now sealed. It is always embarrassing for a sailor who launches his boat with this plug forgotten. Situation becomes then very dynamic!

I decided to finish reinforcing the starboard winch with additional bronze screw. That was fixed quickly if not unpleasantly - drilling while lying on one’s back, directly under the spot is never a good idea. Wood bits landing in eyes, ears and face. But it had to be done.

I was bothered by this empty hole left after someone removed heavy bolt which was reinforcing this winch. I could not find screw big enough to match the size. It is also not possible to access the hole with long enough screw or bolt as main sail balk is in the way.
I figured that I will install threaded rod doped in thick epoxy to fill this gap and further reinforce the winch. I use my favourite epoxy WEST G-Flex. It is thick and formulated specifically for difficult-to-glue wood like oak. Mahogany is easy to glue so maybe G-Flex is overkill here but it also has higher than normal flexibility which is advantageous in this application. The glue will flex up to 40% before the bond fails. Heavy loaded winch can cause some movement in its base so some flexibility is good here.

Heating up epoxy with solar power.

I measured cavity depth and also how long the bolt can be to fit in the gap. I chose bronze threaded rod with copper nut & washer. I could use stainless steel in this application but since I had this rod I kept myself to more noble materials.
The rod is a bit too lose in the hole so I added thick copper wire as a filler and anchor, so that the whole thing does not drop on my face before epoxy starts to grab.

Covered with thick layer of goo it went into the whole. One needs to be a bit acrobatic to crawl into pilot berth on the back, only by ass and legs - hands (with gloves!) were holding the bolt dripping epoxy. With some cursing I managed to press in the bolt and not get epoxy on my face.
There we have it - fixed! It ain’t goin’ nowhere!

Excess epoxy was used to seal holes left after removing old furniture in fo’c’sle.

Since I was already playing with messy jobs I went down and sealed with Farm 100 a spot where Meritaten is leaking water. Linseed oil therapy through the winter showed the place. It is on the back of aft knee, where the structure developed a gap. To repair it requires opening the boat and rebuilding the knee. I don’t have a budget to do that now so I just live with it: every spring I close this gap with Farm 100 and every autumn I remove Farm to let any water left there to drain. Previous owner squeezed Sika into the cavity and left it like that. Initially it probably worked but with wood movement - and the place being end-grain - Sika lost it’s grep and became just a rubber clump, not sealing anymore. With water left there for winter the damage became worse as expanding ice made the gap slightly bigger.

Farm is a soft, bitumen-based compound which never dries and is sticky as …. well, bitumen!
It eventually dries after few years but I keep on top of that by replacing it with fresh one before each season. This has stopped the damage to become bigger and I enjoy (almost) dry bilge throughout the season.

I kept myself busy with organising storage in the main cabin when someone knocked on the hull. It was a Danish sailor who worked on his newly acquired boat Carusel. He was quite unfortunate while trying to sail her to his home on Bornholm last year. He casted off twice and came back both times after a few days for the same reason: engine failure. His Volvo Penta is loosing oil in catastrophic rate so he could run it only for short periods while manovering in the harbour. Only then he managed to pour oil into the thing while somewhere else the damn devil was spilling it into the bilge. No one could find the reason for failure so Carusel stayed for the winter here.

Now he prepares for yet another approach, waiting for engine mechanic to arrive. A pile of things removed from the boat was lying below and he asked me if I wanted anything from that.
Indeed I did! I got old but functional Wallas 3000 heater!

New units are so expensive that I did not even consider buying one but if this one indeed works then we can add some luxury into the cabin! Warm air! I especially like that it runs on kerosene! Like my pressure lamps!

Too bad it comes without the control panel. I have a circuit diagram so it should be easy to build my own but maybe I will need to ask Mr Albert for some guiding since electronics and me are not the best friends…

I also got an antenna. I took it because it uses the same antenna mount I have on Meritaten.

It is not connected right now as the only radio I have onboard is handheld VHF but some time in the past my boat was equipped with proper radio.

The antenna is very long: 260 cm.

I guess it is a full-length antenna.

If my calculations are not wrong it is for frequency ca. 115 MHz which is VHF. I think I would need expert’s advice: Mr Albert again!

I finished the evening with making a boat-soup which is Ettan with linseed oil. Ettan, when bought, has very hard consistency and if it is needed to coat wood surface it’s better to dilute it a bit into cream form by adding a bit of linseed oil. I melt mine with hot air in metal can.

After all is melted I stir it to mix with oil. The whole area is filled with tar aroma!

It becomes light-coloured again after it solidifies. Consistency is now of a butter, easy to apply on adjacent surfaces.

Tomorrow is the last day before launching. The only things left to do is to remove Meritaten’s winter dress (protecting her from drying too quickly) and bottom-painting.

House-keeping procedures

May 14, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Most important task for today was to finish installation of bilge pump and starting the engine after winter sleep.

Every job, however simple, which has to be done in the bilge takes double the time it should. Bilge pump is now tested and new floating switch works well. The old one went to rubbish - it hanged itself a few times, not closing the circuit as it should. These things last usually no longer than a few years, mine had 5 years lifetime.

Both batteries are now fully charged. Connected to the main rail, terminals sealed with grease, to avoid oxidation and bad contacts.

Main circuit breakers needed to be exercised a bit before the system got charge. Jim has problems with his circuit breaker, I think it might be the same effect I had - they got oxidised. In my case it was enough to exercise it a bit - before connecting batteries. This removed oxide from terminals and the breaker works fine again.

Yanmar-san needed to be woken after winter. I opened “the engine room” to check cooling fluid level before attempting ignition.

I also checked impeller in sea-water pump. I usually change them after winter as rubber becomes stiff and develops cracks. This time it was not necessary - it is still as new. I didn’t use engine much last season. Also - this year I was winterising the engine wet - filled with glykol. Apparently impeller is happier to be constantly submerged. Installed new paper sealer and the pump was closed again.
I rigged cooling water into secondary system and turned engine key.

Engine started directly, as if it was pre-warmed just before! That’s the spirit!
I run it for a while, until it drank all water from the canister. Fuel seem to be free from water - I left the tank fully filled so not much room for condensation there.

New sacrificial anode installed, old one had still much zinc left but waiting too long can make it difficult to remove.

I slowly move in with things which were kept in warm storage: madrases, kitchen utensils, ropes etc.

New sweet-water tank installed and connected. I bought two of these, the second one will be kept in fo’c’sle. This “storage area” is being filled with stuff. Much easier to organise things now, with free access all the way to the bow.

With madrases the main cabin became cozy again. Silent guy is conveniently keeping “storage room” out of sight.

Captain’s berth.

Mesa and officers’ quarters.

Pentry got new, brass cans for lose goods. This shelf is directly behind the compass so I don’t want any steel objects here.

Military coffee kettle will serve its duty in the pentry.

All leather bags and pouches onboard got their dose of leather grease. I use Lundhags grease which is mostly tallow, beeswax and tar. Protective and nutritious for leather, so far the best I used. And it smells phenomenally - tar!

Last one in the queue

May 13, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Only yesterday evening were there still two other Laurinkosters in Meritaten’s hangar. Now we are alone. Jim managed to get Kaika launched today, we met him onboard, finishing launching procedures.

Our launch is in 3 days so not that long after the rest. I have only few things to finish so I take it easy now.

The day was so warm and sunny - real summer day - that instead of planned work on the boat I took Nano into the backpack and walked through the woods to our nearby lake.

Water has already 17 degrees so my kid jumped directly headlong. I, instead, unfolded the boat and enjoyed the day from the water.

Later today we drove to the boatyard. My plan was to get some things done but it became a small picnic onboard instead.
I managed only to connect the first battery for charging overnight. Tomorrow the second one will get juice topped. I need them to be fully functional before launching - their duty will be to maintain Meritaten on the surface with bilge pumps.

Main bilge pump got new floating switch. The old one, after cleaning, will be used with auxiliary, crash pump.