Through-hulls & the head.
Warm and wet. Still autumn weather although temperature drops below 0 at night.
I move on with removing unused through-hulls.
Starting in fo’c’sle, there are two old valves left after marine toilet. I removed the head when I bought the boat. Valves were left in place should I ever install new head but since it is no longer legal in Sweden we switched to enclosed, chemical head.
These valves started to disturb me and they are unnecessary holes in underwater part of the boat so I need to get them out.
Output valve is huge. I had to buy new wrench to handle so wide nuts.
Input valve was already plugged and sealed last winter, when I worked on sole boards in fo’c’sle.
I started with the small one. All went almost smooth, only upon banging it out of the hole wood chipped on the surface. I’ll glue it back when temperature allows working with glue.
For output valve I had to use a substantial wrench. I always liked it but never had a reason to buy it. Now the reason arose so I’m a happy owner of the biggest spanner ever.
I am sure this through-hull was mounted when the boat was built, more than 60 years ago. Unscrewing the valve part was not easy but with so long wrench I had enough purchase.
Before unscrewing the collar nut I had to clean threads from fiber sealant. That took me almost half an hour.
This through-hull is huge so I needed to be careful in removing it, so as not to destroy the plank. I cut paint around the fitting on the outside, to minimise probability of grabbing chips on the surface when I drive the fitting out. Red lead is visible all around the fitting.
I decided to unscrew it from the hull, instead of just simply hammering it out. It sat in the boat for so long that the surrounding wood certainly formed a thread, holding bronze pipe tightly.
Old bicycle wrenches come in handy.
It took some time and cursing to unscrew it entirely. Every now and then I run down, to see how it goes on the outside. Luckily I managed to move it out cleanly - no chips.
I know that there is simpler way of doing it: just cut it out on the outside with angle grinder. That’s how Anders is doing it. I wanted to get this out in one piece - it is an expensive fitting and I have two like it, serving as cockpit drain. I want to keep this one as a spare part. It is a proper, bronze fitting with bronze valve. Hard to find these nowadays.
Once removed I could finally see how thick boards are on Meritaten. I was not disappointed: they are thick!
I measure diameter of both holes, to prepare plugs which I will epoxy-glue in spring. On the inside they will be additionally secured with thick copper plate screwed on the perimeter, with Sika as yet additional sealer.
Smaller plug after inlet valve.
While at it I decided to remove also mechanical log. It never worked when I own Meritaten, Christer (previous owner) also reported that it just sits there but does not work.
I tried repairing it a few years ago but it never showed proper speed. I hate having things mounted but not working so I decided to get rid of it. After all, I have Walker logs which I could use should I decide to go off-shore. For coastal navigation I never saw use for log anyway.
I also want to gain space in the bilge - every time I work on the bilge pump I have to fight with the log hose!
On the outside, starboard, sits external part of the system. Its only function these years is to drag and attract marine growth.
Display of the instrument is located under cockpit locker. I manufactured bronze ring to keep it water tight and for better look. I want to mount a compass here instead, one of these I renovated some time ago.
The job went surprisingly smooth, after only 40 minutes the whole instrument was removed.
I’m not sure if I want to repair it.
Place left after the log has yet another hole to plug.
My next job on the list for this winter is to scrape bottom paint - it is flaking around the garboard and ballast keel. It is a good timing to remove this log, after I’m done with bottom surface there will be no sign after these through hulls.
Last objective for today was to mount toilet fittings. I finally found them in a box which I forgot after we moved to new place. These are simple plastic fittings which hold the unit in place but slide out once the toiled is taken out for cleaning/emptying.
I use bronze screws also here - even though stainless would work fine, too. I try to keep Meritaten ferrous-free as much as possible.
These screws are, by the way, a funny story: one week after I sold Motoko and brought Meritaten to our NSS club someone left a bag of very nice, brass and bronze screws in my cockpit. I never got to know who it was. Apparently friendly sailor thought that I will have a good use for them on such old, wooden boat. Indeed I do!
Properly mounted head. I planned to hide it inside mahogany box but after thinking about it I decided to just add partial wall with a handle on a side. Boxing the head would make it cumbersome in use.
I also need to touch up the bulkhead - it looks kind of sad with marks left after I removed all interior in fo’c’sle.
It started to get late so I re-circulated linseed oil in the bilge and prepared for going home.
Last glimpse of an eye onto battery compartment. I’m thinking of building shallow bulkhead around them. This will enable keeping them tightly held against the keel, preventing any movement in choppy sea.
I have not yet figured how it shall look exactly so I just take a photo to think about it later.
