Through-hull bungs

April 07, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Winter is back - snow, wind, well below zero. No chance to work with epoxy in such temperatures.

It will get warm eventually so I focus on preparing everything needed to close unused through-hulls in fo’c’sle.

The biggest hole, left after output valve, is too big to find ready-made bung on the market. I make my own on the lathe - gluing a rounded piece of pine as a grip, to clamp it on the lathe.

Diameter is nominally 42 mm. I decide to leave 0.6mm excess - for tight fit and to allow for proper cleanup of the through-hull before applying epoxy.

The other bung is easier - just 17mm so I turned it from ready-made 25mm mahogany bung.
Short, evening visit to the boatyard to check how they fit.

Very tight fit - I would say press-fit. That’s what I was aiming for.
After I file hole edges, to clean red lead residues and expose fresh wood, the bung will fit snugly, leaving enough room for epoxy.

Time for spring maintenance

April 03, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It is still cold at nights - with minus temperatures - but it gets warmer during daytime. Snow is mostly gone (as for now) but it is too cold to use epoxy outside.

Last weeks I was visiting Meritaten in some evenings, to check if all was fine after stormy winds. Didn’t feel like starting any work yet, it was too cold and I was too busy elsewhere. Now it is high time to re-start working on her.

Spring winds, strong and dry, are starting to take their toll on wooden hulls: planks seams became visible on all wooden boats in the boatyard. Even Kaika shows her planks! I usually set up plastic cover on the bottom part of the hull by the end of February, this year I slept-over a bit.

I stated work by finishing scraping all excess bottom paint on starboard side. It was flaking and bulging, especially on the garboard and keel section. I scraped most epoxy primer and paint on the iron ballast during autumn so today it was just finishing touch.

Cleaned up tarp with toxic debris and started brushing exposed wood and iron with järnmönja. It needs to be applied very thin, otherwise it will never cure. Linseed oil spills after winter oiling are already hardened on the hull and in the bilge.

Re-measured through-hull openings which I need to close. These are not standard size bungs so I’ll need to turn them from mahogany. Hull thickness on the bottom is 18mm (thumb-nail).

I spent some time in fo’c’sle, planning for securing the battery boxes. My last idea was to build a bulkhead and encapsulate the boxes with plywood floor, keeping them in place by that. Today I don’t like this idea - I like to have full access everywhere on the boat, that was the reason I removed all these berths & contraptions which arose during boat’s life in fo’c’sle! Why build again something like that?

My current thought is to add substantial cross-beam behind the battery box and simply lash these boxes to front and this new back beam. That should keep them in place, securing from movements sideways and up (should the boat heel heavily or capsize) while still giving me access to all sides and being easy to remove the boxes. Lashing is, after all, salty and proven way of securing stuff aboard, ain’t it?

I managed to damage companionway hinge during my recent visit (in heavy winter boots) so I repaired it now. Changed el-cheepo brass screws with proper, thick bronze screws which should keep the hinge in place.

I went home for lunch and came back with plastic tarp for wrapping Meritaten in her “spring dress”. This time I had helpers so it went very smooth and fast.

The tarp will not only protect the bottom from dry winter but also help with keeping higher temperature when I epoxy-glue bungs to close through-hulls.

Sail & oar mariner's library

December 19, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Ernest Dade is a well known artist in wooden boat world. So far I had none of his books in my library.
It was a cover drawing which caught my attention - look closely and you notice boom-less sail in standing lugg rigg. Or misanier, as French call it.

This is the rig I chose for my Ilur. The boat depicted looks, in fact, like Ilur but she is of course the traditional fishing boat which inspired Francois Vivier to draw lines of his Ilur.

It’s a book very worth having for any traditional boat enthusiast. I got mine via Amazon.
I take pleasure in studying these fine drawings. A few at a time - there are ca 100 drawings in this book.

My so far favourite drawing in this collection:

Little-big adventure

November 21, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

The weather was too good to spend time in dark shed in the boatyard. Besides - I wanted to check if longer oars will improve Nano’s performance on water.

Directly after breakfast we unfolded Nano and put her on beach-wheels. We have a good 40 minutes walk to the harbour but on such sunny morning it is a joy.

New oars are 30% longer than old. I did not swap fittings yet - I want to check if such length works and where they should sit on the oar.

My small helper was cycling in front of me, I was walking behind the “wheelbarrow”.

On the way to the harbour the weather changed a couple of times: there came snow, then Sun and then rain. All conditions within short span of time. I felt adventurous!

Launching went smoothly.

My daughter went onto the small beach nearby, I launched the boat and started rowing to meet her there.

Already after a few strokes I noticed how quickly the boat accelerates. Long oars have significantly more power than shorter ones. It comes with price, thou - in close quarters they are too long. I had some trouble to move away from the pontoon. Wearing winter clothes - bulky jacket and gloves - did not help either, oars were grabbing the jacket..

The wind peaked up so rowing downwind was almost a surf. I beached the boat to have fika on shore.

We had to adjust our plans when we saw big, dark cloud heading our way. The weather started to deteriorate rapidly.

We agreed to meet for fika in a small wind-cover near launching ramp. I wanted to recover the boat before the high wind and snow arrives.

I bent to oars while the wind was increasing. Now that was a workout! Nano is super light so she glides almost on the surface, very susceptible to wind gusts. Having very little displacement she is easily stopped by choppy sea.

Thanks to long oars I could fight my way through the waves but on my way upwind I was looking for places for alternative recovery, should I not reach the ramp.

I did, eventually, and put Nano on her trailer just in time for the main weather attack.

We took our fika inside the wind-shelter, waiting for the snow & wind to pass above us. Cild but happy we headed home for hot beverages.

It might be the last time in this season - next week the cold front will take over our island for good.

Scrubbing her bottom

November 20, 2021 by Lukasz Kumanowski

The weather is still mild so I continue maintenance procedures.

But before submerging into the joys of bottom-paint scrubbing I went to Rosättra Båtvarv to talk with a few people.

Unfortunately Patrick has left the company (but still lives on his boat nearby) so I don’t know the new wood-master Henrik. Henrik was, of course, not here on Saturday but I met Ola who is father to owners of the whole shipyard. He gave me contact to Henrik and his team - and wished me luck with my new project.

I went to have a chat with Patrick about his plans for another job and if he will sail his boat to live somewhere else. Luckily for me he is not yet moving so there will be more occasions to meet at the boatyard.

Back with Meritaten I decided to move on with bottom renovation. The ballast keel and parts of garboard plank are flaking paint. It needs my attention - bottom paint became too thick and I think Christer did not use primer on the garboard so paint is not sitting well.

I will deal with toxic paint so I put on my overall, nylon gloves, gas mask and proceed with scraping.

I start with all loose flakes - most of them on iron keel. I see that epoxy coating which Christer made many years ago is not doing its job - iron is getting wet (epoxy is not 100% watertight, nothing is) and surface corrosion lifts epoxy layer.

My plan is to remove all which is not sitting well and coat the hull with mönja. I don’t have enough blymönja (red lead, illegal for amateurs to buy in Sweden) so I will use iron-oxide (järnmönja). This traditional way of protecting hulls has only one disadvantage: it takes long time before it dries. Otherwise it is cheap, non-toxic, sits very well on wood and iron and protects well.
I have the whole winter to wait so enough time for a few layers to cure.

After circa one hour the starboard side of ballast keel is cleaned from old paint and epoxy. Few patches left. I will hit them with orbital sander before coating, to get fresh iron on the surface.

Puffing after this workout I go to the cabin to contemplate future improvements. Most urgent is organising fo’c’sle so that batteries sit steady and the chemical head is not an eyesore.

I decided to make a low bulkhead, just behind the batteries. That will form a proper battery compartment and enable me working on them in comfort.

Just over a meter (110cm) wide and 30cm high the bulkhead will encapsulate the batteries. Top cover will have opening in the middle through which I can access the system.

Both boxes will protrude through this opening which means it will hold them sideways, preventing moves in choppy sea. Kind of like hot-rod engine.

Opening will have box-like cover which will be screwed to the base, thus holding batteries in vertical direction and hiding them snugly. It will give me possibility to sit there or put anchor rode above, without the risk of tangling with battery cables.

While I sat there I spotted a thing on port-side deck beams: there were rests after a bulkhead! So fo’c’sle was rebuilt before! That’s why the layout is not matching the drawings!

Apparently an owner before me wanted to have more sea berths on the boat and removed parts of interior. That explains why it looked so dodgy, like half-done. Which, in turn, triggered me to remove all the rest and do it my way.

I’m thinking about making side-wall to the head, forming a small ladder. It is just under the foredeck hatch so having something to stand on while climbing on board would make life easier. It will also hide the head from view while in the main cabin.

Another thing is POD-heater.
Right now it sits inside the locker. Smart as it is - its heat could dry wet clothes hanging there - it is also very troublesome to reach to the heater for igniting or adjustments.
I like the way Jim has it on Kaika and now, with emptied fo’c’sle on Meritaten, I have an opportunity to make it his way. That requires moving the chimney to the port side of the deck. It will be in a way there but I could build superstructure around it, to protect it from stepping on it or tripping. Today the chimney sits close to the mast and is out of harm’s way…

I re-circulated the oil in the bilge and headed home, to continue my hopeless search for CNC-routing company in Sweden. I mean - they are there but they don’t bother to reply!

I’ve even sent requests to Norway (got answer same night) and UK (answered next day).
It must be something with Swedish mentality - they just don’t give a damm…

Does anyone know a company which will reply to requests for quotation from a private person?

The job is to CNC-route in 9mm and 18mm marine plywood. I provide DXF files ready to load into the router.

Total length of cuts is 440m.

Does anyone know a company which will reply to requests for quotation from a private person?

The job is to CNC-route in 9mm and 18mm marine plywood. I provide DXF files ready to load into the router.

Total length of cuts is 440m.

Please help!