Last Supper

I worked on my Raymarine autopilot ST4000+ this morning. It was quite easy to get apart in the end. I guess it needs to be almost impenetrable to keep out the salty air.

It was the same as my Fynspray water pump in that the barrel unscrewed from the body. Anyway I took it apart and manually hooked it up to my 12 volt battery and hey presto the battery turned the little motor.

I carefully put it back together and tried it out in situ and it worked! Moved the  tiller backwards and forwards easily. Funny how sometimes when something doesn't work, you just pull it apart and put it back together again and it will work.

I slipped on my stairs this morning and even though I caught myself I decided to do something about their grip. While I was adding another layer of epoxy to the rudder, I also epoxied down these rope twirls that a previous owner created.

I did some spring cleaning and took all the smelly stuff out of the boat's middle section. So now the rule is, all epoxy, paint and engine lubricants go in the locker at the aft end of the boat. Now I do have a small collection of non-smelly household glues in the galley like T-weld and what not, that normally reside in a kitchen.

I painted this sign on the hull so that when the boat is moved, they will raise the bow. I have problems with water pooling in the boat if the bow is too low.

I helped my neighbor, Frode from Sweden to assemble his dinghy. He bought a 35' Beneteau in NY for $21K and is sailing it down to Trinidad to meet up with his girlfriend. Super nice guy and he even shouted me dinner at a fancy restaurant Thursday.

I wrapped up the windlass with plastic to protect it from the elements while the boat is in storage.

Finally when working outside in the hot sun, where I can, I use this shade material to protect myself.

This is the last blog post for a while. Tomorrow the fun is over and I head back to the big smoke to earn some dough ray me.

Avocado salad for dinner and blueberries for dessert. Makes a change from yesterday. Friday I ate just bread all day long because they were giving it away at the office and I didn't have time to run up to the store.

Autopilot, head and windlass

Took the photo of the boat this morning on a bright and beautiful day here in Florida!
Started out caulking under my new caprail before I got too tired.

Then I exercised my windlass.

The head was overdue looking at so I filled it up with warm water and started pumping all to no avail.

I applied plenty of grease to the gasket and that seemed to fix the problem.

While I was continuing my rudder repair with epoxy, I noticed this 2" X 2" spot under the keel.

I used a screwdriver to remove loose covering over the keel and started into it with a wire brush.

Then I used several layers of epoxy to repair it.

Next the autopilot, a Raymarine ST4000+ had to be installed.

This tough little monster should free me up from steering the boat and allow me to trim the sails and other tasks.

 That metal backing plate was a real challenge to install behind the bulwark.

I installed the power plug under the ram.

Only  trouble was, after I put it all together, the jolly thing didn't work.

Actually the head worked OK.

So tomorrow, I have to work out how to pull the Ram apart and fix it. Fun, fun, fun!

Consummatum est

The last thing needed on the boat to go sailing was the starboard genoa track. But before I could get to it, I needed to finish off the water system on the boat. Before the water tanks were installed yesterday, I was working off a 2 gallon water tank on the boat for washing hands, tea water and so on........like camping! At least now I had a foot pump to provide water to the galley sink, but I really did not like washing my hands there. So I worked on the pump from in the head.

I spent a good part of the morning trying to fix my Fynspray to no avail. The trouble was that I could not work out how it came apart. I was just about to give up when I went to the internet one last time and discovered a detailed picture of it taken apart. Eureka! It is just like an old bicycle pump. The barrel unscrews off. And the washer is just a flat circle of leather that had dried out. After that it was a cake walk to fix. Now I have a good flow of fresh water to the head for washing hands.

So now to the genoa track.

I bent it around the caprail, screwing it in from aft forward.

I then took off all the screws, cleaned the caprail and gave it another coat of cetol.

Then I screwed it down one last time, adding caulk to the holes so that hopefully, it will not leak.

So other than the fact that I have to attempt to add some nuts and washers to the bottom side of the screws, I am done.

Now at long last, I can take my boat sailing.

New Cushions and water tanks

I am so excited about getting my new upholstery all complete I did a video of it. Dorothy from CanAm canvas services here in the marina did them.

Fantastic job.
I had a small repair under the table that I fixed.

It is not a permanent repair but will do until I have time to fix it properly.

I smoothed off the bottom of the rudder and shoe with my rasp and put down another layer of epoxy.

I discovered that my new whale gusher bilge pump was not working so I pulled it apart and cleaned it.

After all that it still would not work and I tracked it down to a black leaky hose which I replaced.

Here is a better picture of Ibis in front of my boat ready to be transported up to New Jersey.

My water tanks arrived via FedEx!

So I removed the old ones from under the sole floor.

One down, one to go.

I had to put 2 vice grips on the end to get it out.

Going, going, gone.

All empty now.

The new ones look cleaner than the old ones.

Looks too clean to be in the dirty bilge.

Now connect hoses.

These new poly tanks only weigh 38lbs.

Filling them with water.

And we have lift off.

I took the filter out of the water filter and ran a couple of gallons through before I put  it back in.

Dinner tonight was a  chick pea avocado tuna salad with a blueberry mandarin dessert.

Rudder

It rained most of the morning so I sorted out all the nuts and bolts I have into 5 clear plastic fishing tackle trays so that at one glance I can find what I am looking for. I did my washing and hung it on the lifelines while it was pouring with rain. Didn't take long to dry in this Florida heat.

The fruit hammock got a good wash too.

I started working on the base of the  rudder by digging in there with a screw driver. I ended up by getting very little out and what came out was dry so I mixed up some epoxy and with a paint brush coated all the cracks and inside.

I then soaked fiberglass cloth with epoxy and stuffed it up inside the cracks and placed it over the outside.

It might sound good but working upside down is very messy. I will sand it down tomorrow and add some  more layers.
I didn't like the looks of one of the rudder bolts so I replaced it.

Yes i know.....it is stainless steel instead of bronze.
I wanted to close the gap between the hull and  the rudder with a shoe, to stop nets and lines going up there and getting caught so I picked out a stainless steel plate out of my junk drawer.

There is still a bit of a gap but much smaller and most lines should slip by.

I have to also fiberglass this in to make it smooth and strong.
Finally I wanted to beef up the backing for my 2 self  tailing genoa winches so I  cut a 4 x 2 into a V shape to place between the bolts running from the hull to the bulwark.

There are 2 nicely placed square holes to give me access so I Houdini from below.
Tomorrow my water tanks should be arriving!