Friday 18 April 2014

Touch of Light Maintenance in Scotland

The other day I left you in suspense, wondering about the conditions inside Vagabond after the winter. Worry no longer - apart from some mould in one of the cockpit lockers, a good layer of grime in the cockpit and a layer of dust inside the cabin, Vagabond had weathered the winter unscathed. 
A thorough sweep inside and the cabin was as good as new. The gas heating worked. The kettle was boiled and various bits were washed. The batteries were checked and both seemed to be in good condition. The solar panels appeared to have kept the winter discharge at bay. 
But this is procrastination - avoidance activity. It's time to get on with the most important task - fitting the spreaders and baby stays to the mast.
Attentive readers may recall that I had started this last October by drilling two groups of holes in the cabin roof and then filling them in with solid epoxy. Now I had to fit D rings on either side of the roof to provide the securing point for the baby stays. The problem was that this required me to hold the heads of the securing screws still from inside the cabin whilst tightening the bolts on the outside. My arms weren't long enough by about 6 feet! I had worried about this on and off throughout the winter. My solution was to make a special  "self locking 3 screw" screw driver which grip all three screws for one D ring at the same time, provided I could wedge in place inside the cabin. 

Bolts and washers were slathered in silicon and pushed up through re - drilled holes in the deck. The triple screwdriver was wedged in place and, with fingers crossed, I went on deck to slather more silicon around and place the D ring in position.  I carefully tightened the self locking nuts and was mildly pleased that everything stayed in place. The first D ring was secured! The second was secured with similar ease. Phew. Time for lunch.

Now came the tricky bit - the mast. Swallow boats had provided me with a fitting to place on the mast which would form the upper securing point for the baby stays and the mounting point for the spreaders.

Measure twice and cut once - or so I had been taught. The mast was measured - various datum points were identifed and marked out with masking tape. At this point, doubt set in - perhaps I had better check this lot with Swallow Boats. 

I've just realised that this is degenerating into one of those nausiating "how to do it" articles in magazines like PBO. And, sadly, it's not a parody. So I'll stop.

Suffice it to say, the fittings were fitted, the spreaders were spread, the stays were stayed, the mast raised, the rake adjusted and ithe mast was lowered again. Job done.

Now to fit the extra solar cell - mains charging sockets will be in short supply where we're going. this proved to be surprisingly easy and by the next afternoon the cell was fitted and happliy charging the batteries. In full sun, the combined panels provided enough power to continue to charge the batteries even when the VHF was running. Job 2 done. 
Freddie was unearthed from the car boot and lifted into position (aren't these 4 stroke outboards heavy!)

Friday morning brought heavy rain. And it was time to head south.

Don't drive on the M6, south, on a Friday.

Monday 14 April 2014

Brakeless in Balvicar

One week ago I motored north, up ta strangely quiet M6, across the border (no passport required - yet) into Scotland and up to Pitlochry for an overnight stop with the Scottish Herbalist in her downsized abode. After doing the usual chores (hanging curtains, in this case) and a good nights sleep, I arrived at Balvicar at lunch time on Monday to find Vagabond in pretty good shape.

The condition of the tarpaulin and the rope holding it on was another matter entirely!

The new 6 mm rope had been utterly shredded down to one or two strands in several places. The tarpaulin exhibited some interesting wounds wherever it had been in contact with a deck fitting, and also showed pin hole along almost every fold. In some places it looked as if it had perforated deliberately to enable the wind to "tear along this line".

So it was "off with the tarpaulin" and down to work. First, underneath. Knock of the little bit of week growth along the stainless steel strip on the keel. Move the front anchor point of the trailer so that I could pull Vagabond further forward to keep the flap valve for the ballast tanks clear of the trailer rollers. Visually check  the pin for the centre board - fine. Visually check  the hull for damage and general fouling. None. Gosh this Copper Coat stuff is really good.

Now for a job I'd been meaning to do for some time - adjust the various rollers on the trailer so that Vagabond is given better support. This means crawling under the trailer with a big spanner to hand,

Wait a minute, what's that silvery bit there flapping about on the brake rod - shouldn't it be attached to the brake cables?  What's happened to the bits stuck on to the cables that attach them to the silvery bit?



Help, there are NO BRAKES ON THE TRAILER. How long have they been like that?



 
I searched about and eventually (a day later after a significant shower of rain) found them in a puddle nearby. As you can see from this photo of the ends that should have been attached to the cables. the metal had failed (cracking where the swageing tool had bent them to fix them to the cable).
I called  Swallow Boats, really to let them know there might be other trailers like mine with the same problem. They are now in discussions (meaningfull, I hope) with their trailer supplier.
 
No doubt I'll be given a fix in due course: it is of little consequence at the moment as I am not intending to tow Vagabond more than a couple of hundred yards until we have completed the bit round Scotland.
 
So it was back to adjusting the brackets and rollers as it came on to rain; at least I was sheltered by the hull...
 
Tomorrow, I'll get inside Vagabond to find out how she really weathered the winter.