Getting ready for the off.
Thursdays Child
Robin & Joanna Minchin
Wed 16 Jul 2014 14:06
Thursday's Child was bought second hand (at a little over a year old) by my father when he retired and has been in the family ever since. The boat is now over twenty years old and has had very little of the fittings and equipment replaced unless they have shown signs of damage or wear. Generally, I believe the boat is in good condition, but no doubt closer inspection will lead to more work than initially expected. The boat has been used for an initial trip to Spain then regularly used in local fun racing with the occasional trip across the channel. Below is a list of some of the items I have checked,changed or replaced.
On Deck
New standing rigging
As most rigging companies recommend replacing the rig after a 10 year period it seemed essential to replace the rig before any offshore sailing was carried out. Especially as my yearly inspection in 2009 had found signs of rust stains from two fittings. Each year I have always worked from the top of the mast to the deck minutely inspecting each fitting for signs of breakage, cracks or rust. In the past this led to replacement of the backstay when one of the fitting looked suspect. Other than that the boat has the original rig.
To ensure the best quality of work a rigging specialist (Spencer Rigging Ltd) is to replace the wires and rebuild the roller reefing system.
It is now May 2010 and the rig is back in place. As I had partly expected the job was slightly more involved than first hoped and the cost considerably increased by the fact that the roller reefing had to be replaced. The original system had frozen the casting that has the roller mounted onto it and it shattered when the riggers tried to remove the old forestay. Thursday's child now has a nice new profurl roller system and standing rigging. The spreader tips have also been replaced as they had corroded and the stainless locking fasteners had seized mainly because they had been bound in insulation tape and dampness was trapped inside encouraging corrosion.
While the mast was in the horizontal position it was thoroughly inspected and a new LED masthead tri colour light replaced the Hella fitting. This was because the lens of the Hella unit had become quite misty and I wanted to minimize the current used when sailing. Conventional incandescent lighting has been retained for the deck navigation lights as they will be used when motoring. A new steaming light and deck floodlight will also be fitted as soon as they arrive because the lens had degraded and the floodlight had been temperamental because the bulb legs often lost contact and needed cleaning regularly to keep the light functioning.
Costs
Rig £2850
Tri colour Light £45
Steaming/ flood light £20
Boatyard to drop & replace rig £260
Hatches
New hatches on the deck were ordered through Lewmar as the original hatches were either cracked or leaking and I wanted to make sure we had a waterproof boat before heading across the Atlantic. The original hatches were made by Canpa and were unobtainable, so Lewmar replacements were bought with the help of a friend who works at Lewmar. They are the Ocean hatches which have the highest specification and were a close fit to the originals. Removing the old hatches was a matter of undoing the screws and prizing the hatches off and was quick and effortless. The mounting pad was then cleaned and degreased. Fitting was reasonably straight forward although the old screw holes had to be filled as the new hatches have a slightly smaller footprint. The new hatches sit on a bed of sealant supplied by Lewmar.
Replacing the safety wire in the handrails
During the winter of 2009 and 2010 one of the safety wires broke and so I decided that all the wires should be replaced to ensure they were as strong as originally designed. The task was relatively easy to carry out as removing the old wires only required a four shackles to be undone, removal of the split pins in the base and the stanchions removing. Because we had a safety net installed to prevent the children falling under the rails this had to be removed first and later (having been washed and recut) laced back into position.
As with most jobs this then led to trying to straighten the bent stanchions by fitting them over a solid metal bar and pushing hard on the tops.
Fitting the capstan
As far more time is expected to be spent using the anchor a capstan seemed like a necessity, especially as more chain and deeper water would mean an increase in the loads that I would have to lift. Ideally I would have loved to fit an electric windlass, but i eventually decided to fit a manually operated windlass as it was much cheaper (320 instead of over 1000)to buy and fit as well as less complex and likely to fail in use. The down side is that it is much slower and harder to use, which may result in a reluctance to re-anchor if the anchor does not set exactly where I choose.
Fitting was relatively straight forward, but I made a couple of modifications to the fitting of the unit. I was worried that the shear loads the windlass might experience could potentially be very high and so to spread the load over a larger portion of the deck. I had a 5mm piece of stainless steel laser cut to fit under the windlass and project behind it to enable me to add two more M10 fastener. Each hole that was drilled was then cleaned out between the deck and the lining and resin injected. Once this was hard the hole was re-drilled and the winch refitted.
The second change I made was in the fixing of the unit which sits behind the anchor locker and has a stainless steel guard on the deck to allow the chain to slide back along the deck and into the locker, Should I later find that I would really like to have a powered system I can always fill the holes on the deck and start again.
Since fitting the capstan I have seen that powered units are quite easy to find at the local boat jumble however the installation costs will still remain, but I may succumb if funds permit nearer the departure time.
Refitting the wind generator.
When purchased the boat was fitted with a Rutland wind generator mounted on a post on the aft starboard quarter. This remained for many years, but was removed in about 2000 as it is quite heavy and the boat was mostly used for racing and short trips. When I got out of retirement in the back of a container it had developed a quite a bit of friction when turning the blades. As a result I stipped the entire unit down and discovered the magnets had swollen slightly and rubbed the inside of the housing. Eventually, despite having sanded down the interior of the housing and polished the magnet disc I spaced the housing slightly apart by making a paper gasket and sealing it in place with some silicon. The blades now revolve smoothly and the generator is producing power again.
The old installation had stainless tubes held in place onto the railings using an assortment of jubilee clips. Searching the internet I found a number of cast fittings that clamped into position and tidied up the installation. The installation seems to be working well and keeping up with the weekend use we give the boat this season. In August we will be living on the boat for a longer period and I hope that the combination of motoring in and out of harbours and using the generator will provide plenty of power.
Having used the wind generator for the holiday it is working effectively, but the noise from the mountings is unpleasantly loud, especially if sleeping in the aft cabin. I will try and develop a rubber mounting system to reduce the vibration.
Fitting an hour meter June 2010
Fitting an hour meter was carried out to enable me to get a better understanding of the number of hours the engine has probably done in the past and also give me an indication of the amount of fuel my engine uses in normal conditions (MPG). Thus giving me an average range from the fuel in the main tank. Approx £15 from Hong Kong
I searched the internet for a supplier and found a company in Hong Kong who supplied a counter which I wired into the ignition circuit. To mount the counter I used one of the cover plates supplied with the control panel and cut a hole into it for the instrument and the two self tapping mounting screws that lock it into place.
To help me find the most economical cruising speed I intend borrowing a strobe that will allow me to mark a throttle position at the revs that the manufactures recommend to be the best speed for the engine. I will then set the throttle to this speed when ever possible.
Sails
New sail cover
A new cover was purchased at the Beaulieu boat jumble from the RNLI stand where many of the sail lofts dump equipment that did not fit or was never collected. For £60 a new cover graces our boat.
New sails,
These consisted of main, genoa, twizzle rig , spinnaker. The 'new' cruising spinnaker was found in the local press and was from a Contessa 32 so it is slightly smaller than the existing chute. The existing spinnaker is over 20 years old and has wored hard being used regularly for Wednesday evening racing. The 'new' chute has a snuffer and is relatively flat.
Main and Genoa
Ratseys were given the go-ahead to make a set of tough cruising sails over the winter of 2012-13 which they have done. These are heavy duty sails with a big third reef and a 120% genoa with a high foot. As yet we have not used them much, but they seem to work well and appear well constructed.
Twizzle Rig
The twizzle rig was something we discussed with Andy Cassell of Ratsey's, but discounted because of the cost. Having researched the system of the rig I planned to modify an old genoa to match the new genoa and then buy a 2nd spinnaker pole to rig my own version of a twizzle rig. Having bought a secondhand pole Joanna and I were just about to leave the Beaulieu boat jumble when she spotted a set of twizzle poles. When we started talking to the owners we discovered he was also including a pair of unused sails to fit the poles in the price. So for £250 we bought brand new a twizzle rig. Normally the poles alone cost £1500 + Vat
Spinnaker
A suitable size new spinnaker was spotted in the local paper for sale for £175 and snapped up as our cruising shute is now nearly 25 years old.
Hull
Reinforcing the hull in a known weak spot
After several groundings over the years I decided to reinforce the area of hull around the rear of the keel. This was for two reasons, firstly their was some sign of damage in the interior mouldings (although none on the exterior) and secondly I have been on other Sadler 34 boats which have reinforced this area as it obviously is a weak spot if the keel is hit hard. I have reinforced the area effected using glass and kevlar mat for additional strength.
Fitting an Aries windvane
This was an early modification to the boat as with only two people to run the boat it was vital that the steering could be left to an automatic system. The choice of Aries was because Hamish Laird had an Aries and was very happy with it , but also because one came up for sail at an excellent price on the IOW. My first choice of gear would have been a Hydrovane, because it can be used as a rudder in an emergency. However, I am very happy with the Aries and it is built to last.
To fit it required drilling four holes in the transom and reinforcing the mounting points inside the hull using ½" marine plywood bonded onto the inside. Aligning the whole system was quite interesting with lots of measuring before drilling the first hole.
After being installed the steering has worked beautifully once I worked out which way to face the vane.
Electrical Systems
Power generation
To help supply power for the boat and prevent us from having to run the engine everyday I bought a pair of 80Watt Solar panels, I have also bought a smart charge controller to regulate the power fed into the batteries to maximise the input.
The next challenge is to mount the panels onto the boat. I sketched various options and bought plastic water pipe to make a mock up of the gantry I wanted. Unfortunately, it looked awful, so I scrapped it and started again. I bought the stainless steel through my work and laser cut the brackets. Hand finishing the parts before cajoling colleagues at work to weld it together for me. The reinforcing struts are secured to brackets trapped under existing 'U' brackets. And the feet of the structure bolted to the deck.
The construction opened up the opportunity to add the wind generator, GPS antenna and spare VHF antenna (as the one at the top of the mast is a bit suspect). The wind generator will probably be used in conjunction with the solar panels whilst at anchor. While when we are sailing we may use a combination of tow generator and solar panels. If going to windward we could also use the wind generator, but it may well not work too well running downwind. . To help keep everything supplied with power I have also added an additional battery, so we now have three 110Ah household batteries and one 110Ah starter battery stored in the after locker. This has meant running some heavy duty cable (found from some old welding equipment) from the engine to the after locker.
To help reduce the current draw in normal use as many of the existing lights on the boat have either been replaced or the bulbs replaced with LED's. Even the (Bebe) anchor light is a set of ultra bright LED's supplied by a company in Fiji. This I mounted to two pieces of round plywood painted black to make an anchor ball. Once plugged into the 12v system, this automatically turns on the light at night and off in the morning..
Engine
Engine (Bukh DV20)
During the winter of 2012-13 my brother and I removed the engine using a series of winches and beams and relocated it in the main saloon. The engine bay was then stripped of insulation that had become very black and oily, scrubbed and the engine mounts were replaced with new Bukh parts. New fuel hoses and water pipes were installed. At the same time a new water separator/filter was installed in the fuel line between the tank and the engine filter.
As the water pump has a record of eating impellors at a regular interval I have replaced the whole pump with a new one and cleaned up the old pump to be kept as a spare. Several impellors are carried as replacement parts.
The engine has had three exhaust elbows since new and I have now fitted a stainless steel exhaust elbow on the engine which I hope will last significantly longer. However, I plan to buy a spare to take with us on the trip.
After a winter ashore while the bottom was repainted the throttle mechanism became very stiff to operate and disconnecting the cables identified the fuel pump lever as the problem. By soaking it in releasing oil and working back and forth it has now freed off.