Out to sea at last !

Tuesday 1st of November 2016

A lovely hot sunny morning - perfect for a little test run out in the bay.
I spent an hour or more catching up with the blog then I consulted the gate opening times list and found that I had only 45 minutes to get out before it closed for most of the day - I quickly prepared the essentials and made out with time to spare.

To finish off preparation properly I took a waiting buoy just outside the marina - much better.

The forecast gave 4 knots of wind in the morning and 8 knots in the afternoon but I found no wind at all until I was nearly back in the marina !
I was navigating with the Ipad running the i sailor programme - very good but the power level drops rapidly so I fired up the inverter and put it on charge - it still lost power !!
So I turned it off when I could to allow it to charge - I will look for a better fast charger.

The engine ran sweetly and Blazer seemed to glide along without all that weed on the bottom - Great !

Then I noticed that the brand new depth instrument was erratic at times - like the old one was - I am still using the old transponder because it seamed to work fine but not now !
I will fit the new transponder and hope that sorts it out.

Then the new (secondhand) pc monitor went blank - it was running the Seapro navigation programme for a check on the Ipad and for tidal flows - very strong around here - 2 knots when I first came out.
It must be something simple - another little job !
The chart table monitor was fine so I still had tide information.

That's what this little run out was for - shakedown.

                                                            Bar ar Gall west cardinal buoy

I did hoist the main sail hoping to sail a bit but no chance.

It was lovely to be out in the hot sunshine just tootling along trying my best to avoid the masses of underwater rocks  in this bay

I spotted one lone dolphin about a quarter of a mile off - on a mission - going somewhere quickly - nice.

The gate re opened at 15.25 and I always give in half an hour for the inrush to settle down - so at 16.00 we were back on our berth.

A nice little trip out and a three jobs to sort out next time I come out - possibly next month.

A big clean up day tomorrow - Wednesday - then a 2am start on Thursday to be at Caen ferry port for 7am - home by 6pm with luck.

That's all for this trip - I will restart the blog when I return to Blazer - Soon !
Mike.

Blazer Has A Nice Clean Bottom !!

Friday 28th to Monday 31st of October 2016

Sorry about no new post over the weekend - the wifi was no good in the yard where I was working on Blazer.

Friday at 08.30 I motored round to the lifting spot and removed the back stay - It was only just getting light.

The two crane operators did a great job of slinging and lifting Blazer onto a trailer and tractor - they then towed Blazer up the ramp to the yard and set up the pressure washer.
The underwater areas of Blazer were not quite as bad as I thought but there were a lot of sea squirts and weed.

                                                          Prop after pressure washing only

The Copper plated prop experiment is working I think. It's been on 5 years now - The weed growth was light and the cement like deposit that always builds up came off easily with hot water and a soft scraper.
That cement build up was the reason that I started the experiment because it used to build up rapidly and was really hard to get off. The copper coating is like new - no electrolysis at all !!

The pressure washer was a big petrol job and was so powerful I had to brace myself or it would have blown me over !!
It took a couple of hours to clean all the debris off and some of the layers of old antifouling - in a lot of places the layers had been stripped off back to the commercial grade stuff  ( brown ) that I had a company put on in Grimsby - Good stuff - there were no exposed areas of the Vyniguard paint that is protecting the hull - Very good stuff.

                                                       New keel anodes fitted
I spent the rest of Friday scraping off the prop shaft and prop - changing anodes - resealing the keel to hull joint with polyurethane sealant - Note - there were no rust streaks from the keel joint like there used to be since I fitted the two keel anodes !

                                                           Keel zinc anode.

                                                             New hull anode

                                                                  Toilet outlet.

One bit of concern are the heads of the bolts that hold the toilet outlet sea cock in place. - I replaced it about 5 years ago with a new one from Ebay that had no bolts or flange. - The bolts from Blakes were expensive and I found these bronze bolts much cheaper - NO GOOD !! - they can't be the proper material - the heads are corroding - I will swap them at the next lift out for the proper ones - Penny wise - Pound foolish !!

A close inspection of the hull showed no blisters at all - (GOOD NEWS) - but a few areas of gell coat pimples - (NOT GOOD NEWS) - I scraped off all the hull coatings about eight years ago and found similar pimples - sanded them flat - filled any that popped- and didn't worry about them.
They are caused by some error in the layers of gellcoat and not in the main thickness of fibreglass.
I can not get Vyniguard hull coating quickly here so I chose to ignore the pimples until next time when I can be ready to sort them out.

Saturday - I found that I had a litre of really good underwater primer and I scraped off the underside of the keels and applied lots of coats - they have never been anti fouled because Blazer usually sits on the keels in the yard - but this time she stayed in the trailer all weekend and I just had enough clearance to paint them.
I used lots of the primer on the keels and  joints  - I used the lot !!

I then masked up the waterline red boot top stripe - (4 strips of masking tape 120 feet !!) and painted that with hard antifoul paint.
I then brush painted the keels - all the awkward areas and the part that joins to the boot top stripe.

Sunday - I applied two full coats of antifouling to all the other areas with the roller - I kept going until I had used the whole gallon with just enough left for the support pad areas when the crane lifts us back in on Monday afternoon at 3pm.

                                                                       Lovely !

                                                                    WOW !

                                                                SMART !

                                                        Even underneath looks good !

I applied a coating of the lanolin grease Prop-Tection by warming some up in a tin and brushing it on to the propshaft - skeg - rope cutter and prop - I'm sure it helps to stop weed growth.

Monday I washed the hull topsides - cleaned the log impeller and sprayed it with the thick silicone lube - and touched up all round.

We were lifted in on the dot with no fuss - ( very professional ) - refitted the back stay and motored back to our berth (she glided along ) - four days of hard work but a labour of love !!

The weather had been perfect throughout the job and I cleaned up everything - disposed of the roller / tins and brushes - then settled down to a corned beef casserole that I made in the morning with a well earned glass of Muscadet. - Fantastic.

Mike.

Lifting Out

Thursday 27th of October 2016

I realised that it might be possible to lift Blazer out this weekend even though I haven't planned to.
So this morning I set about checking if it is possible.

First - the forecast is for a dry weekend for painting.
Then I found that the local chandler can get an affordable anti fouling paint by tomorrow.
Then I asked at the office if they can lift Blazer out - no problem - 9 am Friday until 3pm Monday.
I booked the hire of the powerful pressure washer.
Then I went to Tregestel Bricolage - ( a big DIY / marine store ) and bought a roller and tray - plus - I found hinges for the gas locker door !

I have on board -
Old overalls.
Good quality masking tape.
Paint brushes.
New anodes.
A small tin of red anti fouling paint for the waterline strip - (boot top ).

All sorted !!

I spent the afternoon preparing Blazer - the lifting rig here is unusual - I will have to remove the back stay!!
It holds the mast up  but with swept back spreaders the we will be OK without it for the lifting.
I lowered the boom and settled it on the guard wires cushioned.
I cleared the jack stays and halyards.
I measured the tensioners on the back stay so that I can tighten them back up to the same tension afterwards.
I will go around to the lifting spot early to get ready.
I went to see the crane driver and asked if it mattered which way they want me to moor up - NO - any way is good.

So- I'm all set -  4 days  on the hard standing for the price of  2  because its the weekend - great.

I have never left it so long between lifting out - it must be 3 years at least - I can see a lot of growth on the keels that just has to come off.

Mike.

More Maintenance

Wednesday 26th of October 2016

A damp and misty start today so I decided to work inside.
I dismantled the engine cover and took off the pipe that lets cooling water into the cylinder block.
The last time I took it off was a couple of months ago and it was blocked then with salt deposits - it's not easy to take off because one of the two Allen bolts is in an awkward spot but after 20 minutes - I got it off !
It was blocked solid again !!
I cleaned it and refitted it - I must devise a way to flush out the sea water when I'm leaving Blazer for long periods.

Blazer desperately needs to be lifted out for hull cleaning and anti fouling - it is long overdue - the weed growth blocks the cooling water inlet and yes - it was blocked today !
I tried to clear it from inside but a lump of weed was acting like a flap valve and I could not shift it.
I tried to reach under the hull with the mop - no good - I tried a long cane - no good - the curve of the hull was stopping the cane reaching the spot.
So I took measurements of where the inlet is inside and marked up the hull outside and noted that it was 40 inches under the hull. - I taped an empty pop bottle to the mop and marked the handle at 40 inches.
I was able to reach under - in the right spot - and the bottle held the mop tight to the hull - Got it !!!
It only took an hour !!
I must book a lift out - SOON.
The engine ran well and temperature was good - sorted for now.

I swapped the oil pressure switch for a new one - I noticed that the original had a loose spade terminal and although it worked OK - I wanted to swap it - DONE.

Next job - varnishing.
As part of the clean up prior to leaving Blazer to go home last time I cleaned the galley cupboard doors to remove some grease spots - I used neat bleach and it removed the grease and some of the varnish as well !!
So I might as well re-varnish all the galley and engine cover woodwork !
I used my orbital sander to prepare the big areas and the triangle detail sander for the corners and awkward bits - then hoovered up all round.
I use an oil that I have tested and its great for inside woodwork but outside it looses the colour with sunlight and goes transparent within 12 months.
I quickly applied one coat and what a difference - lovely - but it will want another two coats at least.

Not a bad result for the day - I'm pleased that I'm getting the bigger messy jobs done when I'm here on my own.
Mike

Hot Sunny Day

Tuesday 25th of October 2016

A bit foggy at first then hot sunshine all day - great !

I continued with the fuel - this time I filtered two 5 gallon drums of red diesel that I brought from home this trip.
They were the result of a major fuel spill  (a few years ago) from a shattered glass filter bowl which emptied the fuel tank into the bilge. - I pumped it into the drums and cleaned up - got rid of the glass bowls - now aluminium.
I have searched for a contractor to filter the fuel without success - but now I can do it myself !
Red diesel is legal in boats in the UK but not over here - reading up about it - it is better if you are caught with it in the fuel tank than if it is in the reserve drums - so yesterday I transferred the white diesel into the reserve drums to make space for the red diesel in the fuel tank.

I now need to find the UK receipt for the red diesel to prove that I have paid some duty on it.

So - all finished with the fuel - all washed in hot soapy water - and I found a great place to store the filter system in the cockpit locker ready for next season tank check.

Next job was to tidy up some plumbing to the cockpit shower - done.

Next job was to remove the broken hinge from the gas bottle locker door - the local chandler has no replacements so I will find them on line or repair the originals at home.

I then got cracking in the galley and cooked a Chilli Con Carne - tasty.

I finished the day with a drop of red wine watching the sunset - great !!

Fuel Problem !!

Monday 24th of October 2016

On the last trip I changed the fuel filters and was alarmed at the amount of sludge in the primary filter - it was pretty certain that the fuel tank is contaminated with DIESEL BUG !!!

Back in derby I bought the components to make a fuel cleaning system - a 12 volt dc fuel pump - a big filter and spare filter elements - along with all the bits to pipe it up.

Today I assembled it and put it to work - sucking dirty fuel from the tank through the filler cap - filtering it and returning it to the tank.
I used a stiff plastic tube to probe around all the bottom of the tank - it worked really well.

I laid out an absorbent mat in the cockpit to mop up any drips and it did a good job - no fuel leaked into the marina.

The amount of sludge that I filtered out was amazing !! - the filter was a water filter at 5 microns and gradually over 3 or 4 hours the flow slowed to a trickle - I changed the filter element and found the first one covered in slimy black sludge !!
Gradually the black bits flowing down the clear tube to the filter became less and less and I struggled to find any by moving the probe tube around.
I then pumped fuel into two clean five gallon drums with a fresh filter element and caught some fine bits of black stuff that were floating around.

I would like to empty the remaining five gallons but I will have to buy a can for that tomorrow.

All in all - I am pleased to have cleaned a lot of the BUG from the tank without paying an outside contractor to do it and with my filter system costing around fifty pounds - not bad !
I will treat the tank with an additive that eats the BUG to get rid of any that might be stuck to the tank walls.
The problem of diesel bug is here to stay now that bio diesel is added to road fuel and with Blazer not moving far these days the fuel is now a few years old.
Now that I have my filter system I can easily clean the fuel at the start of each season if I want.

Mike.

Back in Trebeurden again !

Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd of October 2016

Having finished work on our summer house major rebuild, I thought a break on Blazer was in order before starting the construction of my big workshop in our garden.

I am on my own so far this trip - Jackie isn't keen on the out of season Trebeurden, plus her daughter - Fiona and family were visiting this weekend.

Thursday I travelled via Portsmouth / Cean and drove to Trebeurden arriving about 1.30 am !! - a long day.

Friday was unpacking the car and sorting stuff aboard Blazer - a big surprise - Jean-Francois next door was here until Sunday !!

We had dinner on Blazer Friday night along with another boat owner - Yves.

It was a great night - 3 courses and nice wine - plus three oil lamps on - the full works - lovely.
I asked the guys if dinner on other boats was a common thing - no - this is a first !!

Saturday - I was invited to go sailing with Jean-Francois on his boat and the weather was great - sunny but cool and fair winds !!

We sailed 31 miles to the Sept Iles - a great trip.

Sunday ( today ) - a heavy rain / dull day - I chilled out on board and pottered in the cabin - making a big beef stew - Great.

No photos yet this trip - I will pick up some Duracell batteries tomorrow for the camera.

It's great to be back again - Blazer is in good shape - I might even manage a day sailing - you never know !

Mike.