Winter Work

It's winter, so that means boat jobs! Fortunately the Cypriot climate is very nice to work in. It is usually sunny, about 22°C, and the only downside is the sun disappearing before 6pm. The following is an incomplete summary of the boat work we've done since we arrived.

"Pickled" the watermaker by filling it with an acid solution. This protects it against biological contamination while we're not using it.

Washed the deck, windows, mast, standing rigging, and the dinghy. Washed the running rigging (the ropes) to clean out all of the salt and dirt.

Flushed the grey water tank with lots of soapy hot water.

Serviced both toilet pumps. It's a dirty job, but Phil had to do it. Re-installed a carbon filter on the aft holding tank.

Took all of the anchor chain out, cleaned it, and reversed it to spread the wear.

Sprayed the rusty bits of the anchor with zinc paint in a futile attempt to tart it up.

Took the chain gypsy off the anchor windlass, found and removed a bit of weed wrapped round the shaft. Cleaned and re-greased it. Cleaned the anchor locker.

Moved the spare anchor from the lazarette to under the forward cabin bunk, adding some eye-bolts so it can be securely strapped down. Moving weight from the ends to the centre helps performance, and also frees up useful space in the lazarette.

 
Inspected and tidied up both foresails and the Furlström ("the kite"). This was a mixed bag - Elvström did a good job on the sails themselves. The cloth is in good condition and only a little minor restitching of a few seams was required - done by hand. However, the "sacrificial strips" of canvas that protect the sails against ultra violet light were very tatty, with plenty of wear points and much more restitching required. I am disappointed that Elvström skimped on the sail thread quality for such high end sails. Anyway, apart from the restitching, we hemmed up eighteen patches and glued (Sikaflex) them over the wear points. This should help the sacrificial strips for a year or two and then we'll pay a sailmaker to replace them.

Talking of sailmakers, we found an excellent canvas shop locally. We used Kypros from SailsWorx in Larnaca to replace the zip in our main sail bag and tidy up some of our field repairs. He did a great job for a good price, and we have also asked him to make covers ("chaps") for the dinghy tubes to protect them from the sun. SailsWorx is also the local Sparcraft agent and Kypros took the gooseneck bolt we replaced in Kos away to re-weld the reefing hooks back on.

Sara polished every bit of stainless steel she could find. This was a multi-day event.

Sent one of our gas bottles away for filling via the local chandler, but they have now returned it empty (four weeks later). I will extend even further my box of gas adapters, and we'll try again in the new year.

Dismantled and rebuilt the Marco water pump and then the upstream tank diverter valve, attempting to figure out why its performance has degraded over the year. I gave up and ordered a replacement pump - we wanted a spare anyway. The new pump performs better, runs much quieter, and solved one problem  - it self-primed when we switched between tanks, but the pressure was still low. I took the diverter valve out of the system and the pressure was really good again, so I took another look at it and found the problem. It was full of small bits of sealant and a random bit of plastic.

Where did the sealant come from? The Boréal owners group had the answer: they are pushed through by the fasteners that hold down the tank lid, and eventually fall off into the system. This was quite an investigation, involving two half day sessions, and buying a new pump, so it is really satisfying to have a successful outcome.

We had the Viking Pro liferaft inspected, serviced, and re-certified by the local agent. This was an expensive bill to swallow for a bit of kit we don't plan to use, and needs doing every three years.

Full rig check, including replacing missing grub screws from the ProFurl foils and fixing the loose ones. This wasn't the easiest job, hanging from a halyard with an Allen key in one hand and Loctite in the other, trying not to drop either on the deck, and there were nearly 50 screws to check. Tightened the forestay tension a bit more, following its tune up during the summer.

The furler has a great design: if you don't hold tight to the foil when unscrewing it from the bottom tube, it hammers down on the forestay swage and throws various bits into the water. Inspected the bottom bearing, and yes, ... it needs repairing. I have a new bearing on order.

Checked the masthead anchor light, which is disappointingly dim. I couldn't see anything wrong, but following a discussion with the Boréal owners group, it seems to be a common failing of the light.

Confirmed that there's no way we're replacing the second masthead VHF antenna which we lost on the trip to Tunisia without taking the mast down.

Upgraded our TimeZero navigation software to the latest version.

Designed and made a bag to hold the lazy jack tails.

Cleaned the port bilge sump. This delightful job involves empting our pan cupboard, removing the dehumidifier, then climbing down to the lowest point of the boat.

I took the time to raise the water sensor a little. Previously, the automatic bilge pump would fail to cut out when it was spluttering on the last bit of water. Hopefully this change will fix that.

Replaced the staysail sheet. The previous rope had significant chafe points. The new rope is the same we used when we replaced the genoa sheets (Liros Regatta 2000). This has a dynema core, so we can use a smaller diameter (12mm instead of 14mm) which will flow more smoothly through the blocks, and it will stretch less and has a very tough cover, both of which will help reduce future abrasion problems.

Replaced the antenna on the handheld VHF.

Took the top off the saloon table to investigate why we can't lower it to make a bed. After much hammering, consulting the Boréal owners group yet again provided the answers. There's some hidden grub screws that can back out and jam against the aluminium leg. I'll have to hit it harder and with bigger hammers to get it apart. For now, we are happy that it works just fine as a table.

We've hit most of The List, but don't worry, there are a few things to do after our Christmas break.