Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Replacing the Water Tank and Cockpit Locker floor - Part 1.

As mentioned in a previous post I am building a new food storage bin and moving  the water tank from the forepeak to under the port cockpit locker, reducing weight forward and the length of pipe work required as part of a project to replace the fuel tank. The locker floor is structurally pretty good but is badly contaminated by 45 years of oil spills, water leaks etc so to be sure it will support the weight of a c 70 litre steel fuel tank and some cans and to reduce possible contamination of the water tank that is going under I am rebuilding the floor.

The floor of the main cockpit locker, time to replace I think.

 
Cut pattern for an expensive piece of ply wood. Joints are
positioned so that the reinforcing strips under the joint will
give best support to the tank. Sections positioned to make
best use of straight edges and square corners.

The new water bladder.

The floor will be made from a very high grade hardwood marine plywood, "Super Elite Plus" by Robbins Timber, it is made from multi-laminate Sapele veneers to BS1088, KOMO Class ‘A’, ‘C’ and Lloyds certified for constructional use in high risk environments and guaranteed for 25 years. It is about twice as stiff as the next grade down (Elite) and 30% denser.

Sod's law said that a quarter sheet would be slightly too small so I had to get an expensive half sheet, the balance will be used to build the new food locker, in conjunction with a quarter sheet of the lower grade "Elite"  ply made from Gaboon (Okoume) veneers which will be more than adequate in the much more benign environment with limited stress. 

All will be 9mm, the floor coated in West System epoxy, the bin part in epoxy, part in varnish.

The newly painted storage unit goes in the
under sink locker and supports part of the floor,
that is awaiting a coat of varnish. The circular
cut out holds a bucket for wet items. The other
cut out is for access to the sea cock on the waist
pipe from the sinks. The unit was originally
intended for storing pots and pans but like at
least one other owner I use it for storing cleaning
materials, oil, grease, fuel additives etc.
Getting the water tank out was straight forward, like the fuel tank there was a lot of the contents not available, although no water was coming out there was at least 15 litres still in the bladder, not far short of half the effective capacity, the 50 litre bladder was square and the compartment narrower. 

There was also a small leak which became serious when I trial fitted it in the aft compartment so I had to get a new one, fortunately not that expensive although "the lorry driver shortage" meant I had to shop around for it as 3 suppliers did not have any 50 litre bladders.

The new compartment should be more accommodating although some height restriction on the outboard side will probably restrict it to about 40 litres. On the positive side the outlet will be lower than most of the bladder so almost all of the water should be available for a net gain..

The water pump was under the starboard berth and will now go on the floor of the locker under the sink unit with very short pipe runs to the water filter and on to the tap.  This locker backs onto the non structural bulkhead at the front of the cockpit locker so the water feed pipe will come through the bulkhead straight onto the pump.

The water filter will stay in the locker but moved to a more convenient location for changing the cartridge.

Monday, September 13, 2021

2021 Late Summer Cruise, Days 25 & 26, & some Statistics.

This is the last post in a thread, to start at the beginning click here.

Force 6 winds were forecast for Friday but then the 07:00 inshore forecast replaced the F6 with F5 and I considered moving on, but 6 different models from the 08:15 download from Predictwind, including the met office model, were predicting gusts around 28 knots so instead I just moved out to the Portland Harbour anchorage saving a days berthing fees and making for a quicker and easier getaway on Saturday.

It was still blustery (F4-5 all the way) on Saturday but I was away at 05:30, half an hour later than planned as I did not hear the alarm for some time. The broad reach past St Albans ledge was very pleasant, starting in the pre-dawn and I made quick progress under Genoa alone. Unfortunately the next leg was dead down wind (again) with the sea conditions  uncomfortable. With tidal gates to make for the mooring I switched on the engine and motor-sailed at, and with the help of the waves, often well over the theoretical maximum hull speed of 6.8 knots, frequently making 8 - 9 knots over the ground.

I went through Hurst Narrows at the peak of the spring tide, for better control I went through under engine alone and unfurled the genoa once past the worst of the broken water. After dodging an awful lot of boats, many of which were clearly over canvased and not fully under control, I made it to the mooring with 20 minutes to spare before the local high water, the ideal time to arrive, although with a strong wind it took a lot of effort to get the stern line on. And I found someone had chopped up one of the two stern lines, presumable with their propeller.

Achilles 9 metres "Sancerre" in Hurst Narrows
Broken water with the strong wind and tide, this would be really evil
wind against tide. I was making better than 10 knots over the ground.
Achilles 9 metres "Sancerre" in Hurst Narrows
Achilles 9 metres "Sancerre" in Hurst Narrows
Achilles 9 metres "Sancerre" in Hurst Narrows

56 miles in 9 hours.

Summary:

129.6 hours sailing
544 Nautical miles over the ground.
14 days sailing
9 Days weather bound
13 Days at anchor
6 Days in a marina
6 Days on a buoy

Average sailing day, 38.9 GPS miles in 9.3 hours.

Day by Day:

 Day #

 Hrs

 GPS Miles

Tue 17 Aug 2021

To Hurst

            1

          5.75

               20.0

Wed 18 Aug 2021

To Studland

            2

          5.00

               19.0

Thu 19 Aug 2021

To Portland

            3

          4.75

               20.0

Fri 20 Aug 2021

To Pilchard Cove

            4

       16.05

               56.0

Sat 21 Aug 2021

To Cawsand

            5

          7.50

               33.0

Sun 22 Aug 2021

To St Mawes

            6

          8.75

               37.0

Mon 23 Aug 2021

St Mawes

            7

Tue 24 Aug 2021

To St Michaels Mount

            8

          7.00

               36.0

Wed 25 Aug 2021

To Hugh Town, St Mary's

            9

          9.00

               41.0

Thu 26 Aug 2021

Hugh Town

          10

Fri 27 Aug 2021

Hugh Town

          11

Sat 28 Aug 2021

To St Mary's Pool

          12

          1.75

                 4.0

Sun 29 Aug 2021

To St Michaels Mount

          13

          9.50

               38.0

Mon 30 Aug 2021

To Newlyn

          14

          1.25

                 3.0

Tue 31 Aug 2021

Newlyn

          15

Wed 01 Sep 2021

Newlyn

          16

Thu 02 Sep 2021

Newlyn

          17

Fri 03 Sep 2021

To St Mawes

          18

       10.25

               40.0

Sat 04 Sep 2021

To Fowey

          19

          6.00

               24.0

Sun 05 Sep 2021

Fowey

          20

Mon 06 Sep 2021

To Salcombe

          21

          8.50

               38.0

Tue 07 Sep 2021

Salcombe

          22

Wed 08 Sep 2021

To Portland

          23

       19.50

               79.0

Thu 09 Sep 2021

Portland marina

          24

Fri 10 Sep 2021

To Portland anchorage

          25

Sat 11 Sep 2021

To Hamble

          26

          9.00

               56.0

 Totals:

          26

       129.6

             544.0


Statistics for the year:

 Days

 Hours

 GPS Miles

 Days Sailing

 Weather Bound

 Marina or Buoy

At anchor

Round GB

79

437

1,881

47

24

34

40

Summer cruise

10

86

319

8

1

1

7

Scilly Isles

26

130

544

14

9

12

13

2021 total

115

652

2,744

69

34

47

60



Summary 2017 - 2021:

Includes some estimates of day sailing in 2017 & 2018 but the total GPS miles is the same as that recorded by the instruments. Excludes time on the "home" marina or mooring. The Marina berths, Buoys and Anchorages were in a total of 77 different locations. 

Year

Days

Hrs at Sea

GPS Miles

Days

Sailing

Weather Bound

Marina or Buoy

At anchor

2017

14

-

238

13

-

-

1

2018

46

-

1,559

31

-

7

14

2019

49

485

2,282

41

5

15

24

2020

64

372

1,685

32

18

36

24

2021

115

652

2,744

70

34

47

60

Total

288

1,509

8,508

187

57

105

123