Its finally stopped raining inside!

I find the process of problem solving on this project as interesting as working on the boat itself, a case in point being the hot vac system or infact making my boat disappear from anyone's line of sight, although that did entail the use of a 25 ton crane, so i can't take all the credit.

the latest 'challenge rog' was to stop it raining inside the boat shed, for one the idea of going to great expense not to mention the time in putting a fairly decent shed over the boat was to keep the elements out whilst the work is undertaken. so imagine my surprise when looking down at the floor to see it soaking wet.

Looking up it was plain to see there was a condensation problem , this wouldn't do -so after a trip to maplins and the acquisition of a humidity/temperature probe showed the roof at 85% humidity it was time to do something.

the first thing was to insulate the roof, originally the idea was to take the existing white tarp off and lay the insulation over the old blue tarp then cover back over but finding the white tarp frozen on, it was going to be cheaper to buy a another tarp. Wickes had a buy 1 get 3...yes 3 free now being a natural tight arse i couldn't pass up such an offer so for £30 i insulated the shed and for another £30 via ebay bought a cheap tarp - job done.

since last weekend we've had several frosts and so so far no moisture problems, i put this down to also cutting half a dozen vents down either side at the eaves so any moist air can escape, it does feel colder because of this but feels a lot drier reflected in humidity readings around 57 - 58%.

what else have i been upto? i've installed a pc in the shed for music and info purposes, the extraction system is also paying dividends too that works a treat, oh yes i have also made winter hats for the keels as the tarps had pretty much destroyed themselves

This means the area around the keel studs is protected from the elements although hairline cracks are forming again on 'Eric' the starboard keel whilst 'Ernie' the port keel seems largely unscathed, i made repairs to 'Eric' in the summer so think its more down to poor prep that this problems recurring that said once its got 25mm of sika on its face and is bolted down tight i'm hoping that will do the trick but that will now be in the new year.

This just in......................

Am writing this from the pc now installed in the boat shed, got bored went up in the loft and cobbled together this system from old bits and bobs.

Seeing as its too cold to do any real work on the boat and i'm totally sick of my radio stations playlist i thought i'd make this system so i can pipe music about the place, as well as be able to get information when necessary.

chin chin

Quite a month....................

Its been an interesting few weeks with the boat, i have gone from steaming and drying the boat to now accepting the boat wont ever be 100% dry but after a day spent in my local yard with a tramex meter i realise my boats not the only one.

Together with an interesting chat with one of the country's top marine surveyors it bought the situation to a close regarding moisture levels and old boats so now i can concentrate on re-laminating the hull, admittedly not ideal given the weather but with my new gas heater i'm hoping to continue working throughout the winter months unlike last year.

The cabin top and coach roof have been filled, i just need to fair them and sort out sanding up the foredeck and then onto the main attraction of the hull.

I spent yesterday evening planing and sanding the hull getting rid of all the lumps and bumps from the hull to make the cloth drape easier over the hull and so take a vacuum better.

Only time will tell but i want to get on and go sailing now.

It smells like a chip shop in here......

Yes pop-pickers after 6 days steaming the hull my mood has lifted somewhat as the boats underbelly has finally moved off the top of the moisture meter only to about 20 which is still massive but good to see nonetheless.

Finally work's picked up so not much will be happening this week, but i want to get on fairing the cabin tops and decks in the evenings although i'm having real problems with condensation at the moment so am toying with more vents but up near the eaves.

Got the foredeck and cabin roofs sheathed this week as well as the hull drying so really want to keep the momentum, i also took delivery of the rope clutches and organisers (from pacer marine an excellent ebay store for marine hardware) for the coachroof as i want to get on making the necessary joinery pieces to attach these items.

I am using Barton marine fittings to outfit the boat and spars with as i feel they provide the best quality/price point for my needs, for hatches i'm using a French firm called Goiot again as their prices and quality seem to be in the realms of reality.

What with the setback of the hull not drying i have divided the boat project along the rubbing strakes so for now i will carry on rebuilding the deck with all that that entails and when the readings are satisfactory then i will resume the work on the hull.

I'm realizing the need to be more flexible with this project and think the last few posts are a reflection of that, i just wish i made more of the good weather we've had this year, oh well as long as something's getting done, those keels will get fitted one day.

Getting really bored of this now.

My goals for this year were to get the hull dried and sheathed, get the keel stubs strengthened and the keels attached, get the boat off the cradle and back down on the ground, fill and fair the hull and deck with an eye to priming and if the weather was good maybe topcoat too.

Well, the theory was great seeing as work is up and down i thought i would get quite alot done, but from the above all i have is the keel stubs ticked off the list......oh yeah i forgot i wanted to mount the engine too, so that's something else.

I don't know what its going to take to get the readings down in the green but i'm fast running out of ideas, the new heater pads work a treat, its literally uncomfortable to stand near them at 100 degrees celcius - thought i had it made but no: left them on for a day and still no difference on the meter, so back to the drawing board.

I went off to the b&q and resolved to spend more money (i don't have) on four cheap wall paper strippers as this is a cheaper way of creating steam than a hot washer £80 vs £700 to buy or £200 a week to hire........"yeah can i call you back,"......i mean where do they get these prices from?

Anyway spent today (Mon) taping down the hull around the waterline creating a big skirt, fired up the strippers and have left them to boil the hull up. I'm going back to the idea of draw ng the moisture out by 'opening' the laminate up then washing off with fresh water at the end of each day.

I don't know whether it will take a few more weeks or the rest of the year but with money tight its not much fun and incredibly boring spending so much time and resources on this one particular problem.

cheers

A right good decking!

I knew there would come a time when i had to do this but seeing as i was waiting for some more hose for the vacuum system i couldn't get on testing the new heater pads so i thought there no time like the present to tackle the fore deck.

The problem, to walk the fore deck with the boat stationary makes you feel seasick, like walking across a waterbed, the solution is to chop out the rotten core and replace with lashings of wests and marine ply.

Brimming with confidence having re-read an PBO article about a chap re-coring the deck of an old motor cruiser i did what i always do and reach for the tools that make the most noise, (damage) dust (damage) and....eh damage.

Having drawn a line 50 mm in from the edge all the way around the foredeck i reached for the grinder, then on looking at how clean the shed was and thinking how long it took to get it to that state i pulled out the jigsaw instead.

I successfully cut a 1 mm line all the way round then got busy with the chisels and wedges - would you believe it, the bond was incredible despite it being polyester and rotten and 40 years old it took all my strength (after quartering the original cut line) to pull out two pieces that made half the deck.

Now the damage could be seen, all the usual suspects: black balsa core, rotten plywood plank that looked like no adhesive whatsoever had been applied to it and a very strong vinegar smell . i decided to follow the route of the plank towards the fore-cabin and realised i'd need to take more of the deck moulding off.

With these last two pieces removed i could start making the core pieces and get them dry fitted, this went fairly quick so after double checking my prep and one last time with the hot air gun it was time for epoxy.

I don't know what it is about this stage in the work but no matter how well i set the tools and materials out it always ends up a bit of a bun fight, this particular job was to be no different. After more careful consideration of the west's manual todays recipe would be thickened with 407 (low density) and 402 (milled glass blend) the last one in particular as it would make the mix a lot more viscous therefore i wouldn't need to chase the stuff around the foredeck.

In the PBO article the chap uses big stones to way everything down, i had air pressure at my disposal so having made what looked like a very messy sandwich i wiped as much excess of the deck as i could (as i by now it was gelling) and got the peel ply and vac bag on.

With a flick of a button the deck pulled down an absolute treat and i now have a deck that's as stiff as a stiff thing with additional stiffeners, all i need do now is grind a 12:1 in the joint lines tape and fill.

Its been a while.................

Indeed it has, work has got in the way, had to do it though given the economic situation but in meantime i got my head around the latest failure with the heat pads and got two custom made, they cost 200 pounds each but have a temperature range of 0-260 degrees celcius so i will get on the case this coming week.

What else.........oh yes i started to turn the boat shed back into a boat shed from a pig sty. This mainly involved digging the old floor up all three tonnes of it and installing a floating floor all the way around the boat.

To do this i first needed to remove the diagonal supports from inside and put them outside to free up the space so with my good friend the post drill i excavated four holes a metre deep to act as the piling i would bolt the new supports to.

With these uber-supports made and installed it was time to turn my attention to the floor, after much ringing-around suppliers i got the best price i could for the timber and flooring even with discounts it still gobsmacked me how much timber has gone up - about 35% incredible.

Here's the result of a couple of days work from last week, this job cost 350 pounds in all ,250 for the flooring materials and 100 for the timber to make the external supports, considering i'm working very infrequently it was a bit of a tussle with my head.

That said i don't want the project to grind to a halt as that's when the motivation stops and it becomes another abandoned project and to be honest i have been feeling a little bored at the moment i think largely due to boat shed looking like a student house so part of the process to get re-energised was to create a more professional environment to work in.

I managed to use a lot of materials i already had left over from various jobs i had done so in the process freed up much-needed space in my wood shed which is no bad thing.

I found i was wasting a lot of time going back and forth to the workshop to get tools and materials so i built a bloody great cupboard at one end of the boat shed to store all the day today stuff (abrasives, power tools, resins acetone etc).

With the floor in i set about building the aluminium towers and parking them adjacent to the boat ready for me to re-core the fore-deck, more of that in a while.