Another weekend of boat work down. I'm pleased to report the plumbing is FINALLY done.

The watermaker sample tap has been fitted to the galley, the test & tank positions labelled on the main panel (note to self: avoid bumping pressurised freshwater flush switch until all connections are made), the water tank vents fitted, and the diesel tank breather container also has extra holes now.

Added to that, the new waste tank has a vent breather pipe, a deck "suck-out" pipe, and a MK5 manual pump & pipe all fitted. Phew. Quite the weekend.

After all that bilge related fun, the sun came out and I needed some fresh air so the railings got a good sand down, the boot stripe got marked up and I finished epoxy filling the wheelhouse and toe rail.

This coming weekend I'm going to be building a sliding entrance hatch, drilling a couple of limber holes in the bilges (to stop water pooling in rust-prone areas), and if time allows, fitting the last two steering sheaves and aligning everything to make for a smoother and lighter aft helm.

That will pretty much just leave a bit of grinding, some sanding and painting of the topsides and railings before we haul out.

Our haul out is now 8 weekends away and the plan is to head out to anchor the night before, have a BBQ (weather permitting) then motor up to the haul out yard around lunchtime - just in time to clear their concrete sill. There's still a lot of days in the office to go and work to be done on the boat, but May 19th will be here before we know it....

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9 weeks 'til haul out! Single digits finally. We had some wild weather this past week with the local weather station clocking an average of 50kts, and some gusts up to 62kts. I was relatively concerned for the well being of our Rutland but true to form, it kept spinning away and seems like it survived ok.

With the temps dropping rapidly over here, the weekend was always going to be a bit hit & miss but we still managed to get some work in.

First up was some more watermaker work - I tell you, plumbing in a watermaker has been a lot more work than I thought it would be. Still, we ran the product water lines (test & tank) through the boat and connected up the tank line. The test line runs to a tap in our galley that should arrive this week, and I'll fit it next weekend. We also spliced in the freshwater flush line to our pressurised system - this line flushes fresh water through the system if we're not going to use it for a week or so.

More plumbing up next - I connected up our manual galley tap, just in case we lose power and want access to our freshwater tank (always a good thing...). The pressurised galley tap also needing replacing after it developed a leak a little while back. What should have been an easy job turned into a bit of a nightmare, but we got it done in the end and it works a treat.

While I was doing all this, Lauren was busy labelling up the last of our courtesy flags, which are now all stored away, ready for the trip.

I'm going to try and repaint the boat in the water as well (as I'm pretty sure our 8 weeks lifted out will be devoted to rigging and the rudder) so the afternoon was spent sanding back the hull to give the new paint a good area to grip to.

 

On the next tide, we ran up the engines and tested the aft deck engine controls. They work really well and I'm looking forward to how easy it'll be to dock next time we go out.

That's about it really. Next weekend signifies the last weekend of plumbing (other than connecting up the watermaker thru hull when we haul out) and believe me, I will be glad not to have to crawl around the bilges with hose clamps and a heat gun anytime soon. Our railings also need a bit of a sand to get ready for their new coat of paint, so weather permitting that'll get covered off as well.

Not long to go now....

 

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...Goes to a good mate of mine, Ben T, for finding a copy of Lat 38 in Washington that had Norm's freshly-built steel boat on the cover (looking good there Norm), and posting it to me in the UK.

nathan

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Can you tell by the post title I'm really, REALLY counting down 'til we leave?

Anyway, 2015! Where does the time go.... 2014 was a great year that included some big milestones for the boat, but an even bigger one is coming this year. In 18.5 weeks, we'll be taking in our lines for the last time and heading off. Yep, it's that close.

I had two weeks off over Christmas and even with the cold weather, managed to spend the time getting some more projects out of the way.

 

- Having sold our two rubbish wind generators (don't buy an Istabreeze - they produce zero power), I fitted up the new Rutland 914 and it's working a treat. It doesn't produce a huge amount of power (I'm expecting 100aH a day from it), but is almost silent and I expect our solar panels to provide the other 100aH each day.

- Our 2-stroke 15hp arrived and I thought it could do with some testing. The engine weighs about as much as the ally dinghy, so zipping around the anchorage won't be an issue....

- The guest cabin was in dire need of finishing - especially with a mate coming up for NYE - so I wired in the lights, fitted the fan and cleaned up the AC outlets to make everything a bit more presentable. You'll be pleased to hear the cabin received a thumbs-up..

- The watermaker plumbing received some attention. Just a few more bits to arrive and fit (stepping up from a 6mm outlet -> 38mm inlet ain't easy) and it'll be ready to go.

- The now not-required davits were removed from the aft deck and the Aries extension pole fitted.

 

- We found a pre-mix bread that only requires water, lasts six months in it's packet, and tastes great. It might not seem like a big thing, but when store bought bread only lasts (at best) a week and you're in the islands for months, fresh bread is a biiiig deal.

So quite a few little jobs ticked off the list and now we're on the final run to haul out - just 10.5 weeks away. I still have a few bits & pieces to do in the interim - mainly plumbing and trim related, then it'll be time for the final repaint and re-rig, and we're off. Can't wait.

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