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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 1, 2015 17:50:08 GMT 1
People are hardly? Getting crushed in the rush to get on Thursdays Belle trip? Are you all expecting to catch so much on Monday's "Oysterdog" trip, that you still expect to be filleting on Thursday? I think not I want to try out this new much vaunted "All Singing, All Dancing" CQR plough anchor, it certainly looks the part & has been promoted over my much beloved Fisherman pattern, whilst the Bafetimbe Gomis Pattern (Danforth) has been relegated to the ballast hold, after having proved itself to be useless (can you see the similarities)? I was going to rig up the new capstan but seeing as we are already into Feb & the boat comes out of the water in March I will leave it until then, & kidnap somebody who is not "electrically challenged" (like me) to do the electrical work, whilst I do the fitting of it & run the trunking etc. At the same time I have to reseal around the windows, glass the wheelhouse roof, see if I can replace the steering tube with a rudder, & get details of the size/pitch of the prop, anti-foul it, & repaint the hull up to the gunwhales, (the inside can be done when its drier/warmer), apart from that it should be a nice relaxing fortnight!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 2, 2015 20:03:25 GMT 1
Thursday is still short of anglers
The forecast varies from site to site? BBC Weather is giving wind N/NE @ about 10 mph, whereas xc are giving 15NE, so if I do take Belle out it looks like a very much inshore trip (off Mumbles moorings in shelter) where it will be more dabs, smaller whiting, codling rather than the jumbo whiting we are having on the Green Grounds, but again it all depends on the weather on the day. Today on Oysterdog saw us catching codling (5-6) Stan John again was THE MAN with another bucketful of jumbo's, Richie was the codling king, the rest of us struggled a bit, John Elvins got bitten off fishing a whole whiting (& whinged all day about it unlucky John) but we all had fish again. So Thursday will depend on the weather, & the numbers who want to go, I really need 2 more to make it worthwhile going at all, & if it stays northerly & @10mph+ we will be fishing off the Mumbles moorings/pier area for shelter & comfort (you cant make tea & cook sausages when its rough so priorities have to be considered) There are always good fish to be caught in that area, but not as many or maybe not as big as further offshore, but its safety & comfort first!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 3, 2015 14:53:54 GMT 1
Only 2 names? With the forecast given between 10-16mph N/NE & only 1 other name apart from mine down to go on Thursday it makes sense to cancel it now rather than hang on any longer, stay at home & keep warm, I froze on Oystercat yesterday, which is not like me at all so perhaps I am coming down with something?
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 3, 2015 20:27:25 GMT 1
Although Thursday's trip is off
Hopefully by next Monday 9th Feb there will be more interest in a trip out on Mumbles Belle, the forecast is good (at the moment) with quite a light NW wind & a cloudy but dry day. With HW at 9 am it is perfect for a free flow through the locks, & with a 37.5ft tide the run wont be horrendous, & hopefully by then I will be feeling better, at present I feel chilled to the bone, which is unlike me. Get your names down early, because if the "enemy" on Oystercat see the forecast, they will no doubt try to sabotage us by arranging a trip as well Our chances of getting amongst the cod, whiting, & dabs have to be getting limited as the month progresses & lock closures & lift outs approach, so make the best of it before March.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 5, 2015 18:12:15 GMT 1
Starting to look forward to the lift out
I am finding so many jobs to do on Mumbles Belle nowadays, that I look forward to getting her out of the water to start my "Bucket List" of jobs to do. The capstan has to be installed & wired through a main switch, a trip switch, a foot control switch (all of which have to be sited & fitted), it has to be anti fouled & hull painted, (I can paint the inside when it is back on the water & its drier & warmer) areas of the seating need to be re-fibreglassed where it is delaminating, the wheelhouse roof also needs the same treatment, all the locker lids need new seals fitted as they are leaking, & only today I discovered that the hinges on the forward hatch are sat on "corrugated" timber which has allowed water to drip in & not only soak most of the contents, but has rotted the ply underneath so that is another job. I have previously mentioned that recently the bilge pump was only operating when the ignition was switched on, whereas before it worked automatically, I found out today by investigating, that there are in fact 2 bilge pumps on her, one in the engine compartment (easy to get at) , & another under the floor of the forward locker. Unfortunately the conversion of the wheelhouse involved fibreglassing the body of the forward locker to the wheelhouse, however the wooden floor of the locker was fabricated & fitted BEFORE the body was fibreglassed to the wheelhouse So I have to either cut the body of the locker from the wheelhouse to remove it, or dismantle the floor to get at the bilge pump! Which of course is the one that is wired direct to the batteries, & works automatically, & pumps the bilge via a float switch, so the problem is either the pump or the float switch, but the floor has to be dismantled to get to it another example of insufficient thought going into the conversion before it was started, I will change it so that the float switch will be wired to the bilge pump in the engine compartment (which can be lifted out by its plastic outlet pipe)! If these jobs keep on adding up, I can see me slinging a hammock in the wheelhouse to spend the 2 weeks working on it
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 10, 2015 21:33:14 GMT 1
Pleasant trip out on Oystrecat Went out on Oystercat on Monday on a still cold winters day (why we went out at 8am when HW was at 9am I don't know? ) We went in the holke inside the SWIGG & had a lot of medium size whiting & some nice dabs then, it went quiet. So we moved out onto the Green Grounds, & got more depth & tide run & more medium sized whiting & nice dabs, & a couple of codling. Huw kept us well topped up with tea & coffee, & Richie made us bacon sandwiches, & he also made us some chili hot dogs, which Denis Foley remarked "had a kick to them" despite his watering eyes ( I had mustard on mine). We carried on all day catching medium whiting & some nice fat dabs but there was no sign of any "jumbo" whiting, which was what we were really looking for, I hope they haven't moved off yet! I cant see any chance of taking Mumbles Belle out in the next week, the forecast is any part of east you care to call, & although not strong, enough to make things uncomfortable, so I am basically kicking my heels waiting for the lift out, unless we get a few nice days before the end of the month
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 19, 2015 19:37:32 GMT 1
Belle lift out
Mumbles Belle comes out of the water for a "wash & brush up" on Saturday 21st Feb which means that the boats will be out of the water at different times, so there will be no crisis of splitting our mass labour force between both boats, now we can have an army of volunteers on each! Much of what is to be done on Belle will be difficult for anybody with dodgy knees, or backs, or shoulders, so basically it will be myself & Richie who do the inboard work, & it is the anti fouling & outside hull painting left for the volunteers, I will collect the anti foul, & orange gloss, & mini rollers (as specified by Stan John) & & I will do the fitting of the new capstan, & Richie & I will sort out the bilge pumps, leaking roof, leaking compartment seals, enlarge the wheelhouse door, fibreglass the seating where it is coming apart, fit vents to the wheelhouse to sop the mould, repair the leaking roof window, remove the sealant from around the wheelhouse window & replace it with frame sealant to make them watertight, change the engine oil & filter, & fuel filter, & the hundred other jobs I have identified as needing doing. I will have a good look at & photograph the steering tube to evaluate the possibility of changing it over to rudder steering at some time in the future, & check the size & pitch of the current prop with a view to switching to a bigger prop, or one with more pitch, to try to increase the speed to the optimum for the displacement of the hull. Basically what needs doing should take no more than a month, but seeing as we only have 2 weeks, by the time we deduct the days when "rain stops play" we will have our work cut out for us to do what needs doing. What doesn't get done during the lift out, will have to be done when it goes back in the water. How many volunteers have we got?
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 20, 2015 21:25:21 GMT 1
Think of a number!
Then double it, then add VAT, then stick a bit more on for extra profit, that seems to be the motto when you ask for anything even slightly "marine"! Go to any chandlers & they rub their hands together as you enter the shop, knowing that they are about to rip you off, even if you only ask the time! In the end I went to B&Q & got them to mix up 2.5l of Valspar Gloss in "Cajun Shrimp" (which was as near to bright orange as I could find) Why do paint shops sell every brand, of every type of paint, in either Brilliant White or Magnolia?? The price of anti foul paint is an insult, & although it is the club's money & not mine that I am spending, I hate to see it spent for the sake of it, & I will wait until Belle is out of the water & steam cleaned before I make a decision on whether it needs anti fouling at all, the marina is largely fresh water, so I don't expect much growth on the hull, & black bitumen is about £5 a gallon & good enough! The orange was a reasonable price, & that will also go on the wheelhouse roof, & the hatch lids, & the top of the seats, (orange is much easier to spot from a helicopter than white) Still not sure what cable will be needed to supply the power for the capstan (the tails from the motor are 3.5mm) but I will fit the capstan, the foot switch, the cut out, the main switch, & run trunking from the batteries to the capstan so that all that has to be done is run the cable & connect up. The weather is not looking too good for next week, & I may have to rig up some canvas sheets over the boat to carry out the work, so if anybody has any of these sheets they can spare, I would be glad of the lend of them, (again to save buying). I will be there whenever I can to carry out the required work, but I am not going to get soaked doing it!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 21, 2015 17:42:23 GMT 1
Belle is out of the water We took her down to the hoist this morning & she is now sat on the yard waiting to be started on, there was barely any growth or barnacles on the hull, so all she is getting below the waterline, is a touch up of areas where the original anti foul has been rubbed off, & that will be replaced with Black Bitumen Paint at zero cost! I have to announce that John Elvins has actually been on board the Belle, & to his surprise it didn't rock & roll as he expected, last time he got on board there was no ballast in it & he started the automatic bilge pump to switch on, maybe he will come out fishing in the summer? As I already mentioned the hull has next to no weed or barnacle growth so it wont take much work to complete the outside, which means that I can concentrate on the fibre-glassing & the electrics, & hopefully I can measure up & make drawings of the steering tube with a view to replacing it in the future & I will also clean up the propeller & see what diameter & pitch it is, & compare it to the online prop guides. Well at least we are on our way, we will soon be shipshape & Bristol fashion, don't forget to volunteer any canvas sheets you might have to keep the rain off, I need the wheelhouse windows dry to remove the old sealant & replace it with exterior frame sealant, you can have them back when it is finished.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 22, 2015 12:23:15 GMT 1
Day 2 of the lift out
Got the short extending ladder & the Workmate out of the shed (after fighting off the many false widow spiders) & they have been left outside to "de spiderise" in the rain. Oh yes rain, I found the tin of bitumastic paint to cover up the scuffs in the existing antifoul, I dug out a selection of scrapers, & paint brushes, & an extended mini roller & pads, I charged my portable drill & sharpened my drill bits, I dug out some very heavy cables to go from the batteries to the main switch for the new capstan, I found sandpaper & emery paper for rubbing down the areas around the fibreglass delamination, I even found wire wool to shine the prop to identify its diameter & pitch, I remembered my tape measure & drawing pad to take details of the steering tube & pintels etc,etc, etc. However with the top box of the bike full to the brim I push it onto the drive to find out that its drizzling & by the time I get my jacket & helmet on the rain is falling steadily, & now it is raining hard, so the bike gets pushed back into the shed, & rain stops play. Well it is to be expected at this time of year but I was hoping to get SOMETHING done today if only to clean & polish the prop & get the details of it & the steering tube, & to clean off what few barnacles there are on the keel & give the scuff areas a coat of bitumastic, but it's not to be. The forecast doesn't look any better for tomorrow either so it seems that nothing will be done until Tuesday at the earliest If anybody who reads this has a roof-rack or a van, or a pick-up that can transport the short extending ladder & the workmate down to the marina it would be a big help.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 23, 2015 17:02:21 GMT 1
Day 3
Managed to get down to the marina this morning after rain stopped, & removed what barnacles were left on the hull to allow the calcium they leave behind to dry before hitting it with black bitumen. I was surprised to find that the bronze propeller was covered in barnacles front & back, as was the stern shaft & stuffing box, so I removed all of those & I started to clean the prop up, it was a long job as the barnacles had really pitted the surfaces of the prop blades, but I managed to remove all the calcium so I can now see the bronze prop. I have given a bit of a shining, but I will take the electric drill down there & remove all traces of calcium with a brass wire brush mounted in the drill, then I will polish it with fine wire wool, the cleaner & smother it is the more efficient it is. I had a good long look at the steering tube & decided that replacing it would be too much work for this lift out so I measured up how much I could extend the existing fin on the tube, & the maximum size I can have is 18" x 12", any wider than 12" & it will be sticking out beyond the stern of the boat, which could be a problem if it fouls the pontoon, so I have fabricated an 18" x 12" extension to go on the existing fin, which I will bolt on using stainless bolts, any increase in rudder area has to make the steering more positive, worse it cant get! I really need to get the ladder, workmate, drill, angle grinder, & a host of other things down the yard asap, at present I even have to borrow a ladder to get on board, I really need somebody to move the stuff down so I can carry on with the work, & a volunteer or two to do the exterior painting. Once I have the outside painted, & the prop & steering finished I can relax a bit, the rest can be done when it is back on the berth if necessary.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 24, 2015 19:36:34 GMT 1
Day 4
Managed to get the ladder, Workmate, rudder extension, electric drill, battery drill, socket set, jigsaw, spanners, rollers, paint & just short of the kitchen sink into Richie's car! I finished cleaning & polishing the prop, whilst Richie vanished into the wheelhouse, & emptied it , then he turned on the ignition & the bilge pumps came on & made the back of the boat (where I was working) into a bog! Then he attacked the forward locker & dismembered the wooden floor, then he vanished into the bilge & proceeded to empty it of all the crud left behind from the conversion. We managed to remove the forward bilge pump & using a battery we tested it & it works fine, so the problem is with the internal float switch, so he is taking it to the Battery Centre to have that tested. I will take a tester down in the morning & check the wiring from the battery to the float switch to see if there is a break in it anywhere. I have removed the virtually consumed anode from the steering tube & I will order a new one from Marinescene, & clean the barnacles off the heat exchanger pipes on the keel, then it should be ready for the masking tape to go on & the bitumastic to be applies to the scuffs & scrapes on the anti foul, & the new "Cajun Shrimp" colour applied to the hull (Well it was as near as I could get to the existing orange If it is dry in the morning I will test the wires to the float switch to check for current supply, I have to drill some more holes in the rudder extension plate to bolt it on (but I need to take my right angle drill chuck to do it), I need to grease the stuffing box, & if it stays dry remove the hand winch & fit the new capstan, ready to route the trunking from battery box to bow to carry the cables. If I get these things done by tomorrow afternoon I will consider that I am on schedule, the more I get done now means less to do when it is back in the water. Fettling when it is on the berth is ok for some things but it is easier to cover some of the work in the yard. Thank God for Richie, he is like a ferret in the bilges, I thought at one stage this afternoon that I had lost him, then I saw the soles of his shoes sticking out from under the front locker, he was lying on top of the bags of gravel put in as ballast, how he got in there I don't know, nor how he got out again?? I know if I had got in there I would still be in there waiting to be winched out!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 25, 2015 16:39:18 GMT 1
Day 5
Moving along slowly today I finished fitting the rudder extension, I don't know what that fin on the back of the steering tube is made of but I have ruined about 5 drill bits trying to get through it but its on there now, I will give the edges a coat of cold galv paint to stop it rusting, I don't know quite how effective it will be, but it wont make matters any worse! I greased the stuffing box that the stern tube passes through, & a lot of water came out of the gland so it obviously needed it. I cleaned all the barnacles off the heat exchanger pipes underneath the hull, they had a lot of barnacles on them like the propeller, as if they are attracted to bronze & copper? I also removed the old winch off the bow, & both of the bow rollers, & the piece of well rotted internal ply that was covering the hole left when the davits were cut off, I will replace it with some good quality external ply (or some marine ply if I can scrounge/steal some) Otherwise it will be 3/4" exterior ply that has had several coats of Sadolin, I want a firm base for the new capstan & I don't want it rotting away either I investigated why the automatic bilge pump isn't working, & I have discovered that one of the "live" wires isn't live, & the other only works when the ignition is switched on, so the fault is in the permanent live (that comes directly from the battery, or from a permanently "live" supply from the battery to the ignition, maybe there is an inline fuse somewhere that has blown. If there is anybody in the club who was involved in the wiring when it was converted, can you please let me know where the feed for the automatic bilge pump comes from. I will mask up the top of the anti foul paint so that the new "Cajun Shrimp" can be applied, but I would like a volunteer to do that, I don't mind doing the anti foul patching, but if "er indoors" finds out I have been painting a boat, I will get a 12 months DIY sentence! So electrical advice re the bilge pump, & assistance with the wiring of the new capstan is badly needed, as is a "Michael Angelo" to do the Cajun Shrimp
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 26, 2015 17:07:29 GMT 1
Day 6
Not expecting or intending to do much today because of the weather, but it dried up about 11am so I decided to knock off one or two little jobs, I painted galv paint around the edges of the rudder extension to stop the rust getting at it too quickly & I decided to mount the new capstan. First of all remove the bits & pieces bolted on the bow then mark out & cut the hole for the winch to sit in, simple! Not simple after carefully cutting out the pattern & drawing around it to remove with the jigsaw I start. I cut about 1/4" when the blade breaks, so I put another blade in a try again, this time the blade comes loose & falls down into the bilge (where it can remain). I eventually finish removing the core that allows the capstan to sit flush, will it fit? will it hell, the shape I religiously cut & removed is not the shape of the capstan! Eventually after a lot of fettling it drops into the hole I have cut, & all that is left to do is to drill the holes for the mounting bolts. Again using the template that come with the capstan, I mark the hole positions & drill through, & of course they don't line up So I work the drill from side to side to get the holes a bit bigger! Eventually I have to use the drill bit as a milling machine to make both sets of holes line up, & eventually I managed to complete it. Now I have to fabricate a timber reinforcing pad to hold the bow roller, because it sits where the hole was cut for the davits to come through, so the "5 minute job" turned into an hour & a half. The northerly wind was not only cold, but the noise of it whistling through the yacht rigging made it sound spooky, I was expecting Kate Bush to walk past any minute singing "Wuthering Heights"! So tomorrow I will complete the mounting of the capstan, bow roller, & reposition the cleat to tie of the anchor rope, then I can start to fit the trunking to take the power supply from the battery. Progress is slow & the weather is not helping very much, but as long as I can get the exterior finished during the lift out, what is left inside can be done back on the berth if push comes to shove.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 27, 2015 19:12:55 GMT 1
"Doing my head in"
I hate that saying, but I understand where its coming from! These bilge pumps really are driving me potty, first I thought there was only 1 then I discovered that there were 2 (neither of which worked automatically any more). Now when people talk about "split diode charging" etc they may as well be talking Klingon, similarly why we need 2 control switches for Main & Auxillary I don't know, & do we have both turned on at the same time? or do we start on one & come back on the other? Do you have both switched on together? When the main battery is charged does the "split diode" know that & automatically start charging the auxillary? I don't know, & nobody seems to be able to give me a definitive answer Same with these bilge pumps, I thought there was 1 pump & 1 bilge, but there isn't, there are 2 bilges, hence 2 pumps, OR the feed between the forward bilge & the back bilge is blocked giving the impression of there being 2! The combinations are many, both float switches knackered, only 1 pump has a float switch which used to empty both bilges before the connecting pipe blocked? I don't know, & neither does anybody else or if they do they are keeping it close to their chest!!!!!! I will revert to the easiest answer soon, & put 2 brand spanking new pumps in & that will be an end to it! Because until this bilge pump problem is sorted lots of other stuff can be sorted, because of hatches open, lids off, waiting for people to diagnose what is wrong, because I don't have the knowledge its frustrating, bring back the old semi rotary pumps, once primed they would empty a reservoir in 10 mins Capstan is all but fitted just needs the right length bolts fitted to the reinforcing pad & a bit of fibreglass & a lick of paint, then its stick the trunking on, chuck the wires in, & the jobs a good un.
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