Scrubbing her bottom
The weather is still mild so I continue maintenance procedures.
But before submerging into the joys of bottom-paint scrubbing I went to Rosättra Båtvarv to talk with a few people.
Unfortunately Patrick has left the company (but still lives on his boat nearby) so I don’t know the new wood-master Henrik. Henrik was, of course, not here on Saturday but I met Ola who is father to owners of the whole shipyard. He gave me contact to Henrik and his team - and wished me luck with my new project.
I went to have a chat with Patrick about his plans for another job and if he will sail his boat to live somewhere else. Luckily for me he is not yet moving so there will be more occasions to meet at the boatyard.
Back with Meritaten I decided to move on with bottom renovation. The ballast keel and parts of garboard plank are flaking paint. It needs my attention - bottom paint became too thick and I think Christer did not use primer on the garboard so paint is not sitting well.
I will deal with toxic paint so I put on my overall, nylon gloves, gas mask and proceed with scraping.
I start with all loose flakes - most of them on iron keel. I see that epoxy coating which Christer made many years ago is not doing its job - iron is getting wet (epoxy is not 100% watertight, nothing is) and surface corrosion lifts epoxy layer.
My plan is to remove all which is not sitting well and coat the hull with mönja. I don’t have enough blymönja (red lead, illegal for amateurs to buy in Sweden) so I will use iron-oxide (järnmönja). This traditional way of protecting hulls has only one disadvantage: it takes long time before it dries. Otherwise it is cheap, non-toxic, sits very well on wood and iron and protects well.
I have the whole winter to wait so enough time for a few layers to cure.
After circa one hour the starboard side of ballast keel is cleaned from old paint and epoxy. Few patches left. I will hit them with orbital sander before coating, to get fresh iron on the surface.
Puffing after this workout I go to the cabin to contemplate future improvements. Most urgent is organising fo’c’sle so that batteries sit steady and the chemical head is not an eyesore.
I decided to make a low bulkhead, just behind the batteries. That will form a proper battery compartment and enable me working on them in comfort.
Just over a meter (110cm) wide and 30cm high the bulkhead will encapsulate the batteries. Top cover will have opening in the middle through which I can access the system.
Both boxes will protrude through this opening which means it will hold them sideways, preventing moves in choppy sea. Kind of like hot-rod engine.
Opening will have box-like cover which will be screwed to the base, thus holding batteries in vertical direction and hiding them snugly. It will give me possibility to sit there or put anchor rode above, without the risk of tangling with battery cables.
While I sat there I spotted a thing on port-side deck beams: there were rests after a bulkhead! So fo’c’sle was rebuilt before! That’s why the layout is not matching the drawings!
Apparently an owner before me wanted to have more sea berths on the boat and removed parts of interior. That explains why it looked so dodgy, like half-done. Which, in turn, triggered me to remove all the rest and do it my way.
I’m thinking about making side-wall to the head, forming a small ladder. It is just under the foredeck hatch so having something to stand on while climbing on board would make life easier. It will also hide the head from view while in the main cabin.
Another thing is POD-heater.
Right now it sits inside the locker. Smart as it is - its heat could dry wet clothes hanging there - it is also very troublesome to reach to the heater for igniting or adjustments.
I like the way Jim has it on Kaika and now, with emptied fo’c’sle on Meritaten, I have an opportunity to make it his way. That requires moving the chimney to the port side of the deck. It will be in a way there but I could build superstructure around it, to protect it from stepping on it or tripping. Today the chimney sits close to the mast and is out of harm’s way…
I re-circulated the oil in the bilge and headed home, to continue my hopeless search for CNC-routing company in Sweden. I mean - they are there but they don’t bother to reply!
I’ve even sent requests to Norway (got answer same night) and UK (answered next day).
It must be something with Swedish mentality - they just don’t give a damm…