Final preparations
Rudder tiller came back onto Meritaten, after receiving I-forgot-how-many layers of Owatrol Teak. It is glossy now and looks like varnished but the feel when touching it is different from varnish. Better grip, slightly softer feel. I’ll see how long it stays before oiling becomes necessary.
To avoid damage from tiller lock (this sliding fork in stainless steel) I fitted soft rubber tubing on both sides. Old tubing got hard with time and feels like plastic. Tiller had too much play between pins, causing noise when we were sleeping on anchor and denting the wood.
Added padding makes the fit a bit tighter and should prevent wood damage. I added wooden balls on top, for nicer look and higher fork.
Dyviken (plug for draining the bilge on land) is now sealed. It is always embarrassing for a sailor who launches his boat with this plug forgotten. Situation becomes then very dynamic!
I decided to finish reinforcing the starboard winch with additional bronze screw. That was fixed quickly if not unpleasantly - drilling while lying on one’s back, directly under the spot is never a good idea. Wood bits landing in eyes, ears and face. But it had to be done.
I was bothered by this empty hole left after someone removed heavy bolt which was reinforcing this winch. I could not find screw big enough to match the size. It is also not possible to access the hole with long enough screw or bolt as main sail balk is in the way.
I figured that I will install threaded rod doped in thick epoxy to fill this gap and further reinforce the winch. I use my favourite epoxy WEST G-Flex. It is thick and formulated specifically for difficult-to-glue wood like oak. Mahogany is easy to glue so maybe G-Flex is overkill here but it also has higher than normal flexibility which is advantageous in this application. The glue will flex up to 40% before the bond fails. Heavy loaded winch can cause some movement in its base so some flexibility is good here.
Heating up epoxy with solar power.
I measured cavity depth and also how long the bolt can be to fit in the gap. I chose bronze threaded rod with copper nut & washer. I could use stainless steel in this application but since I had this rod I kept myself to more noble materials.
The rod is a bit too lose in the hole so I added thick copper wire as a filler and anchor, so that the whole thing does not drop on my face before epoxy starts to grab.
Covered with thick layer of goo it went into the whole. One needs to be a bit acrobatic to crawl into pilot berth on the back, only by ass and legs - hands (with gloves!) were holding the bolt dripping epoxy. With some cursing I managed to press in the bolt and not get epoxy on my face.
There we have it - fixed! It ain’t goin’ nowhere!
Excess epoxy was used to seal holes left after removing old furniture in fo’c’sle.
Since I was already playing with messy jobs I went down and sealed with Farm 100 a spot where Meritaten is leaking water. Linseed oil therapy through the winter showed the place. It is on the back of aft knee, where the structure developed a gap. To repair it requires opening the boat and rebuilding the knee. I don’t have a budget to do that now so I just live with it: every spring I close this gap with Farm 100 and every autumn I remove Farm to let any water left there to drain. Previous owner squeezed Sika into the cavity and left it like that. Initially it probably worked but with wood movement - and the place being end-grain - Sika lost it’s grep and became just a rubber clump, not sealing anymore. With water left there for winter the damage became worse as expanding ice made the gap slightly bigger.
Farm is a soft, bitumen-based compound which never dries and is sticky as …. well, bitumen!
It eventually dries after few years but I keep on top of that by replacing it with fresh one before each season. This has stopped the damage to become bigger and I enjoy (almost) dry bilge throughout the season.
I kept myself busy with organising storage in the main cabin when someone knocked on the hull. It was a Danish sailor who worked on his newly acquired boat Carusel. He was quite unfortunate while trying to sail her to his home on Bornholm last year. He casted off twice and came back both times after a few days for the same reason: engine failure. His Volvo Penta is loosing oil in catastrophic rate so he could run it only for short periods while manovering in the harbour. Only then he managed to pour oil into the thing while somewhere else the damn devil was spilling it into the bilge. No one could find the reason for failure so Carusel stayed for the winter here.
Now he prepares for yet another approach, waiting for engine mechanic to arrive. A pile of things removed from the boat was lying below and he asked me if I wanted anything from that.
Indeed I did! I got old but functional Wallas 3000 heater!
New units are so expensive that I did not even consider buying one but if this one indeed works then we can add some luxury into the cabin! Warm air! I especially like that it runs on kerosene! Like my pressure lamps!
Too bad it comes without the control panel. I have a circuit diagram so it should be easy to build my own but maybe I will need to ask Mr Albert for some guiding since electronics and me are not the best friends…
I also got an antenna. I took it because it uses the same antenna mount I have on Meritaten.
It is not connected right now as the only radio I have onboard is handheld VHF but some time in the past my boat was equipped with proper radio.
The antenna is very long: 260 cm.
I guess it is a full-length antenna.
If my calculations are not wrong it is for frequency ca. 115 MHz which is VHF. I think I would need expert’s advice: Mr Albert again!
I finished the evening with making a boat-soup which is Ettan with linseed oil. Ettan, when bought, has very hard consistency and if it is needed to coat wood surface it’s better to dilute it a bit into cream form by adding a bit of linseed oil. I melt mine with hot air in metal can.
After all is melted I stir it to mix with oil. The whole area is filled with tar aroma!
It becomes light-coloured again after it solidifies. Consistency is now of a butter, easy to apply on adjacent surfaces.
Tomorrow is the last day before launching. The only things left to do is to remove Meritaten’s winter dress (protecting her from drying too quickly) and bottom-painting.