Time for spring maintenance
It is still cold at nights - with minus temperatures - but it gets warmer during daytime. Snow is mostly gone (as for now) but it is too cold to use epoxy outside.
Last weeks I was visiting Meritaten in some evenings, to check if all was fine after stormy winds. Didn’t feel like starting any work yet, it was too cold and I was too busy elsewhere. Now it is high time to re-start working on her.
Spring winds, strong and dry, are starting to take their toll on wooden hulls: planks seams became visible on all wooden boats in the boatyard. Even Kaika shows her planks! I usually set up plastic cover on the bottom part of the hull by the end of February, this year I slept-over a bit.
I stated work by finishing scraping all excess bottom paint on starboard side. It was flaking and bulging, especially on the garboard and keel section. I scraped most epoxy primer and paint on the iron ballast during autumn so today it was just finishing touch.
Cleaned up tarp with toxic debris and started brushing exposed wood and iron with järnmönja. It needs to be applied very thin, otherwise it will never cure. Linseed oil spills after winter oiling are already hardened on the hull and in the bilge.
Re-measured through-hull openings which I need to close. These are not standard size bungs so I’ll need to turn them from mahogany. Hull thickness on the bottom is 18mm (thumb-nail).
I spent some time in fo’c’sle, planning for securing the battery boxes. My last idea was to build a bulkhead and encapsulate the boxes with plywood floor, keeping them in place by that. Today I don’t like this idea - I like to have full access everywhere on the boat, that was the reason I removed all these berths & contraptions which arose during boat’s life in fo’c’sle! Why build again something like that?
My current thought is to add substantial cross-beam behind the battery box and simply lash these boxes to front and this new back beam. That should keep them in place, securing from movements sideways and up (should the boat heel heavily or capsize) while still giving me access to all sides and being easy to remove the boxes. Lashing is, after all, salty and proven way of securing stuff aboard, ain’t it?
I managed to damage companionway hinge during my recent visit (in heavy winter boots) so I repaired it now. Changed el-cheepo brass screws with proper, thick bronze screws which should keep the hinge in place.
I went home for lunch and came back with plastic tarp for wrapping Meritaten in her “spring dress”. This time I had helpers so it went very smooth and fast.
The tarp will not only protect the bottom from dry winter but also help with keeping higher temperature when I epoxy-glue bungs to close through-hulls.