Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

More items struck off the list (in some cases partially) on Tuesday. Again, in no particular order, mainly as I can’t remember …

I removed the gooseneck from between the boom and mast in preparation for a visit from local engineers today (Wednesday). There is some wear around where the pin ran through the gooseneck and boom and it would be good to fix this. There are a few options which I’ll discuss with the engineers. They’ll also be the same folks I need to talk to about our rudder bearings. It turns out our current ones are shot and need replacement.

I also performed two electrical projects. One was to install a loud alarm onto our backup GPS which we can use for anchor watch. The alarm from the GPS unit is OK but possible to sleep through if it’s up in the main cabin where it’s easiest to leave. In the past I would bring it down into our berth but that meant I had to remember to recharge it in the morning. Now I can leave it upstairs, plugged in overnight.

The second electrical project was to do as much of the wind gen cut off as I could. I made up the connections for the relay that will cut off the windgen. I also installed the special toggle switch with the red LED on it onto my nav station. Running the wire between the two required getting under the starboard aft bunk which I’ll leave until we’re down there for the shaft seals. I was able to test the system by running the wire through the cabin. It took all day to wait for enough wind to start the windgen up. Flipping the switch stopped it dead – just as planned.

These sort of projects are terrible for mess. They require access to areas behind stored items which have to come out. Lot’s of different tools are needed which are strewn around. Many things are on at once as projects stall for want of a small part and await a trip to the chandlers. This drives Helen mad. At end of day we usually clear up as much as possible to allow sanity to return.

One thing we learned was that overnight it had rained and the blue mess resulting from the interaction between the anti rust and the blue paint powder from the sanding had washed off and not stained the deck as we’d feared. This encouraged Helen to continue her work and now the boat is looking pretty shiny all over. Once this was finished Helen set to work improving the seals on all the deck hatches as we now have one or two leaks when it really pours.

On the subject of sanding that work continues and is almost done. It is grueling work and I continue to be glad I’m not the one to be doing it. We really want a good job done this time with no unevenness and no flaking.

We were also visited by a chap to look at our through hulls. There are some concerns for corrosion and some of the through hulls will need replacement. The inspection was not definitive in terms of identifying all the components at risk but I now know what I can do to determine where there are problems. The root cause was not immediately apparent either. He is going to talk to someone else who may be able to help on that front. One of the most common situations which causes galvanic corrosion is when the boat is hooked up to shore power. This could all have happened when Dignity was in charter and frequently left on dock power. We have rarely plugged in since and I’m less included to do so now.

This is all going to add more work to the project list. Cost-wise it won’t be too bad. I spoke to Peter about what I can do and where I would need help. I can do all the legwork doing the initial checks and removing all the fittings where I need work done. While doing that I’ll replace all the nipples with durable plastic ones. I’ll have a professional fit the new through hulls and assist with the reconnection – more precisely, they’ll do the work and I’ll assist as it’s a two man job.

This morning it’s a little chilly here in the yard. No doubt it will warm up with the sunrise. Today should be quite busy again. We’re having the boat raised and sat on the cradle (the one on which we were pulled out of the water) for a few days. This will allow work on the keels which have a few coral dings. It will also allow me to remove the rudders allowing access to the bearings which need replacement. It will also make getting at the through hulls a little easier for that inspection.

A note on project management. We have quite a lot of things on the go and to do and keeping track of them requires some sort of a system. Basically I keep a list comprising several sections. The first section are tasks targeted for today. Invariably the ‘today’ task list is too long but it serves to focus attention. The next section is all other projects on the list that we intend to do in the yard. Next comes things we need to buy in support of the projects we’re doing and finally are projects we think about that don’t need doing now and just need not to be forgotten. I do keep a section for tasks completed but that’s not essential – more emotional to remind ourselves that we are making progress.

I print this list off each morning and leave it in the salon with a pencil. As we complete tasks we tick them off. More usually, as we find more work to do we make notes on the paper. If we go out we take the list so we can pick up items we need. Each morning I go through the previous days notes and revise the various sections. In doing so I obtain the content to write up in the blog. I must think it’s pretty boring to read through blogs of boat work but it still appears plenty of folks are reading these each day so I’m happy to keep it up.

For most of the day the weather was variable, sometimes raining and sometimes not. We made a list of things to do including outside and inside tasks and alternated as the opportunity to work outside arose.

On the inside I finally sorted out my boxes of cables, plugs and other assorted electrical finding a few things I could let go of. I also decided it was an apt time to replace my short wave radio ground plane. The old one was made of razor thin copper which would dissolve through at the touch of a drop of sea water. By now it’s quite a mess in places and will surely soon fail or at least be compromised. For about a year I’ve had a roll of much thicker copper ordered direct from a factory for a fraction of the price marine stores sell it for. I removed all the old copper and replaced about 2/3ds of it. I left the area which covers the stuffing box so that it can be inspected as there is a crack evident in the stuffing and I want a professional opinion on it. I don’t want to have to rip up new copper if repairs are required. Helen focused time on our salon seat cushions which have holes underneath and needed cleaning. She received some good advice on some fabric tape for the underside which we can obtain from town.

On the outside I removed the zincs and the bowsprit – the latter to allow examination of the nacelle later today so we can plan how to repair the cracks and anchor dings there and perhaps to strengthen it. What also took a lot of time was a check out of the navigation lights. My red/green light at the bow failed to come on. I could read a voltage there so at first I thought the long lasting bulb had failed. A replacement bulb made no improvement and when I applied a separate voltage to the old bulb it worked fine. When I measured the voltage at the front I saw it drop when the bulb was attached. That suggested high resistance on the wires going to the front, i.e. corrosion or a break somewhere. Inside the boat where there is a connector I was able to test the bulb and it worked letting me know the problem was forward of that point. In the end I located the fault. It was near the bulb emplacement. It looks like the original wires had not been long enough and someone had twisted extra lengths onto the wire without soldering or crimping. This is the lousiest way to fix wires, particularly at the front in all the spray. There was just about enough room to crimp on some extra wire and properly seal the connections using heat shrink. After sanding all the connections to improve contact all was well. Job done.

On the outside Helen spent a good time cleaning a lot of the outside surfaces. It may have to be done all over again before we leave the yards but it was all quite grubby and the dirt was beginning to track into the boat.

Around midday we took a trip into town to eat and collect some supplies including our last box of wine for Fiji. We still need wine for the balance of our time in NZ but we’re basically done on our evening meal supplies. We also decided to pick up a battery charger so we could charge the batteries without having to make up a new boat cable adapter. While we may be able to last on our own batteries and solar/wind it’s nice not to have to worry. It also means we can use power tools, microwaves and vacuum cleaners aboard the boat with fear of draining the batteries. Towards the end of our stay here we can also start thinking about filling the freezer. I also visited the sail maker to agree the colour of the sunbrella strip on our new jib.

By the end of the day the weather finally turned and we had quite a pleasant evening. We have 5 days of fine weather forecasted ahead of us. Hopefully the yard isn’t too backlogged from the last weeks of rain and will make good progress on Dignity over this week.