Newbie strikes again!

A reminder… I’m new to all this! Boats are great in theory but when you get down to it, it can be embarrassing, painful, mindfuck and depressing… no matter how many books you’ve read and advise you’ve heard. I have recovered from last weeks body pains and feelings of unaccomplishment…  Ok… so what have we got for this weekend.

Clean the bilge.Way down there is some pretty nasty gook that I don’t want to run through the el. bilge pump. I read somewhere that diapers

are great for absorbing nasty stuff so after spending a stupid amount of time staring at all of them at the super market, I proudly walked away with a 46pack. Turned inside out, I tied one to a string and lowered it down into the bilge, poked it around with a broom stick and pulled it out trying not to drip too much all over the engine(!). After the second diaper I realized this was going nowhere. So I stuck to broom stick down to see how deep the gook is. A good 10 cm! Not wanting to destroy my new diesel hand pump I opted to wait and buy another for the purpose. Conclusion… bilge still full of gook! 😦

Sand back a coat of antifouling. Equipped with goggles, gloves, mask  and random orbital sander, I attacked the hull. Immediately it was obvious that 100grit was getting me nowhere. Neither was 80grit so I blasted out to get 40grit. The shop only had 60 without the holes, got a couple, drilled the holes but…. still not good enough so I opted to wait to get 40grit (with the holes!). While I was at it I tried some of on the flaking varnished wood. Shortly I realized there’s gonna be alot of sanding and without a shop vac (which I really need for other stuff…even the bilge) it would be a very dusty mess. So I stopped. 😦

After lunch I started to potter around feeling again overwhelmed. Then it dawned on me that I  am going to get professional help! It might cost a bit but I definitely am going to learn from it… as in getting my hands dirty with someone to make sure I don’t break anything or overlook something. Phew… I feel better!

Now’s a good time to “learn” everything I can in this baby.

I tried the fridge…. it works, something I wasn’t expecting!

I made a map and I think I know now where all the octopus legs go (plumbing)

I’ve studied the engine and now it’s clear to me where all it’s parts are (fuel pump, heat exchanger, filters, etc. This went on through the evening and through a can of WD40!.

windlass solenoid switch

Sunday I attacked the windlass and anchor chain. I let all the chain out, manually and electrically. The up button though wont work so I checked out the solenoids in the chain-locker (via v-berth) and they are really rusted and corroded. I WD’ed the hell out of them… we shall see. I measured the chain to be approx 60meters and hung it out on a wall to “air out”.

I took the door off the port side front loading cockpit locker  and emptied it. Found spare plumbing, a garden hose and one oar(?). Now I have access to the manual bilge pump (which I must repair) and measured the second water tank. So now I know I got 200liters of fresh water tanks. 🙂

windvane rudder

My windvane rudder has a few blisters so I drilled some holes to let the juice out, fared the holes and and left to dry.

My buddy Peri came by with Salvatore. A nice break for moral support. Salvatore has decided which part of the boat is gonna fish from! Leaving, Peri took my first pictures on Zoot Allures!

Winding down, I made use of my new PVC hose cutter and  re-installed the el. bilge pump which should be ready to rock when I get rid of that gook down there!

Also a local friend, Triandafilos, came by and gave me an estimate for redoing all the foam beddings and covers. Every woman who has seen them insist they are replaced. Peri’s wife, Sandy, said she wanted to do them and now she’s mad at me for getting someone else involved…. now I gotta find a way to keep everyone happy. We’ll see…

So that raps it up for this weekend. I’m content, just a bit worried of my launch date in the end of May.

Stay tuned…

Capt Pete