Progress Report

On Thursday morning Jak and I cut out the backing for the exhaust thru-hull fitting.  I promptly returned the rest of the Starboard to Earl because he was shipping his boat to the US Northwest by lifter transport ship on Saturday.

Backing Block for Exhaust Fitting

We then got onto other things. During the engine replacement I had seen that the sliding engine cover was well fastened to a base that was held down by only one screw.  On Friday we fastened the base fore and aft and think that it will now stay in position during a rollover.  We then decided how to fasten hinged navigation table so that it will not flip open and empty the contents of the desk during a rollover, and must find a small cleat next week to finish that job.

Yesterday was very busy and productive.  We dropped some ceiling panels and began our search for leaks by gently pouring cupfuls of water around the sliding hatch area.  It took a while but after 20 minutes Jak spotted water seeping through a crack in the fiberglass and running along the underside of the deck to the port side.  Jak said that the "garage" or "turtle" under which the main hatch slides must come off.  I agreed that it had to come off but I had never been game to do it myself and had been planning to do it after my return to Fremantle.  To remove the garage we first had to remove the spray dodger and instrument panel.  While we were doing this John the rigger showed up and I went to the mast to work with him.

Simplified Electric Panel

John's brief was to put up to possibly 5 large cleats on the mast, and to bolt a cheek block above the end of the trysail track for a halyard.  He began by examining the existing setup and found that my lazy jack lines were passing down on the wrong side of the steps and the jib halyard turning block was too far back on the mast base, leading to chafing at the exit slot.  He then threads and bolted on two large cleats, one on each side of the mast.  The used Schaefer cheek block that he brought with him had seen better days so we decided to postpone that task until I can bring in a new cheek block from the USA.  He will also use a file to deal with a slight misalignment of the two sections of track for the storm trysail.  This misalignment results in most of the slide refusing to pass that joint without manual help, which would be quite risky in rough weather given that the joint is about 15 ft off the deck.

When John was finished the mast area looked much neater. Each side of the mast now has two small cleats and 2 large ones.  The 2 small ones are used for the flag and lazy jack lines.  The large ones are used for halyards.  Every line now has its own cleat and there is no more double or triple use of small cleats.  When John puts up the cheek block for the trysail halyard he will fix another cleat for that line.

 Before he left I asked John about the possibility of extending the track up the front of the mast so that I could get the spinnaker pole off the deck and up the front of the mast where it should be.  John and I do not plan to use the pole for flying the symmetrical spinnaker.  The outcome was that John has offered to purchase the pole because it is just about the right size for his boat.  I agreed, and we will settle the terms later.  It will be great to reduce the weight and clutter on the foredeck by getting rid of that pole.  There is a second identical pole in my garage in Western Australia.

In the meantime Jak had removed the garage and for the first time I was able to see the area that I knew was the key to the leaks on the port side of the cabin.  Jak has suggested a plan of using epoxy resin to fix the problem (which is not as simple as filling in a crack), that makes sense to me.  We must wait a few days for the area to dry out and in the meantime we will try to find the cause of the leak on the starboard side of the cabin.  This will require the dropping of more ceiling panels, but I expected that.

Today we investigated the source of the leak on the starboard side of the cabin but we saw no leak after using a hose to play copious amounts of water along the toe rail, deck, and various fittings.  Perhaps more water is required to saturate the problem area.  Maybe it is as simple as some of the water that comes down through the vent above the galley stove finding its way to the site of the leak.  (We plan to remove that vent and the two plastic Dorade vents on the cockpit coaming and seal the holes with fiberglass.)


John came by and we agreed on a price of $80 for the spinnaker pole.  I am happy to be rid of it because it represents useless weight that clutters up the foredeck.  ... Besides, I have another one in my garage in Darlington.


Joel was not able to remove that exhaust hose thru-hull fitting this week so I am hoping for a visit from him on Monday or Tuesday.  Once that troublesome fitting is out we think that the rest of the job will be straight forward and relatively fast.