2019 - A few photos of the Marlborough sounds

 February 2109 we did a bit of a shakedown cruise, to test all systems are go at sea.  We sailed around the top and down the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, stopping at New Plymouth and then on to Pelorus Sound.  After a few weeks of enjoyable cruising, we headed back.  All systems go!

Sailing

OK, so we didn't have the main up but we were doing 7 kts upwind.  Happy with that!

It floats and has done for a while

The boat left our house in 2016, off to a local (cheap) boatyard.  Then we sold the house and moved out at the end of March 2017.

We launched the day before Easter 2017, when Cyclone Cook was supposedly battering us silly.  Although it was a bit damp, we missed the storm and had a smooth launching.

We moved on board early May 2017, sorted the new dodger/hard top out and got many jobs ticked off.  You can see the bow fittings in this shot, taken just before we dropped the rig in.

Once the mast was in place we were able to get the table finished.  A single piece of Kauri!

We've even got a name!

The copper coat has been holding up well.  In summer I was diving on the prop to keep it clean.  When we left Auckland it was compulsory to have the boat hauled, so I took the opportunity to change the prop anode.

Is that the time?

Movement has started again in Weta land.  For the last few years we have been busy with school and football, so we decided not to bother launching the boat as we had no time to use it.  Now that stage of our lives is coming to an end - our son has left school and we are beginning to see a path to the water.

Recent progress has been to get the Coppercoat applied to the bottom.  My friend Cedric came up to supervise, as he has done it before.  Another good mate, Mal, got dragged in to help as well, which was a good call.  It is a full-on day and we got cracking as soon as the dew dried off, finishing after dark.

Ready to start

First coat on the forward end, second coat under way

About to finish about the 4th coat?

Nearly done!

I have taken the opportunity to fit the propellor as well, so I can get the shoe fitted and epoxied over before winter brings rain and damp.

It is a 20" Autostream feathering propellor

The quadrant and autopilot ram are also in place, more pictures soon.

Still here

My apologies to all the folk who have been checking back for updates and to see my beautiful boat out sailing.  Well I'm not there yet!  Shortly after my last post I managed to fall down the walkway hatch and damaged both shoulders.  This put me out of action for quite a while and only came right around Christmas, after a good dose of Cortisone allowed everything to free up a bit and removed the pain.  Then a month in England further slowed any progress, and of course the fun voucher stock running low has meant that I am back at work.  The boat won't be going in the water until I can afford to keep it there, but there are a few things that have been done.  When I have been busy I have been focused on the topsides, which have required a screed of epoxy bog and a sand with 40 grit.  The gelcoat was completely knackered and after a good heavy sand there were thousands of holes to fill.  Sanding is very tough work and I can only manage a couple of hours at a time.  Once the filler has cured, I wipe on sanding guide coat and then sand it all off.  The guide coat is really useful and it allows you to see any areas that need re-filling.

In the cockpit, I have installed the remote anchor windlass control, a manual bilge pump and the diesel system breather.

My mate Ian came down and we put the prop shaft in, aligned the engine and set up the dripless stern seal.

The galley has cleaned up nicely, just a bit of varnish work to finish off on the teak at deck level.

The steering pedestal is now in place, you can see the foam and glass plinth that the pedestal stands on, replacing the old lump of teak.  The grab rail is through-bolted from below and is nice and sturdy, as well as leakproof.

The missing 5 months

I have been spending a lot of time in the cockpit recently.  Unfortunately, not as most Peterson owners spend time in their cockpits - reading, sailing, socialising, sleeping.  No, I have been sanding and painting - crawling, crouching, kneeling and bending.  And the worst thing - it isn't finished yet.  Close, but by no means close enough.  One of the biggest things I have been dealing with lately is the weather.  After 3 years my home-made cover is showing very distinct signs of wear, mainly by leaking, you guessed it, right into the cockpit.  So now we have covered the entire deck and coachroof in plastic to protect it from overspray, access to inside the boat is not possible and if the weather is wet and windy, progress comes to a halt.  Autumn in Auckland is not particularly dry either so progress has been very slow.  Winter dries out a bit so hope springs eternal (great unintended weather reference there...!).

We have managed 4 coats of Interprotect and 2 coats of YRA600 so the end is in sight.  2 coats of Interspray 9000 and we are all done.  The cockpit floor can go down finally and stuff can be finished!  I have been busy otherwise bolting stuff on permanently.  This is the genoa turning block which is through-bolted on the bulwark.  If it doesn't end up being strong enough I do hope no one is in the way!

Most of the plumbing is finished, I have used John Guest and now have an extensive collection of new incorrect fittings to add to my plumbing collection...  I  have a few more bits to do as soon as the deck plastic is removed.

We have also been busy on the stainless front, this shows the new bow cap and forestay fitting.  The lip on the top of the bow cap sits on top of the bulwark and has yet to have the anchor roller fittings located on it.  They will be removable in case of damage.  The new forestay fitting is slightly more contemporary than the old one, which showed cracks and corrosion after I had it electro-polished.  I feel you need some confidence in this area!  The tie-rod from the bow cap to the forestay is now a 16mm solid rod, removable for inspection.  The lump visible right at the front of the bow cap is the plug that the pulpit will fit onto.


 The chainplates have also been fitted, this shows the external view with the covering plate screwed down.  I chamfered a "V" into the fiberglass plate that is glued to the deck, as well as the 5mm cover plate.  This allowed me to get a good bead of sealant into that join.  I am hoping never to see any water around this area, although when we tighten the mast down I might need to reseal, depending on how much the chainplates move when the strain comes on.  Resealing them is only a matter of removing the 2 cover screws and it is all there.

I fitted carpet below, instantly transforming the boat to look considerably more finished than it did.  It feels and sounds much better as well.

Getting there

There always seems so little to show for our efforts, it has been a struggle to get some pictures of anything worthwhile!  Oh well, maybe its a symptom of nearing completion...  This shot shows the newly installed window glass above the chart table and in the head.  After a couple of years with nothing but a hole there I am still getting surprised when trying to pass things through the window.

I resanded the vanity top and we repainted it, so that is now finished. Although I have fitted the tapware the fresh water plumbing is still to be done but first I have to visit the plumbing shop and buy another assortment of fittings, which in my experience will be all the wrong sizes....

The hard top for the dodger sitting roughly in place on its stands.  We had the tubes bent with the lower ends 50mm too long, so we could cut them down and get it all to fit correctly.  The cockpit teak has been sanded down and has received 1 coat of Uroxsys.  Once we have completed fitting the dodger top and painted the cockpit, I will give it another 5 coats of varnish.

All but one of the headliner panels are finished, I can't believe I was 2 metres of headliner material short. Hopefully I can still get the exact same material! This shows how it looks in the saloon with the headliner panel fitted.

Something is in sight...

But I'm not too sure what it is. Christmas was a time of celebration for some, for me it seemed to be time to sand the deck. Last week we finished that job and got some paint on, first 3 coats of undercoat sprayed on then 2 coats of top coat. We sprayed all 5 coats and added beads to the 2 top coats to give a non-skid finish over the entire area. It was pretty stressful as we had a couple of minor issues - on day two the spray gun we were using decided to detach from the paint can, while the compressor was overheating some days and fine on others. There's nothing like a crisis to ramp up the stress levels!

This week we have been bolting stuff on for the final time, all the hatches are on and most of the portlights. Grabrails, windlass, staysail stay fitting - it is exciting dusting all this shiny stainless steel off and admiring the finished product.  Inside the boat looks better with the trim rings around the portlights in place.  Woohoo!

The gas bottle locker in the aft deck is going to work really well I think, the lid fits and there is lots of room inside.

Come and help, Santa

I have taken a few snaps to show the process involved in attaching the headliner, as that seems to be all I've managed to do lately. The first step is to survey the deckhead and decide where the velcro needs to go. I have had to allow for lots of bumps, remember to allow for wrapping the vinyl-backed foam around the edges of the sheet, and work out how much you need to hold it all up. I use 2" masking tape to get a good visual, then mark around the edges and measure it all.

Next the hook side tape is stuck on to 2" ply strips, stapled and the staples bent over to ensure everything stays together. Then these strips are used to mark the position on the headliner ply, which is then given a sand to key up for the loop velcro.

The loop velcro then gets stuck down and stapled, staples bent over and we are nearly there.

The hook strips are then pushed on to the loop and we are ready to glue it up. I put dabs of epoxy every 20-30 mm along the hook strips and push the whole headliner up into place. Toms are used with ply offcuts to spread the loads and once the epoxy hardens, we can peel the headliner away from the hook strips and proceed to add the foam-backed vinyl. Done! It is quite a simple process, the most onerous part being bending the staples over to ensure a good, solid bond to the plywood.

Hard Top

Bill has been working away at creating the hard top for the dodger. First he made a former out of MDF, then the foam was bent over that and glued together. Two layers of 20mm foam will give us a top that will be thick enough to recess some LED lights into, mount 2 GPS aerials on, and be strong enough to walk on. At some time in the future I might add solar panels so we have added sufficient conduit for that as well.

In the last couple of days we have routed out the foam to allow us to glue in the plastic track for the zip-off clears. These will have a surround of some vinyl product, running through the track at the top and clipped down on the bottom. Stainless steel legs will keep it up, hopefully!

Also nearing completion is the headliner for the saloon and aft cabin. Way back we tested our headliner concept in the forepeak, now we are working through and doing the rest of the boat. I just sealed all the liners this afternoon and the next part of the process, gluing the plywood strips to the deckhead, should be pretty close. I've also nearly finished re-varnishing the interior and I just have a bit around the galley to do.

We decided to lose the piano hinge on the back of the cockpit lockers, in place of more robust (and shiny) chromed hinges on the top of the locker lids. To do this neatly Bill has filled in the watertrap area outboard of the lockers. This will now get glassed over and will be nice and strong. It should also channel water down the gutters on the sides of the lids and keep that area drier - time will tell!

A prayer

Forgive me Colin for I have sinned, it's been a month since my last blog.... Hopefully I will be forgiven by those who follow the blog and eagerly await the next installment of the Weta saga. I would love to think that there are not too many blogs left to go until completion, reality has a way of asserting itself though. Anyway, enough of the rambling introspection, lets look at progress. I have been re-varnishing the interior trims, a slow job with a small brush. That should give us at least 5 coats, probably more. I have been able to put things in place for the final(ish) time, this shows the view down the walkway.

Outside we have been busy with a host of little details and the most recent visible result is the addition of a teak rub rail on the gunwhale. We have only done 25% but I think it will look good, giving us something that will look fair around that part of the boat.

We have also been working on the cockpit teak, plugging holes and sanding. We removed the teak planking overlay at the forward end, this has had a fibreglass backing added and all the holes plugged. The underlying deck has had all the remaining screws removed and has been faired in preparation for the gluing down of the teak. What a mess, the entire cockpit molding is a very poor job. Bill, who has a lot of experience in these things, can see what went wrong and how they bodged it to make it look semi-decent. The only part we haven't faired is the outside of the port coaming, which still has a big bow in it.

Bill prepped the cockpit hatches and I have used Uroxsys to varnish a primer and 1 top coat. It looks fabulous and will improve once I sand the dust off and do the recommended 6 coats - fortunately you can add another coat after about 2 hours so it will only be a couple of days total.

I was rudderless

But now I'm not! Bill has been beavering away with foam, glass and a planer to finish the rudder. My last post showed the start of the process, with a couple of small infill pieces in place. Once the whole thing was filled and glued in place, he glassed over the flat sheets, using extra tape over the stainless web.

Then, on went a few more layers of foam to build the thickness to the required width.

Once it was in the ballpark he started fairing it to the correct dimensions, which means we had to offer it up a couple of times to add a bit here and take off a bit there.

When it was the correct fit he glassed over the whole thing again, adding extra layers on the trailing edge and around the clamp. A big layer of bog over everything and he is ready to do the final fairing tomorrow.

Nearly there!

I will be finished with the painting in the walkway and aft cabin tomorrow, at long last. It has taken me longer than I expected, basically the job was bigger than I thought, with a lot more surface area than was apparent. That will be good though, it will really be a shot in the arm to see the last light fittings, switches and plugs in place. Next will be getting some guys in to fit the hull liner into the forward cabin, saloon and aft cabin. Bill has been doing a few smaller jobs, one of which was adding 10mm fibreglass plates to the chainplates. This will hopefully keep them up out of the scuppers a bit. My plan is to make stainless plates to fit over the top of the chainplates, making a secure sealant-filled gasket.

On top of the cockpit coamings we have added a lump of teak which will hold the lower end of the dodger. The thinking here is that water should be kept out of the "watchkeeping" seats at the forward end of the cockpit. Hopefully one day we should be able to actually put that to the test!

The nav station is complete - not wired up yet though! I haven't bought the Fusion marine stereo yet, as you can see by the hole. I had purchased a CD player and stacker when I was in Hawaii but I think MP3 technology has really taken over from CDs and this will save a truckload of space. I will put a remote stereo control in the cockpit, the unit also deals with the different requirements in saloon and cockpit, without having to use the Fade controls.

Bill has just started on the rudder and I want to take photos of each stage of the process. I built the stands to allow him to work on the rudder easily, his first step is to fill the internal holes and create the overall shape using 12mm higher density Divinycell. Then that will get a pretty serious layer of glass, and then the outside layer of foam and glass to produce the finished product.