Start on the bow

Thursday 18 October: Herrington Harbor North – yard day #2 – slow start of the hired professionals.
Today we hope to see some action on the boat by the hired professionals, not just us.
We start with a visit to Osprey, who will do the glass-fiber and gel coat repairs on the hull. The dents are quite small, so we are intrigued by the rate they quoted – it is quite expensive. JJ and Mike come over to have yet another look. Bottom line: no matter how much we debate on it, the quote is final. And what bugs us most, is that during the sanding process they will have to go into the blue stripe too. Which we definitely didn’t want touched. Our only consolation is they have the Hallberg Rassy blue gel coat for the job, and at least it will not be a “matching” color, but the original one. Once they start the job, all we can do is hope for the best.
We passed this dents repair cost estimate through our insurance company, and they were quick to respond (as always). What we still need to run through them is the cost for the repairs on gunwale (2 sections have the varnish scraped off and some dents in the teak), rudder and back of the keel (where the offending boat anchor chain got cought around).

Ray comes over for his usual morning visit, and he cheers us up by offering to help us on several types of orders. We will probably flip through their catalogues these days, for through hull fittings, plexiglass, watertight boxes, electrical cables, etc.

Our own job list starts with the bowthruster. After inquiring with Side-Power, we now know where the brushes are and how to get to them. So we start the dirty job by emptying the bow locker under the bunk, again. The bow thruster is buried there, under all our scuba diving and kitesurfing gear. Off comes the top of the motor, but beyond that we do not have access to the brushes. We can see them, and they still have some life in left in them. Black greasy powder is everywhere though, and we have no idea how to clean the motor. So we call Side-Power servicing company, to find out. Upfront, we learn we can’t send out the motor as their turnaround time will not fit into our schedule. And no suggestion on how to clean either. Only advise is to vacuum, but that is only doable on loose powder, not greasy powder. Glen takes out a brush, and it seems to clean ok with heavy duty wipes. Luckily, we bought a brand new pack of such wipes.
To double check there’s nothing wrong with the dc motor, we inquire with Zimmerman service company here in the yard. Mike comes onboard, and he confirms engine is fine, and the greasy powder is normal too. Ok, we’ll just have to take all the brushes out and wipe them off. Glen cleans the engine the best that he can, and washes all the mobile parts. All good to that point. But reassembling, doesn’t exactly work according to the plan. After a bit of wiggling, we have the bowthruster engine back together. And tested ok. With the appropriate amount of black powder blown out, again! So yet another clean of the locker, then engine is sealed in his box. Phew, one job done.

Bow repair: Mid-afternoon the Osprey guy comes. Not Mike as we had expected, but at least someone to make a start. The damaged area is covered in plastic then he grinds out the bad glass fiber. And before we know it, it is filled with resin and fibre matt ready to dry over night. Yuppy, the repair has started.

Hull polish: We love our hull shiny, and it’s a continuous frustration for us to keep it as such. Polishing and waxing gives it just a short term shine. We mentioned previously about the Awlgrip paint (offer on which we passed, due to excessive cost and irreversible process) and the cover in vinyl option (which we are starting to be put off on by various feedbacks). Our newest discovery after some googling is Ceramic Pro. Which in theory gives a high gloss to the hull, lasts 18 months and doesn’t need buffing, only reapply to renew the fresh look. We called a certified installer company, which quoted a lot more than we expected for this job. So today we inquired with a distributor, and turns out we can buy the product and apply it ourselves, if we have the right tools and know how. A company representative will come by to show us how to apply it. If we can have the blue stripe shiny, with that wet look all the time, and the white not going yellow few months after polishing, I will be very happy. All sounds good, in theory. Me, I am not a believer. I have to see it with my own eyes. So we asked where we can see some boats which had Ceramic Pro applied on their hull. We got an address, and mid-afternoon we drove there to see this boat. It wasn’t recently washed, which was good, because it gave Glen an idea about how easy it cleans. Only a gentle wipe and rinse with water hose, and dirt was all off. And surface looks like it was recently waxed. The boat is white, we would’ve liked to see this product on a colored hull, but this will have to do. We get all excited, and we are pretty much sold on this product. Order is placed, will be delivered for demonstration and teaching on Monday. Cannot wait! Fingers crossed Mike will agree to apply this ceramic coat instead of the usual wax.

On the way to this boat we stop by the hardware store where Ray mentioned we can fill up our new glass fiber gas bottles. And sure enough, we hand over the bottles and they get filled on the spot. That was so quick and easy! We then secure them in the back with the seat belts, and giggle all the way about our “passengers”.

For the evening job, we start on the Gori propeller. Anodes off, screws off, but pretty much nothing else comes off. So we spray a fair amount of WD40 on joints and will let it soak till tomorrow. It will all need to come off for cleaning, servicing, and paint with PropSpeed. This is another product which we discovered here in USA, at Roy’s recommendation. Apparently no barnacles will stick to the prop or the shaft if we paint it with this PropSpeed.

When it gets too dark to even find our tools on the ground, we retire inside in the warmth. For a bit of reading, to remind ourselves how to take apart the Gori propeller. Then we head off to our temporary accommodation aiming for an early night. And we bring the new laptop with us, aiming to set it up. But guess what. Do you remember our luck with new buys when it comes to gadgets? Well, we are on the exact same trend: laptop doesn’t even start properly. Let alone installing anything. So it’s yet another return we need to attend to. Why can’t we buy something that works?
On this not so positive note, we spend the rest of the evening watching Gori propeller videos on YouTube. At least we’ll have the know how for tomorrow.