Saturday 23 Oct, re-launch 2021, HHN day 24: Relaxed day attempting to remove all the “goo” left over from the shrink wrap tape.
Alarm is snoozed several times this morning. We refuse to get out of bed until the boat heaters have done their job, making the boat all nice and snuggly. Autumn weather is here, cool and damp outside.
Not a lot of activity to report today.
Other than cleaning the forestay luff extrusion, which is lying in front of the boat ready for assembly, most of the day was spent cleaning the rub-rail on the hull. Pulling off the last of the shrink wrap tape and trying various concoctions to get the sticky goo removed. One year of winter followed by the summer heat has really sealed the adhesive onto the stainless rub rail. It was a job that I thought would take an hour or so to clean off, using acetone, but ended up taking all day and then still not finishing ☹
First, I tried Xylene, which the shrink wrap installer had advised. It does remove it, but certainly not quickly and a lot of effort needed. Then Acetone. But that just evaporates too fast. WD40? Nope. White spirit? Nope. Then I head over to get some 3M Adhesive Remover that Ray mentioned he has on Paul’s boat.
Paul had just finished painting part of the bilge in his HR49, Darling Blue, which he and Ray are completely refurbishing. He shows me the latest works in the engine room. They are making good progress, but still many months work to do in my estimation. One day I might like a project like this. I have always liked the HR352 and there is a little dream in the back of my head to buy a well-used one and do a bottom-to-top renovation. A retirement project after this circumnavigation retirement project! Psss don’t tell Oana!
Back at Cloudy Bay I try the 3M spray-on adhesive cleaner. Oh boy …. It’s amazing! Just a small amount sprayed onto Oana’s toothbrush melts about 30cm of goo, which is then easily wiped off. And 3M claim this is a citrus based product – totally natural. Must get me some of this. Don’t worry, I’ll clean Oana’s toothbrush later and have it back in place before she knows it 😊
While in the middle of the job, Mario pops by to say hello. I met Mario this time last year when he was looking to buy a HR43. He had 2 to choose from and asked me to look around both with him. He bought the newer of the 2, which was in remarkably good condition and the same year as Cloudy Bay. They may have even been manufactured next to each other at the HR birthing pool in Ellos, Sweden! Mario and his family have spent the summer cruising New England and are very much enjoying the boat.
He comes to us today, baring more gifts: one bottle of Cloudy Bay wine and some local craft beer. What a gentleman! And in exchange I answer his well-prepared list of questions on how to do this or that on his boat, where to get certain tools he has seen us use on our videos, etc. All of which we are very happy to discuss and answer. We love passing on our learnings to others. Especially HR owners.
By late afternoon, I am almost finished cleaning the rub rail, but not quite before the 3M wonder solution runs dry with just 4 metres left to go. Hence the rest of the daylight is used to clean the genoa/forestay luff extrusion, so that I may polish it and rebuild it tomorrow.
Once the hydraulic motor is installed back onto the extrusion, Stephen will come along tomorrow and make the new swage-lock fitting on the end, then up it goes into the rig. Unfortunately, the motor can only be removed over this 14mm swage, so it had to be cut off.
Incidentally, this forestay cable is the only one that we did not renew during this current exercise of replacing the standing rigging. Because the original was already replaced in 2016, when we had a halyard twist just weeks after buying the boat. Repairing that was an expensive little operation and a bit of a wake-up call for us regarding the costs of maintenance and repair on this size of boat. I think the total bill for a new forestay and a couple of new extrusion sections was in excess of Euros 3,000! A big gulp for us at the time and made us think: “just what have we got ourselves into, buying this boat?” But as they say, a sailing yacht is the most expensive way to travel anywhere for free!