Projects / Maintenance

Wednesday & Thursday 21-22 Oct, HHN, boat winterizing days 21-22: Missed writing blog yesterday … so here it is now, 2 day’s worth.
Wednesday started very leisurely. I took a cycle ride to say goodbye to the guys on sv Flora (HR43) who are heading south to Bahamas for the season. They mention there is another HR43 on the next dock, who is also going with them, so I take a ride over to say hi, only to be greeted with “Hi Glen, how are you?”. It turns out to be Amalia of London, with Steve and Helena. We had met them in Greece in 2017. Needless to say, we have a lot to chat about, telling our tales of where we have been for the last 3 years.
They came across the Atlantic on the route I would take if we had our time again. Cape Verde, across to French Guiana, then Surinam, before getting to the real Caribbean. They didn’t rave about French Guiana, but they loved Surinam and ended staying there for 3 months. They also ended up locked down in Antigua and got to know our friend Martin Evans, who was also there on his Moody. Small world eh?
Comparing notes on this-&-that, I end up offering to take their Code-0 to Bacon Sails when I next go to Annapolis. They want to sell it, but most of all they want it out of the boat while in Bahamas. So if it does not sell, at least they get free storage for a year, till they return here next hurricane season.
Before I know it, the morning has passed and nothing constructive done. But it was nice to socialize for a change, even if I am a bit envious of them heading off to warm blue waters for the winter.

Back at Cloudy Bay, it’s time to roll up my sleeves and get the last of the hydraulic gear boxes cleaned up, now that I finally have them all completely dismantled. That takes all the rest of the afternoon, and I’m very glad when I finally dispose of the diesel bucket that is now completely contaminated with dirty grease.
Inside Cloudy Bay, my evening job is to replace all the snap fittings on the carpets. Ours were completely tarnished, and some no longer gripping their male counterparts on the floor boards. Coastal Canvas had kindly lent me their hand-held snap fitting installer. It takes about 1 hour to replace them all, and at the end it’s nice to see both clean carpets as well as the shining snap fittings.
This clean image gives me an urge to clean up inside and get Cloudy Bay looking a bit more homely, rather than the current state of a mixture of workshop and eating area. So, for the remainder of the evening it’s a massive tidy up. In any case, it needs some things clearing up ready for the next job tomorrow – cleaning the upholstery on the seats.

Thursday, I wake fully refreshed. For the first time since arriving, I went all the way through the night without needing my inhaler. I occasionally get asthma, and for some reason, whilst inside the boat, I’d found myself very dependent on my inhaler. But now that I’ve cleaned the carpets, all asthma symptoms have miraculously vanished. I wonder what was in the carpets that I cleaned out? I summise it might have been mildew spores. Whatever, I feel like a new man this morning rather than a wheezing OAP!

First job, is to line up all the sequences of parts from the 3 furling systems. I lay them out on white shrink-wrap plastic (what would I do without this stuff!) and take photos of them. My intention is to annotate the photos with “paint” program, then send to Selden, indicating what parts I need. If they cannot give me schematics and parts lists, this is how I’m going to have to get them ordered.
Interestingly, using some inscriptions on the bearings that need replacing, Google tells me that most of the bearings are simply vehicle wheel bearings – most notably for LandRover. On Ebay, they can be purchased for $25. It will be VERY interesting to see what Selden’s price is  …. If they ever give me prices.
I received a reply from the main Selden service agent in UK, and they told me Selden never allow their agents to touch these motors, and insist they are sent to Sweden for rebuild. It looks like it’s going to be an interesting exercise to get replacement parts, given I have gone against the Selden laws! Watch this space for an update.

After the photo studio exercise, the next job is to wet-clean the seat upholstery inside the boat. Precariously, I take the machine inside the saloon. If it leaks even a drip onto my newly cleaned carpets, there will be words said! But whilst cleaning the first seat cushion, I notice small black bits coming out of the spray jet onto the material. And worse, they are very hard to remove. So I immediately stop using the machine and revert, like the carpets, to hand cleaning, using a lot of elbow grease. It’s a beautifully warm day outside, but inside the shrink-warp tent and inside the boat, along with the dehumidifier going and all my cleaning effort, it’s like a frinkin’ sweatshop. In fact, the saloon thermometer reads 28degC and 80% humidity. No wonder I’m sweating like I’m in the tropics. Finally, by late afternoon, about the time I call Oana to say goodnight (she is 7 hours ahead in Bucharest) I’m done. Both down with the upholstery, and also me done physically. I’m totally pooped!

To end the day, I take a casual cycle ride around the marina at dusk to take in the cool evening air. I cycle up and down each pontoon looking at the boats. Something I have never actually done while we have been here. Always too busy. It’s a beautiful evening, warm and calm, and I’m surprised at how many people are using the BBQs and picnic benches by the marina, cooking an outside dinner. And I realise once again what a wonderful marina and yard Herrington Harbour North is. So very clean and well kept, with almost park-like manicured gardens. I think I could live here!