A Blob not a blog

I have to admit to being somewhat neglectful of the blog. We have been a bit busy, and distressed by our circumstance.

I am also struggling with the practicalities of Blogspot. I have tried to edit the last blog a few time to make it more readable, but that seems not to have worked. 

So I apologise to any English teachers out there for the thousand word paragraph,

When we arrived a week ago the weather was a bit inclement. A bit windy and parky.

Since then it has settled down into cool mornings, hot afternoons and balmy evenings. Winds getting up in the afternoon to 15-18 knots. Perfect sailing weather.

This only makes our current circumstance even more painful.

We had been unceremoniously plonked in the centre of the yard well away from any other boats. I am not clear if this was because of concern that bad fortune is contagious or whether it we were being placed in the centre of the amphitheatre so that all could witness the tearing limb from limb.

We were still trying to get our head round our various dilemmas.

My initial plan was to try to minimise disruption.

 I argued that the likely source of the leak was the forward keel bolts. This was reinforced by getting all the floor boards up. Once that was done we could see that a couple of them had rust stains tracking from under the large washers.

When we were flat in our cradle the diesel settled in the sump at the middle of the keel, but when lifted we had been somewhat nose down and the diesel had run forwards around these bolts.

So we drew a couple of these bolts. The non rusty one was pristine with white Sikaflex apparent in the hole down to the keel. The one with rust a bit less so. 

So my plan was to draw all the bolts and re insert them with a new Sikaflex seal to the bolts. I would then grind out the Sikaflex around the seam externally and re-fill with new Sikaflex to give an external seal.

 Robert is your mother’s brother!

However this plan failed its first touch with reality. I was persuaded that the diesel leak inferred a loss of the bond between the keel and hull. It would seem this is our fault for sailing too much.

A group of cognoscenti had formed around our problem. Emre is the boss of the engineering firm, Mustaffa is the rigger and mast climber, but also Professor of Chemistry at the University and a software engineer, and then there is Mustaffa’s sunglasses wearing mate, who, from his discourse, is probably the Professor of Physics.

They explained that while motoring upright the keel bolts take the weight of the keel but while sailing a huge righting moment is applied more laterally to the Sikaflex bond.

Mustaffa then explained that Sikaflex hardens under compression and also remains flexible while under water. 

But sitting a boat out on the hard for two years is a bad idea.

They then explained that even if my plan to seal the bolts and the seam prevented leaks immediately, because the bond throughout the whole of the surface area was compromised, the next time we were out in a blow we may well get serious water ingress.

We were then treated to a lecture on the physics of our folding propeller, how it would perform when going astern, our dual ratio gearbox and the relative sizes of the forward and reverse clutches, Torlon bearings versus steel, etc. These guys are properly knowledgeable.

They did a good job on me.

I was persuaded in part because I don’t really think anyone wanted this work. 

In fact Emre’s first response was just to launch, and to leave the area immediately before anyone saw the Diesel in the water! They take sea pollution very seriously.

They are also very busy, the lifts work all day and half the night launching boats at the moment. This yard has 1300 boats, including many super yachts, and they all want worked on and launched right now.

And that is where the money is for the local economy, they really can’t be doing with small fry like us.

Anyway the thought of M in her personal flotation device in a life raft was just too much.

It was time to take the keel off! £££££££££££££

So firstly I had to go to the Marina office to discuss extending my contract. Emre was already sucking his teeth at the costs that he would incur, but he seemed very concerned about the cost of extending my contract with the marina. 

I soon discovered the cause of his unspoken anxiety. They administered the punishment big time to a desperate soul held down over a barrel.

I will describe in more detail at the end of the tale when the final judgement comes.

Beer was consumed.

The next morning was a whirlwind of activity. Mustaffa turned up to prepare the mast for lifting. I managed to reduce the cost a bit by disconnecting the electrics myself (£250).

 I had been planning to redo them anyway as after the previous mast removal the reconnection had been profoundly shonky, and I had come prepared.

Then the rest of the crew arrived with the crane. It was an impressive bit of team work and the mast was removed in about half an hour and laid out on trestles beside the boat.

 The guys were obviously pleased with themselves and took a team selfie looking skywards with the dismembered mast above them.

The first limb had been

 ripped off.

I inspected it with Mustaffa and identified a whole variety of jobs needing doing. I had noticed that our roller furling was stiff and was unhappy. 

But my complaint was dismissed. Apparently sitting for 18 months in a dusty environment can do that.

 I had tried the pouring boiling water over the roller drum trick. This can dissolve salt crystals and that had helped a bit but it was not right.

The reason for this now became clear, a bodge had been performed at the top bushing involving Sikaflex and electrical tape the last time we had a furling problem, hmm mm.

There were a variety of other tasks on the mast to do, so in fact it was very useful to have it down, if eye wateringly expensive.

M set about with great gusto cleaning and polishing. 

Mustaffa had explained the chemistry of stainless steel crevice corrosion and the importance of prevention. The main issue in a boat yard is all the grinding going on and rusty metal about. This forms fine particulate metal dust that settles on the stainless and starts the corrosion process. 

The solution, after cleaning, apply liberal amounts of Vaseline. So our 2 year old standing rigging was treated to a good polish with WD40 and the first aid cupboard was raided for it’s tub of Vaseline.  Should have had it available for the marina office experience. 

The list of jobs is huge, and grows the more time we are here.

 I have re-bedded a leaking hatch (Butyl Tape is the canine cahunas for this).

made up new lazy jack lines, drilled out and replaced some corroded rivets, fitted a new mast cleat, Loctited all the furler extrusion connector screws etc etc.

Meanwhile M has been the White Tornado in cleaning terms.

Since the mast came down previously for standing rigging replacement, our wind speed and direction indicator has not worked. 

I found a brilliant article on line from Raymarine about how to test their system.

So I have confirmed that the cable is intact within the mast, that the correct voltage is being delivered to the masthead transducers and that the wiring seems to be intact to the binnacle where the readout instrument is mounted. 

So it may be that this bit has failed, which would be strange given that it all worked fine before the mast was dropped last time.

Anyway while tracing all this I was inside the stern locker contemplating the flows of electrons, when I noticed that a large air duct was badly damaged as it passed underneath the bulkhead into the area where the diesel tank is mounted.

This would explain why the diesel heater was not working and smoke seemed to emanate from it when I had tried testing it.

This heater air duct just happened to be sitting next to the rubber pipe attached to the diesel tank vent. A coincidence? I don't think so. 

It seems likely that some big guy had been instructed to get inside this not big guy sized locker while the rudder bushing was being replaced last year.

 I can just see the scenario, sudden cramp or back spasm and an urgent need to get out, a few uncontrolled foot movements and bang, broken tank vent and air duct.

Anyway, nothing will ever be proven or admitted, and I doubt anyone has much sympathy either.

The next morning the welders arrived with a load of steel beams and an arc buzz box. They set to work constructing a frame to prevent the keel falling over when the boat is lifted off. Highly artistic and entertaining. Safety apparatus consisted mostly of a pair of sunglasses!

It is also a very effective means of preventing us from doing a runner. An effective wheel clamp. We are improsoned. 

I am afraid that is probably all that is going to happen for a while though. There are a series of Turkish public holiday is just about to occur with Labour day on 1^st May and then Ramazan Bayrami which is the Turkish Eid at the end of Ramadan and goes on for several days. So it seems we may have to wait until after then for the next phase, which is a bit stressful, and expensive.

However we have plenty of jobs to get on with, we are in a nice warm climate with friendly people, the food and beer are cheap, there is a swimming pool and a gym on site, and endless entertainment. What is not to like.