With winter approaching we have been waiting for a decent break in the weather to get the leaks closed up . This week we had the chance to get on with the 2 main leaks above the wheelhouse doors and to remove some of the rotted wood that is causing them. We needed to stop the ingress of water before we can carry out the internal repairs but we could not do a permanent repair until we have all the wood ready and cut to size and also we need to remove the doors and revamp them over the winter . This meant a decent temporary repair had to suffice. PVC strip and sealant was the way forward and was easier that i had first thought , the combings above each door was in 3 parts and although the bolts were behind the interior trim of the wheelhouse i was able to chisel out enough wood on the exterior to get to the nuts . Once the wood was off i could simply cut off the bolts , push through and seal up . Port side wasnt as bad and i managed to save part of the combing with a simple strip of PVC sealed over the offending leaky section of timber The starboard side was fully rotted at the stern end and once the front section was removed the rear section simply fell off . I had to leave the wood to dry for 3-4 hrs before covering up to get some sort of seal when i covered it in PVC . This side i had to repeat what i had done on the port side with the addition of the side panel above the door [where the worst leak was] The end result isn't bad but isn't pretty but mainly it is going to do what i need while i work on the new sides at home and while over the winter i can remove each door and revamp , also as we stop the leaks i can start work on replacing the water damaged sections on the interior One other leak i managed to seal was the port deck drain , again it is only temporary but hopefully it will help in drying out that area a little . Going forward we are going to alter the way the wheelhouse gutters are constructed from the way the old ones were . first is to replace the wood runner section above each door and side panel , but only in the area of the door / runner. Forward of the doors is going to be a side panel directly on to the wheelhouse side with no wood gutter which will improve access down the side of the wheelhouse as previously you had to lean out wards a little to get past the gutter section [it should give another 4 -5 inches of shoulder space]. on top of the new gutter section over the door will be GRP bonded to the roof and flow-coated , this will prevent the water getting on to the wood below which is the reason for it rotting in the first place as water simply puddled over the door's.
over time this has made its way in to the wheelhouse and in to the rear cabin , something i dont want again.
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While the weather is totally pants outside for sorting the wheelhouse leaks I thought I would start to look in to what to do with the tankage issue we have on board . Just to reiterate what we have , We have 3 separate tanks on board 2x 500ltr main tanks and 1x 90ltr heater tank, the heater tank has some crud and water in it due to a damaged filler cap , starboard main tank has what we think is diesel bug in and also so much other contamination it is out of action , port side main tank had minimal contamination and is usable at present .
Plan A was to drain all the tanks clean out and re fill with fresh fuel . Although this would take some serious effort it would also cost a huge amount with both tanks being full . This would involve pumping out , hauling and disposing of 1000ltr of diesel . Plan B is to polish the fuel in the port tank and remove the fuel in the starboard tank and clean that one out . Again this involves a lot of money and time but we also have a plan C. Plan C it to make a diy fuel polisher to sort the port tank so we have a guaranteed propulsion supply on board without any down time , this can be done over a period of visits while doing other jobs on board and minimizes the waste of fuel and time put in to handling . It also massively reduces the cost and we would then be able to have an on board fuel polisher for future treatment . The starboard tank can wait till we get round to replacing the bulkhead as it looks like we may be able to remove this tank at the same time and empty and clean properly while the structure is out of the way , Currently we cannot access the fuel tanks apart from the filler cap and gauge flange. The Heating system is currently out of action although once this is back up and running i intend to remove the small tank and plumb it in to one of the main tanks , partly to save space but mainly to give us access to the forward area on the engine [currently the fuel tank prevents this due to its location ]. So fuel polishing research is what ile be doing to make up a system to sort at least one of our tanks out so we can have proper peace of mind while motoring but also to include this in to scheduled maintenance for the engine to hopefully prevent a future build up of gunk and contamination to the fuel Every one knows when you buy a used boat your bound to find a leak or two. With Roys Joy we knew she had a few good leaks and where most were but since we brought her we had had perfectly dry weather and no real chance to do a proper search for the others, what we needed was a prolonged wet period to show the smaller leaks locations. This week we got that chance and while the kids were doing there usual Friday night sailing club we went aboard just as the sky's opened again . The main issue or area we have leaks and large ones at that is the area around the wheelhouse doors and aft cabin , The gutters that run the length of the wheelhouse roof have a hardwood edge and right above the doors they have rotted allowing water to puddle and leak in through the top of the door runners . This is turn has made its way in to the interior mainly the aft cabin and rear of the wheelhouse and rotted the inside step area and the rear bulkhead behind the aft bunk . While we were aboard we managed to trace a few more minor leaks in the cleat fixings , deck drains and one window frame , All now jotted down and marked for future repair . So before we get on with the internal work we need to resolve the water ingress even if it is just a temp fix the sooner we get this done the sooner we can crack on with the internal repairs and refit . so the first this i want to do it to patch over the wheelhouse gutters to prevent the water puddling and further ingress , This i will be doing a temporary fix with 4inch pvc strip sealed and bonded to the the roof and to the side of the combings - this will act as the gutter and stop any water gaining entry to the leaky old wooden section .
The cleats and deck drains is a simple job of removing the offending fitting , cleaning , re sealing and finally refitting all we need in dry weather again . One thing i never realized is there was a leak dripping on to the Eberspatcher heating unit and probably likely to be the reason this does not work . To be continued ... Last year i made a crude electric outboard for our tender .
This year i have finished it off and refined the thing and now we have a light weight - easy to use motor pushing the tender better than our 2 hp suzuki One of the benefits i wanted is the kids and the Mrs can use this its that simple and much more powerful than the basic shop brought versions Total build cost £0 |
AuthorOne family renovating a Colvic Watson and preparing for an epic adventure Archives
April 2018
Categorieshttps://www.facebook.com/hambleys/
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