Travelocity Gnome????????

No, its the Forespar TruPlug Emergency plug jammed in one of my Thru Hulls to permit me to change a defective Groco ball-valve. (IMHO a great product, the plug that is - get a few).

Groco had issued a recall on some of its valves (See the service bulletin here). I thought I was in the clear as the shafts of the ones I had installed were brass not stainless steel. Imagine my surprise when one of my 2" valves (cockpit drain) would not shut off. The good news was that I had installed the IBV version with the separate flange. By jamming the "gnome" in the thru-hull the change out was a simple matter. I'm pretty sure that anyone with the flanges version would be less than impressed as changing them would require a haul and a lot of work.




I have e-mailed Groco and look forward to their response.

Dry boat concept - part two.

If you ever want to test deck leaks on a boat, Miami in summer, is hard to beat. Afternoon rainfall is measured in inches/hr. I had assumed that the few leaks in TIH were the chain plates and the odd cap rail bolt/screw. Imagine my surprise to see a constant stream of water appear in the after cabin (port side, aft). Once the monsoon stopped I inspected the area and could find no obvious source for the leak......until I opened the Gas locker. The photo shows half the water drained away. The locker had filled and the overspill came into the after cabin via a small hole in the bulkhead. That in itself is interesting as this is meant to be a gas tight LPG locker with no leaks to the inside of the boat. Something else for the work list.

The concept of a dry boat......

I don't believe that a "dry" boat exists. Between water ingress and condensation most, if not all, boats will have areas where water collects. The solutions are ventilation and limber (drain) holes. TIH has a few small areas of rot on shelves and wooden partitions. So far the water source has been traced to the existing chain plate installation.


Fortunately solutions are simple and relatively cheap. Git Rot Penetrating Epoxy works well on rotten wood.

Form follows function.....

The gunwale (aka cap rail) on TIH will need replacing at some stage. At the very least it will have to be removed and re caulked, as there is some evidence of leaking via the screws holding the cap rail to the fiberglass. This project will result in one of the "form follows function" discussions with my wife, Lynne. Teak is nice and looks 'traditional" but it requires - maintenance.

I really like the work carried out on a CSY 44 called "Soggy Paws" where the teak caprail was replaced with a TACO extrusion.

Check out the project here; Soggy Paws caprail

Photo here used without permission, hope Sherry and Dave will not mind.



The idea is posted here as I will need support when the time comes to discuss the project.

Bronze V. MARELON®

and new stuff V. old stuff. RJ over on the Westsail 42 rebuild had opted for MARELON® thru hulls. This certainly seem the way to go as they have been around for some time and meet all Certifications etc. They are appearing in more and more boats. I have no logical disagreement with this technology, its just that when it comes to basic boat stuff I'm old fashioned. I love the heft of bronze and its been around since .... the "Bronze Age".


I may change my mind a few years into the "Marelon Age".


A larger discussion is the choice between the old style stuffing box and the PSS Dripless Shaft Seal. I come down firmly on the side of the old style stuffing box, especially for cruising sailboats.

Fun with the power washer.....

Men would do a lot more work in the home if housework involved the use of a power washer....


The after cabin has been cleaned prior to painting. Now I just have to vacuum up the paint chips.


This is the Stbd. Aft. Mizzen chainplate. The chainplate access on the Whitby 42 is excellent.

The problem with boring work........

like cleaning and painting bilges, is that it is very easy to get distracted. Thank God for power tools. Hard to beat a $69 water blaster for removing years of grime.

Barrier Coat

Hard....tooo.....typee.....with..soreeee..arms......... Well as TIH had spend 15 years on the hard (i.e. out of the water) this was a good time to put on the required number of barrier coats to reduce the risk of osmosis. Intelux 2000E comes highly recommended and so far has worked out. The photo is of Jim E. (Boat guru, everything boat related expert etc. etc.) putting on the first coat. After that it was gray coat, white coat, gray coat etc. We got 5 coats on today but as the last one was done in the dark I cannot vouch for its completeness.



Four coats on, fifth going on the the dark by, painting by braille.



Cutlass bearing in, shaft installed and rudder shoe and gudgeon dry fitted. Usual saga with cutlass bearings. TIH uses a 6 inch long 2 inch diameter bearing. After inserting it about two inches it put up a fight, so the usual cruiser hi-tech solution was employed. A number of whacks with a suitable sledge hammer convinced it to behave. Removal in a few years will be less that fun, but that is why God invented sawzalls'.

So how many holes do you need in a boat????

The correct answer should be as few as possible. At 3am when the water is gently lapping over the deck boards the less places you have to check the better. Having to check 13 sea cocks (I was wrong in my previous post, I found another one), four transducer/speed log fittings and the sonar from hell, might get a little tiresome. Therefore nine holes were destined to be ground out and filled in. The removal is the fun part (except for the fiberglass dust) as I was always good at taking things apart.



The patching of the holes is a whole other matter.

Getting blasted.......

One subject that strikes fear into the heart of most boat owners is the term "hull blisters" also knows as "boat pox". Whitby's have little or no history of such a problem but it pays to take precautions. Painting on a barrier coat before applying anti-fouling is one such option. The fact that the hull had been dried for such a long time made this an ideal opportunity to do this.

First the old anti-fouling had to come off. Wet sandblasting is a good way to do this as long as the operator know what he is doing and avoids damaging the underlying gel coat. It all worked extremely well.

Happiness is a clean bottom....

After having done extensive research about chemically removing the existing bottom paint I was relieved to hear that the yard did not permit such methods. It was certified as a "Clean Marina" and planned to keep it that way. Having hauled our previous boat in various developing countries over the years I was never too happy seeing pretty nasty chemicals drain into local waters.

These are photos of "Eriu" hauled in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala.

'I'm sure the EPA inspector is under here somewhere"

The good news is the there is a new "fully complaint" yard in the Rio. Hopefully it will continue to exist.