Parts are being ordered for the work so that should start soon. In the meantime, parts of the teak decking are being lifted to assess the extent of the de-bonding. So far it looks like only the strip of planking closest to the cabin top has de-bonded.
The glue fixing the decking to the cabin top (its not screwed, just bonded with glue) has lifted in a few places which has allowed water to get between the wood and the GRP deck. So not into the actual deck itself. In the pictures below the original glue is the orange shading and the black areas are the glue that has come away. It will be cleaned off and the decking glued back down again, which will solve the problem.
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I am getting occasional emails from the chap who bought Dream Weaver, updating on his adventures, which is nice but makes me wish all the more Luna was ready to put back in the water! Still, should not be too long now (I hope).
She has been moved inside the main shed at Silvers Marine now so that work can start on the hull and deck. That’s the bow of a 60’ motor cruiser towering over her! Being inside the (massive) shed means it will be nice and dry and warm for the work to be carried out. The list of work has not been agreed yet so will hold off posting details, but will summarise when complete. The other pictures below show how the keel and grounding plate have become pitted over time. They have now been blasted clean and back to the bare metal. Plan is to fill and fair the keel and grounding plate and then apply 4 or 5 coats of Interprotect epoxy paint followed by 3 coats of Gelshield before the Coppercoat. The hull itself will get the 3 coats of Gelshield as well. That’s a lot of paint! Hoping to pop round and see the boat once the keel has been done. Iain at Marine Blast finished cleaning the hull today. He used salt blasting, which is gentler to the gelcoat and is better for the environment as well - a win / win! The keel and grounding plate were done first yesterday and immediately sealed with an epoxy primer to ensure no further oxidisation. There is some pitting on the iron, but nothing of any significance. The boat will shortly move into the paint shop at Silvers where the copper coat can be applied. It needs to be kept at a stable (and warm) temperature for a few days to enable to copper coat to cure properly. There are few places in Scotland that can do this and Silvers are ideal. Their paint shop can easily accommodate larger boats and has a pit where the keel can be dropped down to make working on it safer. After cleaning the keel, there was a layer of dust inside the boat! Looks like the top of the keel box is not airtight... One to look at later and meantime she will be getting a wash and shampoo tomorrow!
So, what is this then?
Basically, it's a (hopefully) easy way to keep family and friends informed about what we are up to on our boat and also give them (you?) a way to keep in touch and add comments and questions. It's also a way for us to keep a record of our trips on Luna and record them somewhere that we can come back to on long winter's evenings and dream about the season to come! Where to start? Well it started two months ago with a phone call to Phil Howling at network Yacht Brokers in Dartmouth. They had just put a Southerly 35RS for sale on their website. Until seeing the boat I'd had vague thoughts about selling Dream Weaver and getting a deck saloon yacht, but not done anything more than think... Actually, this really started a few years ago at the Southampton boat show when we took a test sail in a Southerly 35RS. The boats were still being made at that time and there was no place in our lives for a yacht, so it went no further. But, the Southerly made an impression with its layout, ease of handling and great performance. Those memories were awakened by seeing the website, so I found myself on the phone to Phil on the Saturday morning, making an offer on a boat I had not seen! Following a successful survey, Whisky Mac became ours on Monday 7 June. In the meantime, we had sold Dream Weaver and she had been shipped off (by lorry) to her new home in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Whisky Mac was picked up by John Shepherd Boat Transport on Wednesday 23 June and delivered to Silvers Marine on the Rosneath peninsula on 24 June, where we saw her for the first time. And that is where she is now, with a list of work that Duncan Chalmers and the team will get done before she hits the water again as Luna. Why Luna? Easy really, Lucy Iona. |