The week started well, with the painters making giant strides with the dodger…but life’s never easy when you haul out to do some maintenance, maybe that’s why it’s called “The Hard”?
With the rain-catcher now filled and fared to perfection, the painters prepared to add the top coat to the completed hard dodger roof and sides. Although Awgrip is tougher, we use Awlcraft 2000 on Esper, because it is a little more forgiving and allows for easy repair work. First of all they erected a tent round the entire structure and sprayed the ground and surrounding area with water. This is to prevent dust particles from rising into the air and ruining the silky smooth finish. The hose was on all day…which explained the higher than average water bill at the end of the month!
While the painters got down to some precision work at the end of the yard, Inn began to work his magic on the topsides. The bow looked beautiful with all the dents and nicks filled, fared and painted, which meant that the rest of the topsides looked downright dismal. He appled a paste which he left for five minutes of so, then buffed to a high gloss. It’s all good now, and you can’t see the join!
What’s not so good is this diesel leak which we’ve been battling with over the last few of months. Jamie’s been dreading having to tackle it, as it means draining and cleaning the tank, then moving the calorifier to get to the problem. This might not seem so bad, but as these are all under our bed, we have to remove the bed linen, mattress and charts (they’re laid out underneath the mattresses), and the wooden supports.
Then we have to find somewhere to put all this stuff which won’t be too much in the way of actual living. Not easy. And that’s before we even start making any repairs! With the calorifier out of action we had no water, so we took the decision to spend a couple of nights in one of the marina condominiums. Luxury!
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And while all that was going on, Lek and Wit began to look seriously at our davits. Originally designed to take our folding Portabote and small outboard, it was now looking decidedly fragile with the new(ish) Highfield dinghy and Tohatsu motor hanging off the back. With Jamie’s help they came up with a few ways to reinforce it, and make it more stable…
Back to real time, and Liz has been in the UK seeing her dad, who now needs 24 hour supervision. He’s been placed in a friendly care home, which he loves – he thinks everyone there works for him. So she is heading back to Esper this week! Hoorah!
Millie and Jamie are beside themselves. Well, Millie is just asleep, but at least one of us can’t wait for Liz’s return. Looking forward to doing a feature on what’s inside Liz’s case. It’s packed full of goodies, both boaty and camera-y.
Thanks for your fantastic support!
Peace and fair winds to each and every one of you.
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Jamie,
I had a thought on the diesel leak. It looks like the rectangular flanges on the supply pipes that exit the tank are secured using nuts only on the inside of the tank. Perhaps matching rectangular plates on the inside would provide a more stable / consistent seal, assuming this is where the leak is. Hope this might help, Grady Dees
Well spotted. We did consider this when we were trying to come up with the right solution, but it would have been a fiddly process trying to seal them from the inside. Keep watching, though, because we came up with a solution in the end that involved a completely new system. Cheers!