In this publication10 photos
Back in November, I gave DavidsWerft a winter list. Workshop in my marina: convenient, reassuring in theory. Engine service, bow platform, new propeller-shaft seal and anode, shrouds and backstay, deck chain pipe into the forepeak.
Simple spring plan: Friday launch at eight, mast at ten, straight to Kiel. Neat on paper. In my head, reasons not to sleep all week.
Would the keel leak? Shaft seal? Fresh epoxy in the bulwark distort? Saturday’s forecast force 8 catch me? In autumn, I knew the boat’s weaknesses. After critical winter repairs, I no longer knew what would leave the marina.
Then the plan itself: launch, then eighty miles west alone, where wind often comes from the west. Pure optimism.
A day early
I arrived Thursday morning to work remotely, sleep aboard and check everything calmly. Calm ended when I saw the boat.
No bow platform, no shaft anode, no epoxy sealing the chain-pipe opening’s exposed sandwich core. Especially invigorating after five litres of water had been left beneath the engine over winter, freezing the pump solid.
At the workshop, I asked them to finish. No correct anode. Urgent platform cut-out marking. While one worker handled that, another changed the fuel pre-filter, broke the lift-pump lever, began removing the pump, dropped bolt and spanner beneath the engine, then said he had to go home.
Left with unfinished platform, missing anode and a fuel pump newly added to the list.
Small jobs, no longer small
I did what I could. My shaft anode was eighteen millimetres wide; space, fifteen. Sanded 1.5mm off each side. Forty minutes, four discs.
External sensors next. First season, unprotected log, fist-sized barnacles by July. Last year, marine grease kept readings reasonable almost to September, despite barnacles at lift-out.
This year, specialist transducer antifouling: Marlin Yacht Paint Eco Transducer Antifouling. Vinegar first, generously rinsed. Ten minutes softened shell remnants enough for a wet cloth. Clean plastic.
Finally, syringe-mixed epoxy brushed onto the chain-pipe opening’s raw edge. Minimum moisture protection, hardly pretty.
By evening, my list was finished. Couldn’t say the same for theirs.
#maintenance
Simple spring plan: Friday launch at eight, mast at ten, straight to Kiel. Neat on paper. In my head, reasons not to sleep all week.
Would the keel leak? Shaft seal? Fresh epoxy in the bulwark distort? Saturday’s forecast force 8 catch me? In autumn, I knew the boat’s weaknesses. After critical winter repairs, I no longer knew what would leave the marina.
Then the plan itself: launch, then eighty miles west alone, where wind often comes from the west. Pure optimism.
A day early
I arrived Thursday morning to work remotely, sleep aboard and check everything calmly. Calm ended when I saw the boat.
No bow platform, no shaft anode, no epoxy sealing the chain-pipe opening’s exposed sandwich core. Especially invigorating after five litres of water had been left beneath the engine over winter, freezing the pump solid.
At the workshop, I asked them to finish. No correct anode. Urgent platform cut-out marking. While one worker handled that, another changed the fuel pre-filter, broke the lift-pump lever, began removing the pump, dropped bolt and spanner beneath the engine, then said he had to go home.
Left with unfinished platform, missing anode and a fuel pump newly added to the list.
Small jobs, no longer small
I did what I could. My shaft anode was eighteen millimetres wide; space, fifteen. Sanded 1.5mm off each side. Forty minutes, four discs.
External sensors next. First season, unprotected log, fist-sized barnacles by July. Last year, marine grease kept readings reasonable almost to September, despite barnacles at lift-out.
This year, specialist transducer antifouling: Marlin Yacht Paint Eco Transducer Antifouling. Vinegar first, generously rinsed. Ten minutes softened shell remnants enough for a wet cloth. Clean plastic.
Finally, syringe-mixed epoxy brushed onto the chain-pipe opening’s raw edge. Minimum moisture protection, hardly pretty.
By evening, my list was finished. Couldn’t say the same for theirs.
#maintenance
Original and discussionOpen post in Telegram ↗
