Curtain Doors

This might be a bit tarty for some, but this is what I have been doing. Doors are fine but the trouble is they have to go somewhere when they open and that can be a struggle in a small boat. I decided to fit curtain doors to the heads and cabin for privacy when it is needed (by my guests). I borrowed my daughters sewing machine and dragged up memories of making curtains when I bought my first house. The heads curtain was more difficult as it has an angle cut-out to accommodate the slope in the roof. The rail is a smooth plastic dowel, and one side of the curtain is secured by press studs.

When the curtain is closed it is secured by a turnbuckle. The fabric is a polyester marine material.

The other curtain door is between the wheel house and cabin. This has to be removed when not in use so it has an elastic "curtain rail" with hooks at each end, and is hooked to two small rings on the bulkhead.

When the curtain is not in use it is folded up and put out of the way. I made a little draw-string bag for it out of off-cuts.

Now the weather is warmer and drier, I must get on with lining the hull in the cabin area with foam for insulation, followed by carpet from Mega Van Mats. I am procrastinating that one because it will be hard work (and smelly).

Cabin headlining progress

The cabin headlining is nearly done and was a lot trickier than I thought. Lots of paper templates, trial fitting, back home for trimming, fitting again, even a complete design change halfway through to make the fit more snug. The Lewmar hatch trim kit made life a lot easier but there were a lot of curves to take account of. 8mm ply pads were Sikaflexed to the roof, and the headlining boards screwed to that made of 5mm ply covered in foam-backed vinyl. The raw fibreglass coach room now looks cosy.

The original raw cabin interior looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

Next step is to glue high density foam to the hull sides, then glue van lining carpet to the foam. I can only do that when the weather is warmer and drier, to make sure there is no risk of condensation getting in the way of the adhesive.

Progress report, January 2015!

This thread has been quiet for a while as I have been working on lining out the cabin. Not much to show yet! This is my brother helping to measure for the paper templates

This and other jobs were interrupted by an annoying problem with fuel starvation which took a long time to track down. It turned out to be a string of silicone or PTFE in the fuel pipe which bunched up under flow pressure. All sorted now!

The other projects were a bit fiddly. I had installed a Wema steering sender gauge so I could tell where my outdrive was pointing. This is particularly useful when docking. It involved fitting a sender unit, but the transom area is nearly inaccessible and the Mercruiser steering yoke is tiny and had nothing to fix it to. I ended up fitting an access hatch in the rear cockpit side, which was needed anyway to access the power steering, and an elaborate bent brass arm fitted to the steering yoke. This links via a stainless rod to the Wema sender, which I have mounted on a little shelf.

The gauge now works!

Another job that should have been easy was to fit a remote switch with timer delay for the cockpit light. My thinking was that it would be convenient if when I arrived in the dark I could switch the cockpit light on with a button on the key fob, even if the boat power was off. When leaving, wouldn't it be cool to do the same while I lock up, and the light would switch itself off after 40 seconds? I reasoned that this would only need a timer delay like they have for car lights, and a remote switch. Both are cheap and plentiful in eBay and Amazon. Here is what I bought:

The delay module didn't have a box so I used a Maplins project box.

The receiver and delay were wired up with a fused live feed directly from the battery, by-passing the battery master. This switch is in parallel to the normal switch for the cockpit light.

There is a board full of electrickery under the galley, I mounted them there.

The switch is on my boat key ring

Press it and the cockpit light comes on for 40 seconds then goes off.

You may notice that the remote unit fitted is not the same as the one in the earlier photo. That one was unreliable, it would work fine then go on strike. I bought another, that one did not work at all. I am very grateful for Dave (of this and the Solent forum) who took both units apart and remade all the solder joints so they worked. The power of the internet! You buy something from China then someone you would never otherwise have met is a wiz at soldering and can make it work for you. I love this technology.

Finishing off some old jobs

I am starting to run out of jobs! Strange feeling. The cabin lining will have to wait until next summer as I need warm dry weather to cut out the anchor locker hatch and glass over it. Recent small jobs were: finishing plumbing in the hatch drains (involved removing batteries and much wriggling in small spaces); smartening the cabin step, finishing lining the heads (loo) and installing a bilge monitor system. This warns if the bilge pump is running and also to warn if the pump has run while the boat was unattended. If you want to make one yourself, I have put full instructions here: http://www.boat-angling.co.uk/Hints_and_Tips/bilgemonitor.htm It looks like this.

Fishing - or I could call it testing

Last weekend I managed to get half the hatch drain plumbed in, but I will have to remove the batteries to get at the other side and involves removing an unnecessarily large battery retainer just to get them out. This weekend's weather was too good to miss so that job can wait. I took Rebel Runner out fishing and here is proof that there is fish slime on that deck:

Some observations on recent additions: the new through-hull transducer was excellent, it held a strong bottom signal at all speeds. Or it did after I realised I had set it to a max depth of 10 feet and forgot to reset it to Auto, resulting in a long period of blank screen. The Garmin 551 Downvu works well, although the Flag Theofano wreck is still a lump. I will have to find something more interesting to look at. Finally, the outdrive leg trim sensor is now all wired up so I played with the trim. Unlike my previous deep vee hull, the higher the trim the worse the performance. Trimmed to midway, it wouldn't go faster than 13.6 knots. Trimmed nose down it immediately flew to 20 knots which is dramatic. I have been looking at Bennet trim tabs to help adjust the list to port at full throttle. They may also help fine-tune the bow attitude. I think I will fit those next lift-out.

Night job...

And the job I couldn't do earlier - the extra long skin fitting turned up from ASAP Supplies dead on time. I had to buy a costly bronze one but it was a perfect fit. Launch was booked for Friday so my only window was Thursday night. It took three goes to get the hole cutter through 65mm of transom but it went through, then a lot of grunting and wriggling to get the securing nut done up, as it was behind the engine and exhaust. After that it was a simple matter to screw on the scupper fitting over it. I had made a spacer to clear the skin fitting by cutting up a chopping board. My wife keeps wondering where the boards are going. I fitted the hose on the inside and looped it up to keep the water out until I can get under the hatch to connect the other end. All this with a head torch as the work lamp was blinding me!

Annual antifouling lift-out (already???)

It's been a year! About this time last year Rebel Runner came over from Cowes in her "raw" state, for an engine service, survey and antifouling. A year later she needs antifouling again so she has been lifted for the annual work. This was the weekend of hard graft, trying to cram in all the jobs that can only be done out of the water. Firstly, antifouling. I thought that would be simple but I noticed the scum lines on each side were different. Worrying about a list, I measured them and found the port waterline a good two inches lower amidships. That meant I had to measure up, mark, rub, prime and only then start antifouling again. As a ruler I used a length of plastic conduit as the cheapest long straight bendy thing in B&Q (79p). In between coats of boot topping I installed the transducer for the Garmin 551dv:

Problem #1: Unfortunately the cable was too short so I have to order an extension. At least that won't stop anything else.
Next job was to install the Airmar through-hull transducer. This involved drilling a 60mm hole (scary) and a tile drill was perfect. Problem #2: the transducer nut is three inches across and nothing I had was big enough, and nothing in B&Q either. Problem solved the following morning by using a G-clamp as a spanner.

Then a polish, I used Farecla Hull Restorer which includes a wax. Shiny or what?

The next job was the fit the transom drain outlet for Garry's hatch. Problem #3: the transom is 65mm thick!!! My skin fitting was standard (30mm) so a quick order to ASAP Supplies for a longer one is required. Fingers crossed they do their usual amazing service and I'll receive it in time for an evening job.
Final job was a filler really, I installed a mount for my iPad. I had spent a long time wondering where to put it, and this is the result. I cut part of the mount off and screwed it through the wheelhouse front. There is a dome nut outside but you can barely see it.

The iPad mount clamps on the cog and is still fully adjustable.

Just as I was clearing up on Sunday evening there was a knock on the hull and a tired looking Steve was there with a gift of two bass! What a nice pontoon neighbour. He had been fishing since Friday hence the look, hauling bass for three days can do that to a man. Let's hope everything comes together by Friday so I can get out to them too. Thanks again Steve!