This is not an 'advert' for Storrar Marine but I do want to put on record my deep appreciation of the help that we have had from Rob, Andy and everyone else in preparing Reveller for our trip. We first visited Storrars in our early days of sailing as raw novices knowing very little and over the few short years that we have been sailing Rob and Andy have been an ever reliable source of help and good advice. This was often unconnected to a sale and sometimes even to their detriment when they said "You don't need it" of something we felt we should add to our equipment.
On our journey so far we have called in at several chandlers and they have made us realise how good Storrars are in the service they provide not only in the range of items that they stock but also in the knowledgeable advice available.
Use it or lose it. Give them a visit - you won't regret it.
Ok - maybe it did turn into an advert - but I also feel that it's good advice. 'Nuff said.
The decision to fit windvane steering was a fairly easy one to make for two people intending to sail long distances without additional crew. What was not so easy was which one to choose. I spent hours on the internet looking at every available system and eventually, for me, one began to stand out from the crowd. I like simplicity in engineering solutions and the Hydrovane had it. Completely self contained with no lines running through the cockpit to steer the ship's rudder and no vane swinging from side to side in the water. More than that it had its own rudder to act as a back-up steering system in an emergency. It was also a very elegant design and being an artist I'm a sucker for aesthetics.
I looked at videos of the Hydrovane in action and was captivated by the bright red wind vane lazily flapping from side to side as it effortlessly steered the boat.
We duly went to the Southampton boat show in 2010 and called at the Hydrovane stand for a look at the device in the flesh. I was immediately impressed by the heavy bullet-proof engineering and the cleverness of the design. I was also impressed by the family team of John, Karen and Will Curry who were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Ok - I know - they were there to sell their product but you know when you see the genuine thing and they were.
We agreed a deal and placed an order and some weeks later the Hydrovane arrived.
I then agonised for weeks about where to fit it. The Vancouver 32 has a transom hung rudder which may be simple and easy to work on if it needs any maintenance or repairs but it meand that you can't simply hang the Hydrovane on the transom immediately behind the rudder. Will and John had assured me that it would work perfectly well fitted off-set to one side and that is what I had originally intended to to but when it came to fitting it I dithered.
I spent a couple of weeks dithering. I drew up plans for a framework to hang it behind the rudder and contacted other Vancouver owners who had done the same thing. I came up with an elegant drawing for the ultimate Hydrovane attachment frame - and then I dithered some more. I looked again at the photos my contacts had sent me. I didn't like the look of the massive frames hanging on the back of those Vancouvers - it didn't look right. I decided to do what I had intended to do in the first place and fit it offset to one side of the transom.
The only problem was that it really had to go on the port side. On the other side it would mask the engine and heater exhausts. So I had to move the generator pole (which was ok because its stays made the stern ladder unusable) and then I also had to move the stern ladder slightly inboard. Another problem which manifested itself when planning the fitment was that the rear end of the cockpit locker shelf was exactly where the pad for the lower bracket would need to go. Ho-hum - should have expected it - that's boats for you.
The first hole was the most nerve wracking. Eight holes later the transom began to resemble a pepper-pot.
Now - ladder and generator pole moved, surplus holes glassed over and Hydrovane fitted, it looks a treat - can't wait to try it out.
We bought a second hand Eberspacher heater way back at the end of 2009 intending to fit it to Penny but with everything that was going on I didn't get around to fitting it. Alison put her foot down - it had to be fitted before we left - Greek winters can be cold.
After some deliberation I decided to fit it into a recess that exist in the quarter berth space and to partition this area off from the rest of the quarter berth. We didn't intend to use it as a berth but as storage space.
The fresh air for the combustion and for the warm air into the boat is piped through from the starboard cockpit locker which is in turn fed by a clamshell vent on the coaming.
The exhaust pipe is well lagged and fed along the coaming recess to a skin fitting on the transom. An alloy spacer plate keeps it well away from the woodwork as it passes through into the locker and brackets keep it away from the fibreglass.
The recess is also lined with heat resistant soundproofing and an intake and exhaust silencer do their bit to suppress the typical Eberspacher whistle.
I decided to supply the heater from the main fuel tank rather than have the extra complication of siting and fitting an additional tank. This decision led to a modification of the existing fuel system - see below.
The existing fuel system had a single pre filter of the old CAV type squeezed in on the starboard side of the engine in the most awkward place that it would be possible to choose for replacing the filter. For ease of maintenance I decide to fit a primary filter with a screw on element. To solve the problem of not feeding the heater directly from the engine filter I inserted a water separator as the first element in the fuel system and led separate lines from this to the engine filter and a smaller pre-filter with its own stop valve for the heater. The water separator and engine pre-filter were situated on the port side of the engine compartment where there is plenty of space around them for routine maintenance .
During the last sailing holiday in the Ionian Islands finding water was always a chore and several times we were unable to fill up. On one occasion the water supply was muddy and at others there was simply no water. It also involved running around trying to find out where the water tap was and who controlled it. On holidy the lead crew did this but we frankly didn't want the hassle. The thought of buying large quantities of bottle water and having to dispose of the empties didn't appeal.
The decision was made to install a water-maker and thereby have the convenience of a permanent, instantly available, supply of fresh water. Having bought a Hydrovane wind vane it was natural that we should check out their water-maker and after comparisons and the usual endless deliberations we went for their Echo-Tec belt driven 500-BML-1.
The initially thought was to install it under the engine but although it would fit into the space it would be extremely difficult to fit because of the limit access. We finally decided to mount it on top of the alternator which seems fairly straighforward except for needing to raise the engine cover / comanionway steps slightly and moved them forward about 6cm. This is a work in progress - I'll let you know how it goes.
The standing rigging was 9 years old and although it looked in good shape we decided that, as we are going to be away for a while and a Biscay crossing features early on in our venture, we'd take no chances.
We asked our local chandlers Storrar Marine to fit our new standing riggin - they'd done the same with our previous yacht Penny and did and excellent job. Of course we wanted all this yesterday as always. As Rob and Andy were already working a night shift trying to satisfy the local demands for the start of the season I don't know how they managed it but they did. When they came to dismantle the forestay they found the end of the forstay pretty well corroded into the bottom swivel of the roller reefing. As the swivel was a little noisy anyway we decided to replace the roller reefing as well.
Today I finished cutting the stainless steel framework for our kedge anchor bucket and a local garage owner has undertaken to weld it together. The 'bucket' will be an Ikea 32 litre waste bin. We've also bought three spares to replace it when it wears out or becomes brittle in the Greek sun. Meanwhile they will make good storage bins in the quater berth recess.
Also cut the 1" tube for the supports for the wind generator. This was previously stayed by two wires which were gradually bending the generator's substantial stainless steel pole. Sour note with the wind generator was that some kind soul cut the cable for it while the boat was on the hard standing at the marina. I think they were intending to make away with the whole thing but may have been disturbed. Seems that these days nothing is safe - it is sad that there are so many opportunist thieves about ready to steal anything they can get their hands on.
I also need to email Go-Pro. The video camera we bought works perfectly but the extra battery pack puts a sound on the video that resembles a family of crickets having a long discussion - drowning out everything else.
Spent today in a bit of a limbo. One of those days where things seem to go backwards. We had an email from the chandler today to say that there was no way he could get our bimini frame made up before we go - his frame man was snowed under with work. It's our own fault because we have not been at all organised or forward thinking in our plans. There is a tendency to forget that everyone else also wants stuff NOW for the new season.
The upside is that he will lend me his tube bender and a helper if I want to have a go myself - and we can still have the canvas cover made up.
The other good news is that our new standing rigging will be ready to fit by the end of the week and we have accordingly arranged for the mast to be stepped next tuesday - before we sail away at the weekend. Cutting it fine or what!
Before then I also have to fit the watermaker (seacock already fitted) and the new anchor windlass.
In between all this we are still trying to sell our other boat Penny - a Lynx 29.
Today we also went though our chart list to fill in the gaps - need to get them ordered up pronto or I can see them chasing us down to the Algarve playing catchup.
Where have the last ten days gone? The mast was lifted on on Tuesday minus the forestay and roller reefing. The end of the old forestay couldn't be removed from the bottom swivel and in the end, because the swivels were a bit noisy and stiff we decided we may as well replace the roller reefing system. The new one arrived today and was brought down to the marina to be assembled and fitted. Unfortunately there had been a miscalculation somewhere and a foil section was cut too short. Job delayed until new foil arrives.
Also still not finished fitting anchor windlass or water-maker. The days are going much too quickly.
We have however fitted our bimini frame. Part of one of the last ten days was spent with Ian at Storrars bending the tubing. The bent tubing was delivered to Royal Quays the following day and Alison and I spent another days cutting the pieces to size and assembling the frame.
We are very pleased with the result - and the fact that it fits - all from our (more precise than we though) measurements and drawings. Small hiccup is that the sliding clamps I order won't slide past the bend in the main tube so we've had to order hinged clamps instead. Consequently it can't be finally fitted to the stern rails so can't yet be measured for it's cover.
Brief scare in the chandlers on Tuesday morning. We'd called in to pick up some more split pins ready for the mast fitting in the afternoon - having put in a safe place the ones previously bought. When he saw us at the counter Rob shouted up the stairs to the sail loft. "Norma bring down the jackstays please for Tony!" I'd previously answered rather facetiously an email from Rob asking what colour I wanted the jackstays I'd ordered. (I'd already said blue but he's the first to admit his memory is almost as bad as mine). Anyway - I emailed back "Pink please Rob. Failing that blue will do nicely." So - now Norma appears at the top of the sail loft stairs with a neat roll of bright pink webbing in her hand. Momentary heart failure as I thought that we now had a lovely set of pink jackstays to go with the red hearts. Then, with a wicked smile, Rob produced the blue ones. Apparently the pink stuff turned up in a bankrupt stock job lot Rob bought some years ago. Can't imagine why anyone trying to sell pink webbing would go bankrupt. Who would want any other colour?
Storrars saved the day by finding a matching piece of foil and Andy and Rich turned out early to fit the roller reefing and forestay. It became too windy in the afternoon (when the crew arrived) to bend on the sails and rather than set up the rig I spent the day tracing the route of the wiring from the base of the mast to the panel. This involved dismantling most of the roof panels and creating even more havoc (if that is possible) inside the boat. I need to run a new cable through for the AIS and at the same time am replacing the existing VHF aerial cable and putting in new deck fitting for these.
Rob arrived later to check out the new forestay etc and on getting an answer to the question about when we're we leaving and how much work did we have left to do he rolled his eyes very slightly and suggested prioritising jobs. Useful advice.
Today the new pulley wheel (to drive the water-maker pump was taken to be drilled so it can be attached to the front of the existing one, together with the pieces of bracket to be welded up to attach said pump to the alternator mounting.
Arghhh!! Royal wedding day. Good intentions of working on the boat today fell apart and I ended up sitting with Alison and watching the wedding. Prioritising gives way to displacement activity. Beginning to have serious doubts about my sanity and fitness to go long distance crusing.
Mainsail dug out and put on and lazy jacks and reefing lines sorted. With mainsail fitted the height of the bimini frame finalised and pieces cut off the legs Shopping expedition for a load more bits and then pm spent pulling cables through impossible places.
After a week of frantic work with a little help from friends Reveller is ready to go - apart from installing new batteries and loading on the anchor chain - which will both happen tomorrow a.m. There will be a few jobs to complete on the way but nothing that will prevent us from sailing.
Tomorrow we'll load up all the charts, books, clothes, food, etc that are currently covering the living room floor.
Weather permitting - and so far it looks ok - we'll get away on Monday morning heading for our first stop at Scarborough. We are really cutting it fine setting out so much later than intended and won't have time to hang about. We just have to hope that the weather is kind. However if we're late we're late and have no intention of taking chances. At least the first leg to Scarborough is familiar territory.