Trip 05 - Sunday Afternoon - May 4th

Today's Mission - Bottom Paint - A sloppy, messy, wet, dirty job it is.

 

A decent image of Ye Olde Boate.

 

Today's Instruments of Torture.

 

Cracks and issues near the top of the keel.

 

Turns out to be largely cosmetic, but, fix them we shall with a layer of fibreglas.

 

Here we go with ScrotchBrite pad and water. To scuff the old paint a bit before applying the new. Took twelve buckets of water to do the job.

 

Left side is a year old. Right, just scuffed.

 

Here we go. The charcoal filtered gas mask is necessary. This bottom paint is really exotic and, even outdoors with a wind, will knock a guy flat on his can.

 

Well, too busy to photograph, so here things are when all was done for the first coat. Sure helped having a heavy moving blanket to catch the drips. After all, my shirt and pants can only hold so many.

 

Now to remove the green masking tape.

 

The purpose for Bottom Paint is to prohibit algae and critters from growing on your hull. Every serious boat has bottom paint. Even submarines.

Bottom paint can work in two ways. By killing the pests or by the paint slowly sloughing off so the pests do not stick. This bottom paint has a serious amout of copper to make the pesty things go elsewhere. Hence, the copper appearance of fresh paint.

 

Now to the insides again.

This valve is called a gate valve in Loma Linde, and a seacock on a ship. A true seacock has a handle that someone rotates ninety degrees from All On to All Off. I have decided to replace all these with the Genuine Article. This is the valve for the water that cools the engine.

The hose clamps were not even tight and I slid the tubing off without any issue.

 

The adapters etc to go from 3/4" Pipe to 3/8" Tubing.

 

After removal, I noticed some diesel/water came out and the tubing stub was not tight in the valve.

 

To my surprise, the valve was closed tight. No water to cool the engine here.

 

Wide open. One can see right thru it. I really hope nothing is wrong with that old obsolete diesel single cylinder engine I have.

 

Oh. An image of how to make the ladder not dance around as you crawl off the boat - over them pesky deck cleats.

Later ...