As I’ve already written we had very visible progress this morning as our diesel engine is no longer on board. Vida now has no fossil fuels on board (although we are still connected to the boatyard electric supply at the moment).
Jane also managed to get the whole hull deck joint sanded ready for the toe rail to be fitted.
The next step is for Trevor (one of the boat builders at the yard) to fit an aluminium strip on top of this joint. From memory it is about 50mm wide and 10mm thick. It arrived with curves that should make it easier to line up with the deck.
He has primed the aluminium and next has to drill it for all the screws. Once it is fitted, somehow he has to fit the thick rubber section that wraps around the aluminium to look a bit like the black hand grip on an escalator in a shopping centre.
Like much of what we like about the Rival (like the light grey deck colour) it is a rugged utilitarian workboat aesthetic.
This afternoon we returned to the cockpit locker. The one we have probably said that we have emptied at least 5 times already.
This time the starting goal was to cut out the remaining supports for various equipment we have already removed (water heater, fuel tank, fridge compressor etc).
But in fact I started by removing all the screws and nails from wire and hose clips. Plus a few bits of wood screwed on as shelf supports around the battery box.
We also started sorting out the wires and removing the ones from equipment that no longer exists. That included the disconnected shore power socket that the had the surveyor going very pale and “suggesting” that we didn’t test it.
Plus the diesel tank fill hose and tank vent and also the very dirty vent hose for the water tank (it went a very long route to a rather rusty vent, think when we replace it we will find a shorter route).
Then I started cutting out the bits I had originally intended. Fortunately with nothing resting on them and a lot more space this was relatively easy.
Hopefully this is the last time we will have to empty this locker (even as I write this in the back of my mind is a bit of wood that was supporting the disconnected engine room extractor fan).
Another cleaning session, some sanding and we should be able to paint it.
We then used our workshop vacuum to get a couple of buckets of water out of the bilge, now dry and cleaner than ever.
This is the pile of stuff we removed today.
Now for a quiet evening and back to work tomorrow 😊
Sustainable Sailing 