RichardS
N/A
This photo was taken a few hours ago as we’re now ready to be lifted back in tomorrow following the insurance work done on the bows after last year’s midnight anchor drag and subsequent ramming by one of our Continental cousins.
The bows now look beautiful.
The other good news is that the Flex-O-Folds which have been on the boat for 14 months are in perfect condition. There was even grease still present on all the blade swivel pins although we only did around 100 miles last year which is our worst ever year …. and most of that was on engines. However I did pack the hubs and gear full of waterproof grease last year and have done so again today. The only problem with that is that is takes a lot of grease ….. probably 75 ml in each prop so I’m going to have to buy another tub.
One unforeseen advantage of the Flex-O-Folds is that the anode at the end seems to have completely relieved that saildrive anode of all its responsibilities. As you can see in the photos below, the saildrive anode is identical to last year. This is a “good thing” because I could change the prop anode underwater if I had to whereas I could never change the saildrive anode. The saildrive anodes have been on for 2 years but it now looks as if they will last forever.
The two photos also show up another change of plan. The lovely polished prop attracts those damn tube worm things just as much as the Coppercoat does so I’ve had to abandon “lovely polished props” this year and gone for Trilux all round, which is a shame but needs must.
March 2017:
May 2018:
The massive disappointment is the Coppercoat. You may recall that the Service Manager here advised me that Coppercoat did not work in this marina and I have to now accept that he was right.
Before power wash:
This is the 3rd year of haul out with Coppercoat and each year it has been worse than the year before, despite the hours spent rubbing the entire hull down with Scotchbrite pads each year. In fact, this year the worm casts after power washing were still so bad that they destroyed the Scotchbrite in a few seconds so we first had to scrape down the hulls with metal scrapers to remove the worst of the casts and then use the Scotchbrite.
After power wash:
I even tried the hydrochloric acid treatment on the Scotchbrite but it only seemed to have any effect using 19% HCL. All lower dilutions seemed to do nothing. The problem with using HCL at 19% is that it’s going to cost rather a lot to do both hulls and the tiniest drop anywhere on your body and it stings like hell. I was wearing rubber gloves but I had to keep plunging my arms into a bucket of water when the stinging started. :ambivalence:
The Service Manager came over to see how we were getting on and suggested that the only way to remove the residue of the worm casts was with a power tool and did I want him to do that and slap on a few coats of antifoul?
I said that I would give it one more year …. But next year I’m bringing down my power sander and I’m going to do the whole lot with that. It may well take me right back to the gel coat but then I’ll antifoul it anyway so I’ll be no worse off …. Apart from the £1000’s wasted on Coppercoat that is.
Oh well, some things in life go well ….. and some don’t.
Richard
The bows now look beautiful.
The other good news is that the Flex-O-Folds which have been on the boat for 14 months are in perfect condition. There was even grease still present on all the blade swivel pins although we only did around 100 miles last year which is our worst ever year …. and most of that was on engines. However I did pack the hubs and gear full of waterproof grease last year and have done so again today. The only problem with that is that is takes a lot of grease ….. probably 75 ml in each prop so I’m going to have to buy another tub.
One unforeseen advantage of the Flex-O-Folds is that the anode at the end seems to have completely relieved that saildrive anode of all its responsibilities. As you can see in the photos below, the saildrive anode is identical to last year. This is a “good thing” because I could change the prop anode underwater if I had to whereas I could never change the saildrive anode. The saildrive anodes have been on for 2 years but it now looks as if they will last forever.
The two photos also show up another change of plan. The lovely polished prop attracts those damn tube worm things just as much as the Coppercoat does so I’ve had to abandon “lovely polished props” this year and gone for Trilux all round, which is a shame but needs must.
March 2017:
May 2018:
The massive disappointment is the Coppercoat. You may recall that the Service Manager here advised me that Coppercoat did not work in this marina and I have to now accept that he was right.
Before power wash:
This is the 3rd year of haul out with Coppercoat and each year it has been worse than the year before, despite the hours spent rubbing the entire hull down with Scotchbrite pads each year. In fact, this year the worm casts after power washing were still so bad that they destroyed the Scotchbrite in a few seconds so we first had to scrape down the hulls with metal scrapers to remove the worst of the casts and then use the Scotchbrite.
After power wash:
I even tried the hydrochloric acid treatment on the Scotchbrite but it only seemed to have any effect using 19% HCL. All lower dilutions seemed to do nothing. The problem with using HCL at 19% is that it’s going to cost rather a lot to do both hulls and the tiniest drop anywhere on your body and it stings like hell. I was wearing rubber gloves but I had to keep plunging my arms into a bucket of water when the stinging started. :ambivalence:
The Service Manager came over to see how we were getting on and suggested that the only way to remove the residue of the worm casts was with a power tool and did I want him to do that and slap on a few coats of antifoul?
I said that I would give it one more year …. But next year I’m bringing down my power sander and I’m going to do the whole lot with that. It may well take me right back to the gel coat but then I’ll antifoul it anyway so I’ll be no worse off …. Apart from the £1000’s wasted on Coppercoat that is.
Oh well, some things in life go well ….. and some don’t.
Richard
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