MiToS re-built/fit- versilcraft Mystery43

[Shuggy]

From wikipedia as it's easier to copy and paste than to write out in full!

Silence period: Ship's radio room clock
All stations using 2182 kHz were required to maintain a strictly enforced three-minute silence and listening period twice each hour, starting at h+00, h+30. This allowed any station with distress, urgent or safety traffic the best chance of being heard at that time, even if they were at some distance from other stations, operating on reduced battery power or perhaps reduced antenna efficiency, as for example from a dismasted vessel. As a visual aide-memoire, a typical clock in a ship's radio room would have these silence periods marked by shading the sectors from h+00 to h+03 and from h+30 to h+33 in green. Similar sectors were marked in red for what used to be the corresponding silence and listening period on 500 kHz between h+15 and h+18 and from h+45 to h+48.[4] These silence periods are no longer required as the introduction of GMDSS has produced alternative automatic watchkeeping systems and the 500 kHz band is no longer in use for maritime traffic.

 

[vas]

Deck - you're going to rip the entire lot off back to the beams and shelf right?

yes Ben, remove the lot down to the iroco beams, clean them carefully and start afresh with 15mm marine ply and 3.5/50mm (iirc) stainless steel woodscrews. Will most likely use some west epoxy as well.

Now, that I mention it, there IS a SMALL catch in that the sundeck assembly seems to be BOLTED on top of the deck. And the whole superstructure as it seems. It is all bolted down with 8mm (me thinks) brass studs. Now, this is an issue as I'll easily remove the mess and all layers of material, but I need to get the new ply UNDER the gap and retighten the lot (mind some bolts are broken/wood damaged etc. So I need to think of a way to do it. Will come back with more photos soon.

Then I'll have to tackle sealing to the superstructure with decent sika products... Not a v.easy tasks, but not too difficult. Need to beef up the support underneath the craft as well tomorrow.

Hi V,

Great to see more progress - that deck resembles what my floor looked like in terms of layers! Why oh why do people cover up problems rather than sorting them out? On the plus side, your fuel burn will probably drop now that you're not carrying so much water and wood around...

The chromework looks great!

How's the flybridge redesign going?

Regards,

Robin

Robin, yes, my opinion as well. Botched up jobs that show their problems pretty quickly. In the long run it's cheaper and easier to do it right in the first place...

I was also dreaming of gaining half a litre or a knot or so due to the reduce weight, we shall see

F/B is paused atm. Have some designs for a fixed + folding bimini and was actually today thinking I got to printout the acad models and check them for real before finilising them.

Important thing is to redo the deck and paint the superstructure before mid September that ppl start bringing boats back out on the hard (meaning I have to put up scarfolding for controlling paint spray etc)

So FB may wait a bit.

going to bed as I want to have an early start on the boat tomorrow

cheers

V.

 

[petem]

From wikipedia as it's easier to copy and paste than to write out in full!

Silence period: Ship's radio room clock
All stations using 2182 kHz were required to maintain a strictly enforced three-minute silence and listening period twice each hour, starting at h+00, h+30. This allowed any station with distress, urgent or safety traffic the best chance of being heard at that time, even if they were at some distance from other stations, operating on reduced battery power or perhaps reduced antenna efficiency, as for example from a dismasted vessel. As a visual aide-memoire, a typical clock in a ship's radio room would have these silence periods marked by shading the sectors from h+00 to h+03 and from h+30 to h+33 in green. Similar sectors were marked in red for what used to be the corresponding silence and listening period on 500 kHz between h+15 and h+18 and from h+45 to h+48.[4] These silence periods are no longer required as the introduction of GMDSS has produced alternative automatic watchkeeping systems and the 500 kHz band is no longer in use for maritime traffic.

Excellent research!

 

[vas]

indeed excellent find Shuggy!
makes it more or less useless, but will polish and keep nevertheless. Will have a go at the mechanism as there seems to be some sort of alarm but the needle occasionally locks/slips. Anyway, winter project this is

back on summer work of industrial archaeology!
Was slightly wrong on the deck layup but after further investigation/destruction the definite layup is:

• 15mm original ply with top layer being teak. The full monty with black strips etc. This fits with the other Mystere jfm kindly photographed for me where the teak strips are straight with direction of bow to stern and not curved like the one I posted last.
  
  
  
  
• Now, when this failed, they layed up GRP (I did count two layers!)
  
  
  
  
• On top of that they relayed teak in thin strips 11-12mm?? (now 9mm) curved following the bathing platform curvature. They used both glue and screws, glue is carp no cohesion whatsoever (good for my stripping work!)
  These bits of teak are tongue-grooved (not sure of the EN terminology, but we call them half grooved) and after a sanding they start falling apart on the thin side of the groove.
  
  
  
  I was writting the day before that I'd try salvaging some teak but this tongue groove thing means if I manage it I'll only have 30-35mm max width which is too little, so scrapping it is! (unless anyone can come up with a different idea)
  
• When that failed, he covered everything with a 9mm marine ply and coated it with a fake stripy white linoleum thing that looks much like 80s Princesses decks (in GRP they are though). Teak is v.well glued on this ply and it's a pain in the ar5e to remove...

Arranged for a delivery of 3 sheets of 15mm marine ply (1.22X2.50m) for Monday noon and I should get going straight away. Got today and tomorrow to remove a lot of this mess in order to be able to mark and prepare surfaces.
Will be back later one today once the sun is bearable to continue, but I've already managed this small section:

Note there is one cross beam affected/rotten. Plan is to sandwitch a few (maybe all) of the longer beams (towards the bathing platform that is) with strips of 15mm ply to strengthen them. TBH without the ply on top they feel rather flimpsy...

Yesterday noon I also worked inside on electrics/leds. Measured the level of heat I can stand/work on and it's surprisingly high as I managed 3-4h working at 40-44C with no forced ventilation. OK, 43-44C was hot, I could only manage for 20min lots and then had to move to a lower place with cooler temps... End result was that I sorted a few more of the tangled mess, slowly checking cabling and rerouting to the BMS panel above the original so that I can control el.loads remotely (as well as locally of course)

On the LED front, managed to prototype the first U shaped securing bracket/heat dissipation element so now one is properly assembled and fitted in MiToS. Got the rest of the aluminium plates formed and got to spend an evening drilling holes and assembling them. Will do a few these days so that I can have light in the evenings and leave the rest for the winter as well.

So, PCB bolted on the U shaped piece:

fitted in the fixture:

and in MiToS helm:

more tomorrow I guess

V.

 

[rafiki_]

Nice job on the pcb mount V, and best of luck with the "spaghetti" or whatever the Greek equivalent. The teak and other timber remains a mission for you. At least with your heat, it should all have dried out nicely.

 

[vas]

Nice job on the pcb mount V, and best of luck with the "spaghetti" or whatever the Greek equivalent. The teak and other timber remains a mission for you. At least with your heat, it should all have dried out nicely.

thanks,

rafiki heat is not only drying the timber by myself as well...
A 07:00-13:00 session means I drink around 2 1.5lt bottles of water and even so I'm down a kilo or so when back home which I recover by slowly drinking another litre over the next 3-4h at home. I feel like an F1 driver (only much more unfit and definitely way underpaid )

Back after a 2h evening session making good progress removing the old porthole behind the windlass turns a real bugger. Must have around 4 silicone cartridges securing it
Tomorrow will also have to create a support for these thin beams as removing the 35mm overstructure makes them look fragile.

cheers

V.

 

[rafiki_]

Good luck with that. Sounds quite daunting. I will be prepping Rafiki for a safari later in the week. Teak cleaning, fix the boarding ladder (idiots used std screws, not ss), finish off the battery boxes/lids, align the speed log, and a few others. Mind you, I will be dodging showers, not fighting the heat like you.

 

[vas]

Mind you, I will be dodging showers, not fighting the heat like you.

rafiki even though it was 42C today, I'm afraid I have to have the heat rather than rain. The whole deck from the foot of the sunpad to the tip of the bow is now in the skip, all 40mm of various layers of timber and a bit of GRP. I have to admit that I've kept half a big dustbin bag full of nice dry 4mm thick timber from the original fully delaminated ply of the deck. I'll use it as kindling for the fireplace at home Shouldn't really say that but I hope it burns well, else goes to the skip as well...

Removal wasn't particularly easy, took me four (half days) working 7-11am, 6-9pm. Working alone had some annoying cases with stuck through screws devising fancy ways of keeping the wrench on the spot whilst I was hidden in the anchor lock in order to remove the offending bolts...

the still solid 9mm ply (placed 10yrs ago) was unfortunately v.well glued to the previous teak layer which was bolted on the now delaminated original ply. The system that really works is to cut with the multitool both layers down to the 2mm GRP in one by two foot sections. These are normally easy to lever off leaving the grp to walk on before cutting it and removing (from that point onwards no walking no support no strength!)

yesterday deck was looking like this:

detail of the bow delamination:

Removing the flimpsy looking cross beams (22X50 in section at 220-240mm intervals) tomorrow morning and treating them and strengthening the ones that matter with one or two side section of 15mm marine ply. Then epoxying them and refitting them by the w/e.

Would really really like to have the bow covered before sunday and then progress on the port side first (it's in worse condition) leaving stbrd side for the end.

Will post tomorrow with a sketch of how I'm thinking of creating an anchor lock pocket to store a bit of rope and the bleeding large handle for the manual operation of the lofrans winch.

Ah, before I forget, I removed the crew cabin hatch/porthole and I'm fitting a bomar one. MystereMarcus & Pete: Anyone of you guys need anything as spares from it before it goes to the bin? Mind it's not in a good state, but the latching mechanism seems okay.

cheers

V.

 

[rafiki_]

V it looks like you are rebuilding on thin air! This must be nearly as complex and difficult as building from scratch? Will there be any original timber left? I am sooooo glad that Rafiki is grp. Off on Thursday for a 4 day safari, weather looking good at mid 20's, stocks of wine, beer and Pims on board. So, good luck with the foredeck, and I hope you complete on time.

By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I have pointed someone on the PBO forum your way, who is looking for Chandlers in Greece. I guess there are not many tha you don't know about!

 

[jfm]

Wow V, major surgery. Respect! You will actually have a new boat at the end of this (Trigger's brush scenario ). It's a pity many forum folks don't live nearer cos we'd have come and held that spanner for you. Very best of luck with this stage anyway

 

[Divemaster1]

Impressive work going on here !!! .... suspect that not all was planned though...

 

[MapisM]

suspect that not all was planned though...

+1. Otoh, with boats the only thing you can safely plan is that you'll have to face something unplanned. It's just a matter of when, rather than if...
Amazing job, V. I just got out of my e/r, where I reinstalled a water pump, and I felt like I've done enough DIY for this season.
And then, I see this...!

 

[petem]

Wow V, major surgery. Respect! You will actually have a new boat at the end of this (Trigger's brush scenario ). It's a pity many forum folks don't live nearer cos we'd have come and held that spanner for you. Very best of luck with this stage anyway

"Trigger's new broom" was my thought too (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus). Does make you wonder if it would have been easier starting from scratch!

 

[jfm]

Theseus would indeed be a great name for V's boat

Here is Trigger. This is such a wonderful bit of comedy

 

[rafiki_]

Theseus would indeed be a great name for V's boat

Here is Trigger. This is such a wonderful bit of comedy]

Brilliant

 

[vas]

brilliant really like the only fools and horses lot

@rafiki: plenty of original stuff remaining tbh. Only replacing the decks and strengthening the 22X50 beams underneath. The hull construction is solid, bar a couple of patches from rain water leaking in and staying...
NP with Greek chandleries, I know a lot of them in Athens so depending on what he wants I'll try and help and have fun with your safari. Take pics of all wildlife you come across, will you please?

@alf: I was hoping for the best, prepared to tackle the worst and to be honest I'm halfway atm Once I removed the cabin roof linings it was obvious that the deck had to be replaced. Should only be another couple of weeks work though

@MM: yeah I know the feeling, occasionally get into this mood myself, but I'll leave it for 2014 to be safe

@petem: I'm an architect not a naval architect... I'm happy to gut things out and rebuilt them to fit my needs but not do the lot on a boat Actually I very much like working on tight spaces and lots of constraints and it's been very challenging thus far.

@jfm: thanks for the clip, seen it on tv 20yrs ago most likely..
Regarding the Theseus name, you'll be surprised that Mitos is actually VERY close to Theseus. OK, a fast track Greek mythology lesson:
Theseus, son of Aegeas (king of Athens) went to Crete to kill the Minotaur. There Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a ball of thread to help him find his way around the maze. This ball of thread is called in greek Mitos, hence the name
Fancy detail, Theseus ship that took him to Crete had black sails on. Deal with his father Aegeas was that if he succeeded and was coming back alive to Athens they'd change the sails to white. Unfortunately for Aegeas who was at the tip of the peninsula waiting for his son's boat to return they forgot that, so Aegeas saw the ship with black sails coming back and disappointed fell on the sea and died. Hence the name Aegean, see you learn something new everyday

check out here for more.

Now, since it's 40+ outside I have a bit of time to post today's progress and even ask for some advice

all beams (er, almost well actually all that's left!) in place. Clearly port side is affected more by rot.

Beams removed, amazingly they were so weakened by holes for cabling and rot, that most broke while removing them... They are all now at my carpenter's workshop for replacing rotten/weakened parts with iroco and strengthening them with a layer of 15mm marine ply

Even more interesting was that same beams in place with two layers of delam ply and 2mm grp was ok to walk on them, ok, wouldn't dance but they felt solid under your feet. the porthole related beam sections (not full size ones) layed on the sundeck. These wont be strengthened further as there's a bit of cabinet work underneath reducing drastically the beam and loadbearing.

Now, this next photo shows all the foredeck clean (the two longitual beams are just to mark where the new beams should rest.

I really don't like the way that they've originally setup the anchor locker decking. As you can see in the following detail they had cross members bridging the width and filled in the centre with sections of timber. On top of that the deck and then the windlass. Since I have a massive piece of 50mm thick timber where the windlass was bolted on, I'm planning to remove all this palava and fit this piece underdeck from the anchor locker wall to the keel ending on the bow. This should create a stronger underlay for the windlass.
Further I'm thinking of placing a pocket/port (how would you call them?) on the deck with a depth of say 150mm or so to store a few things. I'm thinking that the port side area that is missing it's cross members in the following photo would be ideal (size around 350X250 sort of trapezium sized)
Was also thinking of another one symmetrically on the stbrd side with no "floor" so full access to the chain without having to go to the cabin all around. What does the panel think?
Obviously the box construction for the port thing will be done now and secured properly onto the surrounding members strengthening the lot.
Mind I'm not planning to drill any holes in the deck now (except for the railing supports, but more on that in another post) and do the ports/teak together after Easter just before she's relaunched.

cheers

V.

 

[rafiki_]

V, the safari will be on Rafiki, not an African Safari. However if you like pics of Kenya, and big cats, we have thousands. Hope to get a few pics on Rafiki this time. Apols for the Fred drift.

 

[vas]

rafiki: wrong smiley, should've been a tongue out but added the big grin, hence me asking for pics from the wild estuaries or whereever

still hot, still working, will be test fitting the beams this afternoon.
That's how the bow looks now, clean, removed railings, sanded surfaces and ready to start with west once the beams are on.

The offending railing supports that caused all the damage. To be fair, they are nicely built pieces of aluminium, but if they are not maintained and instead of removing them and laying the new layer of teak you cut around and fill the gaps with silicone, you ARE looking for trouble...

Beams at the carpenter's workshop. Pieces of rotten/overly drilled and weakened wood were replaced with new iroco, glued with epoxy and a new beam made out of 15mm marine ply was glued/screwed on the one side of them. Four beams were done like that. The ply is left longer and will test fit and cut as necessary on the spot this afternoon.
Once in place and top side sanded to get the right slope, I'll coat the sandwitch and it's pockets in epoxy and get a coat on the hull edging as well.

Tomorrow should be marking the shape for cutting the ply and test fitting them. Need to also rebuilt the port and stbrd side strips of chunks of wood between the beams which originally were for loadbearing stresses from the cleats and now will also double as strengthening the seams between the ply floor.

Need to spend the next week redoing the port side deck and bolting down the sundeck to the deck with studbolts and I wonder if I should get ss or bronze. For some odd reason the stock ones where mildsteel (I guess from their condition ). Considering that where they fit should be now fully sealed and dry, ss should be OK. Any objections from the panel?

cheers

V.

 

[vas]

long overdue update.

Repaired beams were glued/screwed back in place, curvature tested for fitting the new 15mm ply.

Measuring and cutting the ply. Fancy job as I had to mark the curvature from underneath (using a felttip pen secured with tape on a long stick...) then mark the diff top to bottom and eventually mark and cut the ply. Ply fitting is not a one man job, so got some help from my trusty carpenter.

Next step was to epoxy carefully all beams, fit and screw down the ply. Used two sheets 1.25X2.50m for the bow (central and two triangles for the port& stbrd side)

bow complete:

Then worked on the port side, cleared the next 2.2m no horror stories, all beams are nice and sound, cleared everything and got it ready for fitting the new deck.
Above:

and I like this photo with the shadows taken from within the bow cabin:

Ply fitted on Tuesday:

Since I'm away in Crete for a week leaving tomorrow evening, I finished off the sanding of the sundeck, cleared off any grit, dirt and muck all holes (from the strips of wood bolted at some point in the past) and started filling them with epoxy. First soaking them with runny stuff and at a later point filling the 6-8mm holes with thick stuff (west systems + microfibres) To be sanded tomorrow and left for a week. Basically trying to make sure there's not going to be any water coming in if it rains at all while I'm away (unlikely but you never know). This evening I'll do a small repair at the f/b deck where the cabling for the arch were coming in the salon and finish off the sanding of the lower helm roofing.

Bleeding Einhel orbital sander that was repaired on Monday failed again today, this time it's the bushes and or orbital mechanism as the sanding plate wobbles a good 3-4mm along the axis of rotation! Good thing I've got a prof tool of my carpenter as a backup
Morale of the story, only buy good quality tools (always do it tbh but this time I thought I'd try the el'cheapo route - both heatgun and orbital failed within a month...)

Small Q on batteries will go in a new thread in a mo

cheers

V.

 

[rafiki_]

Good progress V. Have a great holiday. Crete is one of my favourite islands to explore. Have an Ouzo for me please.