Worse job of the year - did mine today - what's yours ?

[superheat6k]

Oil & Filter change on my stbd engine. Access to the filters is simply a tw*t, bruises right across my chest from resting on the floor bearers above the engine. But for once only managed to spill a few drops in the bilge - last year I managed nearly two filters full, and these pair are 8" long x 3.5" diameter, holding nearly a litre each. Give me a blocked sea-toilet anytime !

 

[BarryH]

Scraping off really old vinyl graphics. Was glad to get back to my boat and strip off old antifoul.....a walk in the park!

 

[Colvic Watson]

Providing entertainment oft the 3 and 7 year old whilst I did the oil change.

 

[prv]

Oil & Filter change on my stbd engine. Access to the filters is simply a tw*t

If access is that bad, can you not fit a remote kit? That's what I did on my engine, and it doesn't sound as bad as yours. (Some genius decided to fit an engine with all the service points on the starboard side, in a box with a big hatch on the port side.)

Pete

 

[Appledore]

Attempting to lower the mast on my 22 footer tomorrow! Got to repair the wind indicator and fit a replacement all round white bulb. also check rigging whilst it's down. The problem is getting the thing back up, and, yes I do know how to do it, but it's twice as difficult as lowering it!!

 

[superheat6k]

If access is that bad, can you not fit a remote kit? That's what I did on my engine, and it doesn't sound as bad as yours. (Some genius decided to fit an engine with all the service points on the starboard side, in a box with a big hatch on the port side.)

Pete

Thing is Fairline had to fit two substantial engines in the space with outboard tanks. So access to the oil filter / seawater pump side of the engine is awful on the stbd, and the meccano that would be required to move the huge filters would be considerable. It is all do-able, just a bit painful. For the port it is the fuel system that is difficult, but the fuel filters are higher up and smaller.

Apparently removing the starboard starter motor is THE worse job of all, but fortunately not an annual task.

 

[NUTMEG]

Been trying to locate and cure a couple of deck leaks. Removed the two aft lower chainplates. Took ALL DAY to undo 4 nuts. Who designs these things

Mines a CW28 by the way

 

[viago]

grinding back the insides of the bilge keels on my back with 3" of headroom, sparks, antifoul, paint and rust in my face.

i thought that getting the bottom clear of barnacles, antifoul and and paint with a wire brush was bad but that was child's play compared to today's job.
red oxideing the keels was very rewarding though.
sanding the bottom later this morning should be another lovely job.

 

[Nicholas123]

Wire brushing the glue off the underside of the forward cabin.Like viago's job but the residue consists of a mulch of wet fiberglass particles & glue that get inside your clothes hair eyes & lungs if you are not very very careful......& even if you are careful some still cannot be avoided.
The good news is that the worst is over & it's a cracking day to be doing just about anything mucking about with boats,particularly ones that are still afloat.Nature is coming alive all around & getting the hell out of it is just over the horizon

 

[NUTMEG]

grinding back the insides of the bilge keels on my back with 3" of headroom, sparks, antifoul, paint and rust in my face.

i thought that getting the bottom clear of barnacles, antifoul and and paint with a wire brush was bad but that was child's play compared to today's job.
red oxideing the keels was very rewarding though.
sanding the bottom later this morning should be another lovely job.

Sounds like fun. I feel better now

 

[sailorman]

Oil & Filter change on my stbd engine. Access to the filters is simply a tw*t, bruises right across my chest from resting on the floor bearers above the engine. But for once only managed to spill a few drops in the bilge - last year I managed nearly two filters full, and these pair are 8" long x 3.5" diameter, holding nearly a litre each. Give me a blocked sea-toilet anytime !

Warming lanolin has serious drawbacks too
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...fire-in-swanwick-marina&p=4663365#post4663365

 

[prv]

the meccano that would be required to move the huge filters would be considerable.

Meccano?

The type of remote kit I'm talking about consists of an adaptor plate that screws onto the engine exactly like a filter. It has two outlets for hoses, which run to a second plate that duplicates the fitting on the engine. You mount this somewhere easy to reach, and screw the original filter onto it. You need slightly more oil in the engine to allow for the volume of the hoses, but otherwise everything remains the same but with far easier access to the filter and no spilling oil into the bilge.

Pete

 

[JumbleDuck]

Wire brushing the glue off the underside of the forward cabin.Like viago's job but the residue consists of a mulch of wet fiberglass particles & glue that get inside your clothes hair eyes & lungs if you are not very very careful......& even if you are careful some still cannot be avoided.

I feel your pain. That is a job for which disposable paper boiler suits, with hoods, were invented.

 

[onesea]

Sounds like fun. I feel better now

6 Years with a Trident 24 triple keeler cleaned and painted on the beach is one of the reasons I bought a fin keeler.

 

[duncan99210]

Trying to sort out the immersion heater on the calorifier. SWMBO insists that it is fixed: at the moment it is shorting to earth....... It is stuffed into a small space between the front end of the aft water tank and the moulding at the front of the bunk. Access to the wiring is at the end furthest away from where you can position yourself and requires a mirror to see the terminals. I have just about decided to give up and replace the thing. The job combines two things I hate most: electrics and water along with being nearly impossible to get to. Moan over.

 

[grumpygit]

Re-caulking teak decks

 

[viago]

Sounds like fun. I feel better now

i'm glad you do.

i couldn't take anther day on my back with poisons on my face eyes hair and lungs so bottled it.

choosing instead to crawl into the quarter births and remove half the plym's mud and it's resident encrusted wildlife from the cabin. entire cabin all clean now.

taking on a boat that has spent the last 2 years on the sea bed seemed like a good idea at the time, reality is something else. i think she is now going to re-named "barnacle".

 

[Twister_Ken]

Replacing the furler line.

Furler is underdeck, naturally right up at the pointy end, access by lying full length, anchor locker open, working by feel at full stretch.

To replace line: remove guide, remove shroud, separate two halves of drum, unhitch old line, replace with new, reverse procedure, aligning all parts before screwing them together. Number of small screws involved, six. Number of hands required, minimum of three.

Next time, I'm paying a rigger to do it. Preferably one that is skinny, 4'6" tall, and can work from inside an anchor locker.

 

[Appledore]

Since my post at #5, I've been laid up with a heavy chest and head cold, but did get to the boat today. weather much better in Cornwall than predicted, so rigged the mast for lowering, and got it down safely. All took about an hour. Funny how you rig all the lines, undo stuff but still wonder what it is you've missed. So Tuesday, down with the camera to take pictures for next time. The last time it came down was 7 years ago!

 

[C08]

Scraping off barnacles, mussels, amazing weed and all the other stuff that lives up the creek from Portsmouth and it all seems to prefer my boat. Got to do this in a couple of weeks and it has to be the worst job ever. Apart from even small catamarans having plenty of hull area to do, because half the job is between the hulls it is a sort of crouching shuffle with a scraper which destroys the knees. Couple that with doing it up a beach and because there is only a short window between the tides I have to start when the boat is still awash in order to finish it in the day. So scrape one day and antifoul the next and then spend the next two days recovering.... I think I am going to/have turned into one of those wizened old sailors usually seen carrying around a bucket of tar in a Mike Peyton cartoon.