More Boat Projects

We always think that we’re the only ones who are continually working on boat projects but the truth is, if you own a boat, there is a never-ending list of things that need to be seen to.  The difference is simply whether or not you have the money to employ someone else to do the job for you or whether you have to get stuck in and do it yourself.  Apart from major canvas work, we fall into the latter category hence; we’re always working on one project or another.

This year had many such jobs but the main ones were to replace our very shoddy spray dodger, replace all our incredibly leaky port lights and upgrade our water maker to deliver a little more than a couple of cups of water an hour.  OK, so the water remark is a slight exaggeration but one never has enough on a boat so Paul set out to change the whole system to give us twice as much.  The verdict is still out on the end result. (Update:  it works, we definitely have more water and hope it will be even better when we get out to cleaner, warmer seas).

The before and after photos of the spray dodger more or less tell the story.  We couldn’t see a damned thing through the old one, it leaked like a sieve, was torn in several places and we always had to lower it while entering any tricky reef or port.  That wasn’t too bad unless, of course, it was bucketing down with rain – not fun.  In order to get better visibility, it meant moving the life raft from its position behind the mast to a new spot in front, which meant drilling new holes through the coach roof, which meant getting to underneath all this inside, which meant lowering all the head-linings, which meant…….well, you get the picture.  In addition, all the woodwork had to be sanded, old holes filled and then varnished.

Before

After

Before

After

Our new one, albeit looking a tad like a Pope-mobile, gives us incredible visibility and protection but we are leaving with a slight sour taste in our mouths.  Despite promises, the shop that made it up has just recently changed hands and neither the old guy nor the new will do anything to sort out a couple of issues we have with the way it was made.  Business ethics are a little thin on the ground in this matter.  Anyway, at least we can see through it and stay dry underneath.

The old ones removed

The port lights have been a problem since day one.  Whoever made these up originally should be hung, drawn and quartered.  They were manufactured out of stainless steel but the corners where obviously a poorer grade and have caused serious rusting from the start.  Paul spent months on them on several occasions to try to overcome this but it never lasted more than a couple of months.  Poor Calypso was looking quite tawdry with severe rust stains all over the coach roof.  Also, because of the very cumbersome fixing system, with every rough passage, the leaks got worse and worse, damaging the internal woodwork and fraying the nerves of the ship’s crew.  The only solution was to remove them and replace with an entirely different system, so this is what we’ve done.

Cutting the new shapes

Before

Preparing for the installation

The new ones are galvanised aluminium with toughened glass and, wow, we can see out these now and no leaks. It cost us an arm and a leg but what a difference it makes.   

The finished  job

After

Now all we have to do is repair all the damaged internal woodwork to get her into the beautiful condition she deserves.