Refit Week 13

Hi everyone,
I've been at Boat Lagoon this week and will be staying until the refit is completed.  It's been a busy week with lots of work going on.  The boom and mast fittings have been refitted, with some replaced or modified.  On deck the new windlass, new solar panels, additional deck organisers and new lifelines are being fitted.  Below decks a new saloon floor is being fitted.

The new cabin sole is oiled teak with black sikaflex stripes

Rudder antifouled, preparing metalwork for painting

A number of mast fittings have been replaced due to the old fittings being either very worn or of incorrect size.  The gooseneck fitting was very worn so was replaced, and while doing so we adapted the design to handle tack lines for reefing the main.  This will make it unnecessary for anyone to be at the mast while reefing.

New gooseneck fitting - the old one was very worn
The holes and hoops are for new tack reefing lines

The tangs to which the lower shrouds are attached were replaced since the holes for the pins were oversize and washer had been welded over the holes to match the pins.  Not very pretty.  The new ones have correct size pins.

New bicolour nav light (left) and unchanged deck light (right)

We have replaced the mast-mounted navigation lights.  Our "bow" lights are mounted at the lower spreaders and are an integrated bicolour "lopolight" LED light.  The old one had an LED array globe but the housing was very brittle.

The masthead tricolour/anchor light was similar so was replaced with an integrated "OGM" tricolour/anchor/strobe light.  The windex was replaced too.

New tricolour/anchor/strobe masthead light

The repainted deck and new cockpit teak really give the deck a new look.  Very smart.  The new pushpit/arch/lifelines enclose the cockpit and the lower arch with much larger solar panels will provide more shade.

Repainted deck and new cockpit teak look great

The new pushpit extends solid lifelines around the cockpit

260W of solar power, plus a little shade!

Outboard motor mount and gas regulator fitted

While Precision was doing much of this week's work I did the electrical wiring in the mast, sorted out and discarded about 50kg of perishable food and other excess stores.  I also reinstalled the cabin table/pedestal and refitted/rewired the 400Ah of house batteries inside it.  With all the coachroof fittings installed I refitted the cabin headlining.  With the new cabin sole and the 18 month old headlining the varnish below now looks a little tired.  Something for us to do ourselves when we get the boat home.

We hope to step the mast and relaunch the boat this week.  The anchor platform, chain pipe and inner forestay chainplate need to be fitted before that since the boat needs to remain under cover until they're done.  I also need to refit the pushpit arch mounted VHF antenna, GPS antenna wiring and install the solar panel wiring.

It rains here several times each day, and some are real tropical downpours.  Having the boat under cover is an absolute necessity while major deck work is going on.