Gosport HaulOut Week 3

Hi everyone,

Zen Again is back in the water!  We launched on Friday after three weeks on the hard at Endeavour Quay. Very pleased with the work done.  Here's the week 3 story...

Preparing to launch

Over the weekend we applied two coats of epoxy primer to the bare skeg s/s shoe.  It was then ready to be antifouled by Desty Marine.

On Monday Desty activated the Coppercoat.  They use a fine scrubbing pad where I've previously used wet & dry paper.  They then applied Coppercoat to the areas which had been obscured by the props.

Skeg shoe ready to paint

Skeg shoe after priming, antifouling and anode fitting

The new cutlass bearing was fitted by Marine Tech on Tuesday.

New cutlass bearing fitted

On Wednesday the new Brunton's AutoProp H5 was fitted by First Marine Solent.  It is 416mm in diameter, slightly larger than the old VariFold.

Bruntons AutoProp H5

AutoProp feathered

On Wednesday I gave the Coppercoat a further once-over with the scrubbing pads to be sure it is activated.  Wednesday was a scheduled maintenance day for the travel-lift and they found a cracked weld.  The repair took all day Thursday.

TravelLift under repair

On Friday both Zen Again and the travel-lift were ready to go.  We launched at 0930.

In the slings

Ready for the crew

Once in the water but still in the slings we 'burped' the new shaft seal and checked the skin fittings, sea cocks and shaft seal for leaks.  We then started the engine and checked forward and astern power with the new propellor.  With all well the slings were lowered and we moved the boat to a berth close by.  There we monitored the new fittings for a while before casting our lines.

We're away!

We did some initial propellor tests, burning up and down the river past the new aircraft carriers HMS Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.  We immediately noticed a large reduction in noise and vibration - the VariFold must have been unbalanced.  At 1800 rpm our boat speed was 6 knots where previously at 2000 rpm we got 5.5 knots.  And at low revs we now get low speeds where previously we'd be idling at 3 knots.  Better stopping, transitioning to moving astern and astern control too.  All exactly what we'd hoped for.

We then motored the 7nm to Osborne Bay, an anchorage just east of Cowes on the Isle of Wight.  The shaft seal was bedding in nicely, throwing wet black dust off its ceramic face as it polished itself to a good fit.

We're now waiting for suitable weather to head west along the south coast.