Closing the 2019 article series in the refit section, this year a special type of article is coming up. Something I never did and hopefully will never do again on NO FRILLS SAILING.com – a rant. I want to offer you, dearest reader, a very intimate close-up on my true feelings and, admittedly, on something that was quietly and slowly developing over the last weeks and months and which broke out in full bloom last week. It all began with a “mysterious leakage”.
As I was working on the quarter berth in the stern part of my boat the last couple of weeks I naturally was staying more in the back of the boat. As weather was changing from a dry summer to autumn, more and more rain set in. Every time I boarded her I discovered some water near the nav-station. I searched the leak – never found it. Some days ago, this rather relaxed attitude changed completely.
Finished? You never finish!
I should have known it from the start – when I talked to Nina of SY ZIRKON – as she was telling me all in detail about the sufferings, the hardship, the money lost and the setbacks to expect. I kind of ignored it, thinking that these mistakes wouldn´t be mine, deaf to the warning bells ringing when here and then things happened and jobs didn´t came out the way I planned them. Entering my King´s Cruiser 33 some days ago I originally planned to resume works on the last panel for the quarter berth, when water level was alarmingly high in the nav-station. But it didn´t confined itself to just this spot.
When I looked up, I startled: Thick black mould proliferated on the Teak hatch mounting. I was so puzzled: Haven´t I just finished re-furbishing the hatch and haven´t I mounted it very cautiously with lots of sealing material? And now, apparently, lots of water must have gotten through in amounts to drench the wooden hatch mounting completely and make it moulding? I was puzzled completely: So many working hours went into making this hatch and all the new roofing! The hatch mounting was unsavable, that was clear, so I took it off.
Thus destroying a part from the brand new roofing. What a shitty day! I was shaken. Destroyed. Scared to the bones: I sat down for an hour or so and thought about it: Will I ever finish this task? I am not a boat builder nor a skilled craftsman. Even though I try to do everything I do on the boat to my best knowledge and skills, apparently, this may not be enough. Sealing a hatch? I failed. Even the items crossed off of my list, initially thought of being finished, now turn out to only have been superficially done right. How many more items are there of which the failures are undiscovered yet? I was enraged. And suddenly eager to find that mysterious leak.
Pulling the Rip Cord
Which wasn´t that hard: Thanks to prevailing rain I was able to tracked back the drops to the starboard side salon. Apparently, the leak must have been behind the – oh well, finished?! – Teak ceiling. I thought it would come through the mounting of a reeling. Taking off the panel was a bit hard because for that I also had to take off another big Teak-item from the chain plate-fairing. There it was, where lightning struck me. The re-furbishment of the chain plates was one of the first jobs to be finished in the boat and one of which I thought I had done dead certain and shellproof. Something looked award: The anti-rust paint was kind of dented. I touched it with my finger – and like a well-filled pimple the paint-skin ripped apart and a dash of water splashed into my face.
Water! Underneath the paint! Apparently, the chain plates aren´t that sealed and tight! I screamed in anger! And then I discovered the true nature of the mysterious leak: It was not the reeling footing – it was the screws with which the Genoa sheet track is mounted onto the boat´s deck. Leaking in full bloom. I crouched down in the saloon. I retreated to resigned in frustration: To seal off the sheet track, I would have to take off the whole roofing of the salon. Can anyone please tell me why I work my ass of in that boat for the fourth year now? Why I burn my hard earned money for that 45 years old … wreck? I wish you all a happy new year – but I fear, the new year won´t be as happy for my (still beloved) OLIVIA …
You may also read about previous failures:
How to refurbish a bilge – and not to do it
Setbacks of yacht refit
Back Hole Yacht-Refit