Saving £100s with DIY -- TREATING THE KEEL (PART 1)

Saving £100s with DIY -- TREATING THE KEEL (PART 1)

More rust than expected. Copyright (c)
Froo Gal 2015. All Rights Reserved.

You may have noticed from earlier pictures of FROO GAL's keel that it was rusting a little. So, when we lifted the boat for 10 days to get the seacock replaced (by a professional), we decided to repair the few patches of antifoul on the keel. What could go wrong?

Well, the lift out went fine. Then it rained like cats and dogs on the day that two of the FROO GAL crew had taken off work -- that's  Britain in July for you.

We were up at 0700 the following morning; had a snack for breakfast and were working on the boat by 0730. On inspection, the small patches of rust weren't: most of the keel was suffering from corrosion or the early signs of it. The pitting seemed to be starting under the antifoul and had spread over most of the surface with 50% density over one side of the cast iron keel and perhaps 20% of the other side.

We don't know how why it is so bad, as the keel was professionally shot-blasted

Red Oxide Primer. Copyright (c)
Froo Gal 2015. All Rights Reserved.

back to bare metal and covered with an epoxy primer prior to the antifoul application, not two years ago. Was it galvanic corrosion, poor surface preparation or just one of those things? Perhaps we will never know. The yard had cryptically said that the antifoul might not adhere very well to the keel.

So what should we have done? We only had enough antifoul (which was special mail order and not available from local suppliers) for perhaps half of the area. And slapping it on top of the damaged area was not going to be a fruitful repair.

Two Part Epoxy Primer. Copyright (c)
Froo Gal 2015. All Rights Reserved.

We had nice days spare with the boat out of the water, but with three or four needed to allow the antifoul to cure and full time jobs we were rapidly running out of time. A week of careful planning for the original scenario was rapidly replaced by ad hoc improvisation bordering on panic.

We had already decided to add an anode to the keel. We had planned this in advance and had brought an electric drill, special drill bits and die set. We had not bought the anode, but it would be easily sourced in from one of the local chandlers. So we decided to drill and tap an M6 threaded hole. The drill worked well, considering the hardness of the cast iron. The good quality die cut the thread easily... until one of the crew got a little too enthusiastic with the last turn, hit the bottom of the hole and snapped it off flush with the surface of the keel.

Fortunately, after having bought a cheap carbon steel tap and die set to replace

316 Stainless Bar in Tapped Hole.
Copyright (c) Froo Gal 2015.
All Rights Reserved.

it (a complete waste of money is all likelihood), we found that the anode best suited for the application needed an M10 threaded hole. This aforementioned crew member cut without drama. We bought some A4 (316) stainless steel threaded bar, nuts and washes. Having cut the bar to length this job was finished, save the attachment of the anode, which would follow after the surface treatment of the keel. The broken tap would be left in place -- a fantastic new corrosion site!

We used the wire brush on a drill to remove the loose rust. Decreased the surface with white spirit and covered the whole keel with Red Oxide Hammerite primer, with a brush to get the primer into all the holes. (This primer layer may prove to be a mistake). We let this cure/dry for three hours.

Covered Pitting. Copyright (c)
Froo Gal 2015. All Rights Reserved

After some GOOGLE research, we then applied two coats of two-part epoxy primer. The instructions on the tin seemed to suggest that this would be compatible over the Hammerite primer, which we had lightly sanded to provide a key. After the first coat, we had to let it cure for three hours (which turned into over four as it was still tacky after three). We then read the manufacturers free painting and treatment guide. This suggested that over-painting a one part primer with a two part primer is not compatible. But the guide does not say why or the effect of getting it wrong. Various yacht forums' threads say the rust treatment adds no additional value to epoxy priming. So it seems likely that the Red Oxide Hammerite will prove to be a mistake, as it may well cause the epoxy layers to lift and peel prematurely -- only time will tell.

Still doing it ourselves saved hundreds of pounds (sterling) of boatyard labour costs and we know exactly the condition of thew boat and preparation of the surface coating. And we now know how to do a good job when we inevitably have to do it again (perhaps next year).


We'll order more antifoul system and apply it later in the week... and pray for dry weather (it is raining again today).

VLOG EPISODE #2: Changing the Prop

VLOG EPISODE #2: Changing the Prop

The new prop. Copyright (c) Froo Gal.
All rights reserved, 2015.

Take a look at our latest VLOG posting on YouTube -- VLOG EPISODE #2: Changing the Prop -- and tell us what you think.

Doing the work ourselves with a lift and hold overnight saved us hundreds of pounds. And we learned about FROO GAL.

SV FROO GAL VLOG LAUNCH

SV FROO GAL VLOG LAUNCH 

After watching years of his favourite video web logs (SV Delos, Wicked Salty, La Vagabond, Guidos Sailing Channel, WhiteSpotPirates, etc.), Skipper Froo has at last found time to start the SV FROO GAL VLOG.

VLOG, Copyright (C) FROO GAL, 2015
All Rights Reserved

We shot enough footage (a bit shakily) to edited and publish an introduction.

The first episode (#1) summaries the BLOG so far.

The Technical Stuff

Filming: We shot the stills and short video clips on an iPhone 4. Some stills were taken with a decent Nikon DSLR.

Editing: We used Microsoft Windows Moviemaker for editing.  It has some useful, easy to learn features, such as the ability to overlay the video's audio with music and narration and mix the three.

Computer: We recorded the narration on a tower PC with a gaming mic. It has the advantage of a good processor, lots of memory and a large drive, but the cooling fans are noisy, which comes across as an annoying hiss in the background from time to time.

YouTube: The YouTube Creator Studio is simple to use for posting and tagging the VLOG posts.

Feedback

We'd be grateful for feedback and advice on either the BLOG or the VLOG. We have a lot to learn. (But time is on our side, we hope).

More soon...








 

Long Term Cruising on a Budget: 10 Designs to Consider

Long Term Cruising on a Budget: 10 Designs to Consider 

For other ideas see:First the disclaimer. I am a boat owner, but my cruising has been mostly limited to two-three week spells, whilst on vacation from a full time job, with one longer trip across the Bay of Biscay to help a friend with the first leg of a transatlantic crossing from the UK to the Caribbean.

So, I am really writing this as a compilation of the ideas that I have gather from researching this over the last few years.

Most cruisers seem to suggest that the big questions must be considered first:

What is your budget? Where to you want to sail? And will this involve long passages and the risk of big weather? And who and how large will comprise the crew?

After that the answer seems invariably to be go small, go now.

Some of the most seaworthy boats are pretty tiny and can cruise the world if partnered with good weather information, a competent skipper and patience.

Here is a list of designs available in Western Europe (and the UK), suitable for blue water (ocean) exploits that I would consider on a 'starter' budget:

1. Vancouver 27 -- Read the excellent e-books of Martin Edge for a flavour of what you can do in this design of long/full keeled yacht. There are three for sale at the time of writing for between 20 000 and 28 000 pounds sterling (and that is sticker price).  If you budget can stretch take a look at the 28 and 32 foot designs or a Victoria 34 for comparison.

2. Elizabethan 29  -- Another full keel pocket blue water cruiser dating from the late 1960 (made of solid fibre glass).  There are some good examples out there for a song. (I have just spotted one for 4500 GBP.)

3. Achilles 24  or Corribee 21. Check out Roger Taylor's approach to making a small hull like these sea worthy for high latitude sailing: http://www.thesimplesailor.com/index.html and his Vlog.

Don't under estimate the effort it take for this kind of conversion.  See http://www.achillesyachts.co.uk/page63.html for ideas of the going rates, from about 2500 GBP, but remember the hour of work (and expertise) that Roger puts in to make them watertight and safer than the original design.

4. Contessa 32. In my early 20s this was the design of blue water cruising dreams. You can pick one up from as little as 12000 GBP or 20 000 for a half decent example.

5. Van Der Stadt 34 -- a well known Dutch steel design, from about 25 000 GBP.

6. Albin Vega (27 ft) yachts have a good reputation.  Some of the larger designs such as the Ballad may be worth considering too. See http://www.albinvega.co.uk/brokerage.php for the UK vega brokerage.

7. Rustler 36. This is a real gem of a design (I nearly bought one).  From around 40 000 GBP.

8. Hallberg-Rassy 35 RASMUS (or other smaller designs such as the 31) are great little yachts.  For me they don't always age well: teak decks need replacing after 20-30 years for example, but worth consiuderation.  The older designs are more traditional -- safety, comfort and design margin.




9. Bavaria 32 Form around 20 000 GBP this is a grate value boat under 15 year old. Of the stable of modern mass market boats these age more gracefully than their Jeaneau and Beneteau counterparts. The build quality and craftsmanship is unusually high for a budget family cruiser design. See what one of these can do when set up well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDJIgr5AVMYuQnS_eugSvlA

10. Moody 31. From about 20 000 GBP these sturdy cruiser could be a good option.  Skeg hung rudder, good spec and build quality bode well for this popular cruiser of yesteryear.

http://www.sailfarlivefree.com/2012/03/top-10-favorite-affordable-bluewater.html
http://sailboatdata.com/
http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives.htm
http://www.cruisingworld.com/sailboats/peoples-choice-best-cruising-sailboats
http://bluewaterboats.org/