I'm now working as much as I can on boat maintenance. One of the things I've done is to varnish the sides of the boat. Quite some people think it's best to take the boat out of the water and do it while the boat is standing on land - but I believe it's a very bad idea, for one thing it's needed to run up and down ladders, and eventually the boat needs supports, one would typically want to varnish the boat behind those supports as well. No, much better to do it while the boat is in the sea - but it's still difficult, particularly the lowest parts. I've previously done this by a floating quay, but they are a bit high, it's not possible to varnish the lowest parts of the boat that way. The solution I found was to attach a rope from the top of the mast and towards land, then tighten it from the boat side to tilt the boat slightly, it makes it easier to reach the lower parts of the boat. I still had two problems, for one thing the boat is not exactly rectangular - I would have to move it many times while varnishing to be able to reach it from the quay. The other thing is that I don't have any suitable place for doing this work. So, this time I decided to use two anchors to keep the boat in place, and the dhingy as a platform while varnishing. Unfortunately I never got the photo of the boat while it was keeling. This first photo is from when I've just attached the rope to land. Unfortunately I got some seaweed up with the rope.
position: geo:59.886363,10.569472 (geohack) - 2018-09-15 18:51:38 localtime - full quality
I'm not alone here. I was a bit worried that eventually some other sail boat would try to pass on the inside of the boat in the darkness and crash with the rope - though, since it was very shallow on the inside I considered the risk to be negligible. Another worry, due to the anchoring winch being out of order I'm now using a rope instead of a chain in front - and in the rear the chain is quite light-weight, the forces gets quite strong, meaning that boats that would pass too close to the boat may risk hitting the anchoring lines. I should probably mark them with some bouys next time. I tried using a kellet, but it didn't help much.
position: geo:59.880607,10.557474 (geohack) - 2018-09-13 17:40:05 localtime - full quality
The keeling isn't that great here, the keel is very heavy so it needs really a lot of force to keel much. I got it to 10 degrees at the most, then I believe the keel was touching the bottom, making the keeling easier (but not without a risk of getting stuck).
position: geo:59.897041,10.559383 (geohack) - 2018-09-15 18:52:06 localtime - full quality
Another problem is that it takes quite a lot of work and time to fix this setup, and then quite lots of work to turn the boat around as well. Also, I had a rope going along the boat and attached the dhingy - but it was a bit problematic as the rope would get into the water and then there was a risk of it touching the surface that was to be varnished (or worse - the surface that was already varnished). One really don't want salty water on those surfaces.
Things that may be improved upon the next time:
- Since it's so much work with the setup, I should put more layers of varnish while I'm at it.
- Anchors shouldn't be too far away from each other.
- Should use some bouys to mark the danger of the anchoring ropes
- Should keep a look at water level predictions, to avoid getting stuck on the shallow water.
- Should probably think of some better solution on the rope to keep the dhingy close to the boat
Selected photos available in original quality on IPFS QmasBgkhJkBJLdmMVckgWQEvHexa5fkdreXMLkP25trPG8. All photos taken available in original quality on IPFS QmWvXQp7n1VPkxfFQWVZWCzKMNqE1XaUwmJPRkWZSMTdbW. The CC BY-SA 4.0 license applies on both my photos and the article
Ah boat maintenance. I have not had to do too much as I am just crew and the skipper and his wife do that stuff. It is a labour of love and hopefully you feel some joy at the results.
Fantastic pics again as the water and blue skies look so peaceful with the fall forest colours.
Good luck with the maintenance!
It's for sure a lot more enjoyable to do maintenance in such an environment, rather than in a busy harbour maybe close to the highway ...
Hey, @tobixen.
sounds like quite a bit of work. I've never had a boat (never been on a sailboat), but we probably all have experiences where there's all kinds of logistics to figure out before you even get to do the work.
I've got boxes here that have a new desk and chair in them, and I can't really assemble them until I move the existing desk out of the way. Well, that involves clearing enough floor space to get the desk out of the way, which means arranging things somewhere else to make room for the things I'm moving out of the way. Then of course, the stuff has to come off the desk that's sitting on it and have somewhere to go, and I need to have somewhere for the old desk to go before I am able to get rid of it. That's before I even get to setting up the desk.
So, not nearly as hard as what you're doing, but I sympathize with the effort. The good thing is, though, through some improvisation, your finding solutions. That's what I find to be more satisfying than the actual work. Finding the way to do the work when you don't have the ideal, or in some cases, even the minimum, to start with.
Wow tobixen, I am most impressed with your problem solution, creativity and sheer determination in boat maintenance.
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