Boat Post
- Ann Cognito
- Oct 3, 2021
- 4 min read
With some truly ugly photos, and some others to balance them out, at the end…
The rain is keeping Mr Myrtle and the bins inside, so I’m catching up with to-do’s while real cleaning waits for weather. Sorting, repacking, figuring things out… writing this!
Andrew at Sirens has checked out the supports in Skoro’s bilge, and everything I’ve read agrees with his diagnosis — not at all fatal. He says they’ve fixed much worse here and I believe it. The supports in a Grampian 26 really just hold up the cabin sole; they’re not structural to the hull itself.
First thing is not to worry. It’s all doable, a couple days work. Andrew’s going to write up what’s involved, properly and with costs, and I’ll figure out whether he’s doing it, or me, or some combination thereof. The last might be most likely.
It is important , and has to be done… it has to wait for spring, though, and more fibreglass-friendly weather. So I’ll keep her bilge dry, and fix the bilge pump, and she’ll be tucked in dry all winter, and in spring…
Dig out everything. Everything. And grind out the fibreglass tabs that were holding the stringers in place. Clean the heck out of it. Then — and this is the part where Sirens’ expertise would be especially worth the cost — creating new stringers that fit the curves of Skoro’s hull perfectly, treating them, and tabbing them into place with new fibreglass.
Extra supports at the spots where Mr Myrtle usually lands seem like a good idea, as does a new cabin sole… one that fits, with no worn gaps and edges and ends. I know when my soles aren’t right, my whole bod’s not right, so Skoro must be aching for a new sole!
Water damage to the bases of the settees and a couple other spots can be cut out and repaired by giving Skoro some nice deep baseboards.
The bottom of the grocery compartment needs repair too… I think a bit of the front edge rests on one of those suffering sole supports, so I’ve moved the weight off that corner just so as not to vex it any further.
Much of the work is small enough in scantily can hopefully be done with offcuts of really good wood left from other jobs and too small for other uses. That would be beautiful!
Meanwhile, this means my furry first mate and I can stay aboard for October. I thought we might have to move imminently and haul Skoro out asap, but that isn’t necessary. A couple of the folks at Sirens will help get the mast and boom off the deck so the forward hatch can be functional and we can have some circulation in here… and maybe borrow a very small heater.
Today’s been raining most of the day though, with a few more soggy days to come. I can’t clean much while MMS and all the bins are in here. So I’m cleaning, and sorting what stays aboard, what comes to Perth, and where to store the sails — they don’t care much about temperature, but have to stay DRY… not on the boat.
I’m keeping track of what needs doing, and I’ll update those budget/work/etc spreadsheets soon. Mostly noting where even mire serious cleaning needs to happen when the boat’s empty, and hopefully I can find some appropriate paint leftovers for inside storage compartments… maybe even the walls!
A few spots need a date with a fibreglass repair kit, the windows all need to lose their old caulking (especially the one I did such a horrendous job of) and be resealed, some thru-hills need similar attention, and the hose for filling the water tank needs to be replaced with one that’s got it’s structural integrity.
On the other hand, Shane and John were here Saturday a week ago, and we did a very thorough inspection of boat and sails. The concerns about Skoro’s ribs are and valid, but addressable… otherwise, things are either good, or not awful and definitely fixable.
Plus — Skoro has three good sails!!! And (bonus!) one to cut up and keep some pieces from for future patching… lovely! The first sail we unpacked was the unfortunate one, so after that, it was just better and better.
There was some certainly not unwarranted concern about mould (ok, there’s the stuff with spores, and the things used for casting or making cake — which has the ‘u’?!)… a lot of mould. Fortunately (to the universe’s credit, much more than my own; this sailboat is blessed) it’s not mould. She’s just really dirty. Disgraceful, but not doomed.
Sarah and I did clean, a lot, but Skoro needed a serious and thorough deep cleaning before launching. Then with all the crazy, I got behind. Can’t do that on a boat.
The unhealthy problems will grow exponentially, until a boat passes too many topping points, and then she’s done. Salvage. Or scuttled.
Skoro’s can all fixed. She hasn’t passed any crucial tipping points. It won’t be easy, per say, but it’ll be good work. With help and support, I can not only keep her viable, we can make her a better boat.
…we haven’t passed all of the Earth’s tipping points yet. We can still keep her afloat, too.
With hope and determination,
Ann
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If you can help pull the budget out of the bilge and keep this project afloat, I’ll give you a tour of the boat and show you what you’ve helped with! And probably hug you and make tea…
Sporadic and one-time support through Chuffed, at
Ongoing support via Patreon (I’m still having trouble posting there, my apologies), at
Thank you, so much
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Ok. Here it is. The scary scary bilge, in all its gruesome pre-cleaning gunkiness… better now, but still not the most picturesque part of the boat!
And to make up for that, here’s some puppy pictures, and the Art Nouveau designs in the river by the dock, a a few other pieces of life here…
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