Just had 2 weeks in the fantastic workshop at Creran Marine giving Lady Jayne a thorough going over.
We at last managed to get rid of the heavy steel mast she has had since being a creel boat and replaced it with an aluminium radar arch specially made by Alutech Engineering. We moved all the ancilliaries onto the arch and gave the roof a really good coat of paint. The spotlight was corroded and nasty and would have spoiled the look so that has been binned and a shiny new one will be fitted at the first opportunity. The hull had 2 coats of paint and 2 coats of antifouling and new anodes all round. Topsides have been painted and lots of sealing and filling to make life easier in the future. I had the mast professionally wired and the electrical side of things tidied up in general so she also looks much smarter down below. When the new engine was fitted a few years ago it looked like the loom had been run in front of the fusebox making access almost impossible. Turns out it was just pulled out of its recess and left there, its now been put back and looks tons better. I also had the plotter and sounder connected but it never did what I wanted so this wiring has been removed and will be put back properly so the electronics can talk to each other. Also removed all the fuel from the tanks and disposed of it and gave the tanks a thorough cleaning.
Last job will be the prop fastening back on. When I was cleaning underneath there was a slight amount of play side to side and the prop was driving on the key. This can only have happened very recently or the key would have worn away and the prop would just spin. It has been fitted and worked fine for 3 years so no idea why it would change. Anyway I am having a guy come down and check the taper/prop with engineering blue to make sure it seats on the taper properly and can be tightened up. I suspect the nut had bottomed out on the threads and didn't grip the prop the last few thou it needed and eventually worked loose. We will probably have to make a spacer to get the required pressure on the prop hub to grip it on the prop shaft.
Going for a launch date early next week and when back in Tobermory we will finish off the floor paint inside and on the foredeck and re-do the gel coat on the deck outside deck and we will be good to go to work - can't wait and neither can the bank account. Even gone to the expense of having new cabin lights and clock/barometer to smarten my wheelhouse up, I spend so much time there in the summer I think I'm entitled to a bit of bling!
Hope everyone else is getting their boats ready for the coming season, it won't be long now. Every morning the birds are singing outside and the light in the evenings has stretched to 1800, clocks change soon too.
