Slow Progress

Appearances can be deceptive and despite it not appearing on the surface as though we actually achieved anything this weekend we now have a much clearer picture of what this winters work will entail.

A good look around every inch of the hull revealed that it is still in good condition. This was our major concern for this year as we have recently seen a few Sealine S23's and S25's which were disappointingly showing signs of stress and early stages of osmosis. Thankfully Naughty-Cal is displaying non of these symptoms and despite a few heavy landings at sea this year the hull appears to have coped admirably. So no major hull repairs and just one or two very minor cosmetic repairs to the cabin sides for this year.

The stern drive as expected had water contamination in the oil but surprisingly not as bad as we had expected. We have left the last of the oil to drain out during this week and will then refill it with fresh oil next week to flush through the water contamination. Despite the water contamination the oil was still a clean colour which is a good sign that all is well in the gear box. The anodes had clearly been hard at work this year and are ready for replacing, we could stretch another year out of them but what is the point when it is only £40 to replace all four of them for new ones. 

More good news was that the replacement oil seals in the hydraulic rams have  worked a treat. No signs of leakage from them at all which is a bonus. The antifoul paint we used on the drive last year has all but fallen off so this year Liam plans to take the drive to work and strip it all down to prime and repaint it in the proper Volvo Penta paint it was originally painted in. I might even surprise him and buy the original transfer set for the drive to make it look good as new again!

Whilst Liam  has the drive at work he will replace the worn shaft and change all of the oil seals and then hopefully we can have a year where the oil doesn't end up looking like mayo when we drop it!

As usual the props are damaged but no unduly so there is only one bladed with the end missing so at some point that prop, the three bladed one can be sent away for refurbishing. The other four bladed one Liam can take to work and repair some minor nicks in the blade ends.

So despite appearances we had a useful and informative weekend. Next weekend we have a plan of attack in mind to get some minor jobs done in the cockpit and cabin so again it wont look from the outside as though there has been much progress but we will know that there has been.