Telltale 106

Boat-maintenance and bigger projects.

It is the end of Deccember 2007. Time for the winterperiod and the maintenance on the boat. However, after having worked, upgraded and improved Sylphe over the last 7 years, I am basically finished with Sylphe and there is little to do. Okay, the normal maintenance will always be there, like varnishing, but that will not keep me busy for the complete winter. And I don't like to sit around and do nothing.

So, I got some other boats to keep me busy: Gisela and Starlite.

You will all remember Gisela, the 1925 Abeking&Rasmussen, from my very dear friend Sabri. Over the last two years Sabri did a lot of work on her hull and deck (turn to the Telltales from 2006 to see all her works).



The interior is also finished. All that remains, to be able to enjoy this beauty again, is the deck lay-out and positioning of blocks and winches for sheets and halyards. Inside the boat the electricity still has to be connected and all new wires will have to pulled through the boat. A lovely project for which I have the coming wintermonths to do it.



The boat is here in the same marina, so I can walk over whenever I have a few minutes spare time.
But it even gets better; Sabri has a summer house nearby....and a motorbike. So, I quickly confiscated that one, had stickers made and voila...I have transport.



In the mean time Steffi has attacked Sylphe, she needed a coat of protecticve varnish for the wintermonths. And just before Steffi decided to leave Sylphe again, many, many thanks for that Steffi.





But, I am still not busy enough, so I found yet another boat to do some work on. Henk bought Starlite this spring, a 100 foot sailyacht, albeit polyester. Sorry for you wood-lovers. The boat needs quite a lot of work to upgrade her again to the status of superyacht, but he knew that when he bought the boat. In May I had flown to Palma de Mallorca to get a first impression of the works needed and later in June we sailed her from Palma to Corfu for and with Henk. That gave a fair idea of how much work had to be done on her. And quickly the link was made to bring her to Ayvalik too, so that I could those works as well.



Starlite comes with every feature in the book, including a jacuzzi in the mastercabin. But even Starlite is 20 years old and needs work to get her back into shape. So, here we go.
And as it turns out even polyester boats leak and every rainfall caused damage inside, we started there. Re-sealing all 15 deckhatches and 4 prisms is now at least keeping the water out and the boat dry.



Inside the mess looks a bit bigger. We removed all decorative ceilings to be able to acces everything. The boat was emptied from all excessive and unnecessary equipment and as a result, she floats 10 cm higher on her waterline.



Big boats like Starlite have every possible electric gadget that exists on the market. So, there are 6 airco units, however, only one worked. But that can be fixed, no sweat. Dismantle them all, get them to the workshop and fix them, one by one.



And thank God, there is also wood work to do. The galley floor was renewed, and we have some panelling in various cabins that need to be replaced. They are all damaged by rain water coming in over the last years.



And Roland is putting electricity cables INTO Gisela, but on Starlite he has to take many OUT. Under every floor there are cables that were simply cut off at some stage. They cause a potential risk, after all we dont know if they are still connected to a power source (12,24 or even 220Volt??), I am following each and every one and take them out. A nightmare job and I allready have removed a few hundred meters of cables and still not done. From bilge-compartment to compartment, behind walls and ceilings....wooow, not easy. But it keeps me busy



Ahoy and a Happy New year

Roland
www.sail-in-style.com