Telltale 89. (click your refresh button to make sure you have the latest version, I update almost daily)

A pleasant surprise on the second of January, as the guy, who is doing the caulking shows up two days before he was supposed to start. So, here we go, caulking with old fashioned cotton in between the planks to make Sylphe watertight again. A specialist job, done by a guy, who has the same age as Sylphe.



And, for those who wonder what is happening inside Sylphe, this is what is left of the guestcabin. It will be changed into a bunkbed lay-out, but that will be done once the boat is back in the water. The yellow is a metal primer paint on the original deck-knee to prevent the powers of the rigging to squeeze the hull together, this part did not need replacement. The new stainless steel chainplates (the shiny parts) will be painted later.



And a few days later the structure for the new bunk-bed layout of the guestcabin is there. The previous layout with a double bed has been removed.



And than remains painting, 2 coats of primer, treatment of the steel parts, and than more paint........



And more priming........



Now all that remains is two coat6s of final high gloss white paint for the complete cabin...done.

We are a week later and as usual, in this stage of the process the changes are less obvious, although a lot of work has been done. The chainplates are in place and come through the deck....in the right places and are sikaflexed watertight. The teak-wood to cover this is cut and ready to be fitted as well.



But most importantly; the outside of the hull is complete, all planks are in place, the caulking done, all bolts for the chainplates fitted, some last pieces of planks replaced, all sanded down, 120 screw-holes plugged and ready to be painted in the next ten days. Lets hope it stays dry, so that we can go ahead undisturbed. We built a nice little tent on the outside of the boat, but still.. I would prefer the weather like it has been over the last two months...sunny and dry...it has been extremely mild and warm.

Here they are removing the surplus of the wooden plugs that have been inserted into every single srew-hole. Some 120 of them.



Now the work has been started on the inside of the boat, which is all up to me. The main chainplate has been connected to the keel, with stainless steel 1 cm thick strips. For the last connections we had to do some welding inside the boat. We used a lot of water to cool off the extremely hot steel and to prevent damage to the wood.. a funny process.....



The interior changes will leave me with more places to hide and stash stuff away in the boat. And of course there is more storage space in lockers in the guestcabin for luggage. All in all, changes I am quite pleased with. But due to the new bunk-bed lay-out, I had to find a new place to fit the watermaker, (now happily located in the saloon port-settee) and this involves complete new waterpiping and electric wiring. It keeps me busy in the evenings. But than again, I had to do some work on that anyway, as the fitting of a new grey watertank under the corridor floor also means re-piping, in the next few days. But it is worthwile.

But don't worry too much...after all, even I don't..... soon we will be able to do this again....... the weather here in Marmaris has certainly been allowing it, every day i wake up with the sun in my face..almost like summer and working all day in a t-shirt...... the photo is with compliments of Nigel perth (taken during cannes 2006 raceweek.

The last two days were spent cleaning the bilges, the part where I have not had access for the last 7 years, due to the location of 2 tanks. I have removed them both and only one (new custom-made plastic grey-watertank, ie shower and galley water) will be fitted agian under the corridor floor. And  I will install an automatic 2-minute 24Volt switch on the macerator pump -the special pump that empties this tank, once you leave port- so that the pump switches off automatically. I have burned too many pumps in the last 7 years, not to metion the impellors etc, by forgetting to switch it off. I have had enough, and taken drastic measures.
And with the watermaker onboard we need less watercapacity in tanks, and thus the second tank will not be re-installed. Less tanks saves weight and space. The bilges have received a thorough cleaning and will be treated with special paint. Another two more keel supports will be made in stainless steel (huge plates that cover both the keel fastening and part of the hull-frames to give additional structural strength to Sylphes hull) and fitted as well this week and than I can fnally refit the mast-step. And THAT is important....NOT because I wanna go sailing tomorrow, but because after this I can finally put all the floorboards back and get to my bed in a normal way. Without having to think in the middle of the night -with my eyes still closed- where the holes and gaps are...... So far so good, and only a ferw more days to go, I haven't broken an ankle, or worse, yet.......

And for the guestcabin, where we are doing some major re-docaration, I needed some more cherry-veneer. To make the new cupboards for storage and more. So, off to the "Sanayi" again and to have a few square meters made. it is simply glued in strips on plywood. Line them up nicely, fix them (temporarily with tape) and later they disappear into this huge press in the background. The press is both presure and heat; to make the veneer stick to the plywood. Half an hour later you have a large panel of cherry wood. As simple as that.






And of course, this is Turkey, so you drink tea, while you wait........


AHOY,


Roland
www.sail-in-style.com