Telltales 56
April 2005
The BIG advantage of these southern countries (compared to the rest of Europe) is that the winter switches to summer, with physically skipping spring. So, we had a very cold and wet winter and than suddenly it is summer. Time for work, which we finally wanted to start in order to have the boat once again ready for a season of cruising.
But first Marit went to Switzerland to visit friends, skiing and chasing possible consultancy work for this year. And in the mean time Roland went to Holland to visit friends and most importantly family. They began to complain after 3 years, can you imagine!!!. By the end of March Roland came back to Ayvalik to find the sun shining and the boat waiting. So, we dismasted the boat and were allowed to put the mast actually next to the boat on the shore, complimetary service of Ayvalik Marina. This facilitated my 10 days of sanding in order to get all the old varnish off. It is not the most enjoyable, let alone stimulating work, but time passes and the work progressed. While I was at it, I decided to remove all the varnish from the doghouse as well (10 days for the mast alone, was not enough apparantly, I got the hang of it!). The whole story and reason is simple. Although the varnish still looks nice, the wood underneath gets bleached by the sun over the years. By stripping all the varnish off and start all over again, the wood takes it natural brown color again. Which simply looks nicer. So, in the end all the work is only for cosmetic reasons and has got nothing to do with preserving or protecting the wood. Simple vanity.
As you all know by now (after all you have become experts on all these maintenance issues, through reading these telltales) you have to get the varnish system built up again. Layer after layer, to build up a thorough coat of varnish. Once you are at the varnishing stage, it simply is a matter of putting on a coat of varnish every day, which takes little time per day. Just many days and patience in total. So, coat after coat of varnish was put on the mast and doghouse. Plenty of other varnish work left on the rest of the boat, but those need only 3 or 4 additional coats, simply applied over the existing varnish. So the dismantling of Sylphe continued; all hatches removed, hinges taken off, doors removed, gangways taken apart, etc. Put on the shore, Marit put to work for immaculate sanding, making sure to put masking tape around her fingertips (otherwise you have no fingertips or fingerprints left after three weeks). And with every day that passes more items reach their final coat of varnish.
We had been the only wintering live-onboard boat in the marina of Ayvalik. We immensely enjoyed that peace and had the idea of having our own private marina. All the staff at our disposal, the showerblock to ourselves and we could do whatever we wanted. No one to watch or critisice. With the arrival of summer more boat owners returned to their boats on the hard and started their work. So, one beautifull afternoon we had the first drinks and get-together in the marina with a swedish and two australian couples. We gathered on the Sylphe quay, which had been transformed into the Sylphe cafe by now. Good to talk to others, happy not to be the only ones anymore and enjoying the fine weather. Now, the marina is bustling with germans, italians, belgians, english, etc. We have to watch what we do, as we are no longer the only ones around.
But still more work awaited us. Sylphe had to be hauled out for the annual inspection, antifouling and some other stuff. One of the things that had annoyed me for the last 4 years was the crooked waterline, that was painted on in Tuzla and with which we had sailed around all this time. The picture below says it all. Since we are going into the Black Sea and expect to be moored against some more rough concrete quays, car tyres etc, we thought of an experiment: Why not take advantage of the fact that we have to repaint the hull of Sylphe once we are OUT of the Black Sea at the end of this season, as we do expect to have some damages or scratches, tyre marks, etc. For the time being try a new color for the topsides and correct the crooked waterline. A more creamy color for the topsides would hide small marks or damages a little better this summer than the brilliant white paint. And if we would like the color, we could have it done again at the end of the season with more professional material and paint. So, Roland went off to the local chandler to buy 20 liters of white paint and started mixing and after three attempts he had found a nice beige, creamy color. Since I mixed it myself I had to make sure I had enough paint to paint the hull twice and not lack paint for the last 2 square meters. It would be impossible to create the same color again. (It turns out that I could paint another 3 boats with the left over, but alas).
A turkish friend turned out to have a laser, with which I could put a straight waterline on the boat. What I thought was an easy and simple job (pointing the laser and following it with masking tape) turned out to be a nightmare. Even with modern laser equipment it is not that simple and it took me three nights (it needs to be dark to see the laser line) to get the line on. And on what I "thought" was the correct position for the waterline. I physically had nightmares over it, waking up sweating. But at least IF the waterline was not straight this time, it was my own fault this time.
5 years ago, we used a turkish product for treating the underwater part of the hull and the seams. I used DURATEK materials for it. The company supplies a whole line of products from wood impreganting stuff to preserve it, through epoxys, to paints and primers. Although they produce their stuff for industrial purposes primarily, they have found that it works well on boats as well. So, 5 years ago I had put their products on, strictly following their instructionms, which include building up layer of layer of paints, primers and pre-treatment stuff. The most remarcable part of their productline is a FLEXIBLE epoxy filler. We had used it on all the seams between the planks. AND IT HAD DONE A GREAT JOB. Still flexible indeed after 5 years of immersion. The problem was that I did not know the name of the company anymore and was forced to use other products in Malta in the last 4 years. But now that we were back in Turkey, I had relocated them and got their products again to repair some of the underwaterspots. I am very pleased to have re-found this very good productline and would recommend it for other wooden boats. Once again it is a whole system of building up layers and it takes some time to put it. But the effectiveness is there.
While the boat was out of the water I wanted to do one other major job, and that was cleaing the bilges of Sylphe. The problem with a boat like Sylphe is that the bilge is rather deep and the deepest part (there where everything ends up; dirt, things that have fallen in, etc) is right under the engine and unaccessible. Especially as there is always water in this lowest part of the boat, which even the bilgepump can not take out. Old wooden boats have a solution for it, there is a plug in the hull. Find it, take it out and all the water will come out automatically. The problem was that I did not know where the plug was exactly, I had been stupid enough (5 years ago) to cover it with the Duratek stuff. But Sabri helped me out; a simple 2$ metaldetector (available at your local do it yourself shop) made me find the exact location within 2 minutes. Scraped the paint and filler off and unscrewed the plug. I had to step back immediately as the most horrible, smelly, stinking, oily and dirty water came out. So, Roland disappeared with the waterhose in the boat and simply started in the front, rinsing the complete inside of the hull and all the water would simply take all the dust, debris and others to the plug and outside the boat. Well almost all of it. There were items in that bilge that were simply too big to pass through the whole of the plug. I could see them lying under the engine in that lowest bilge compartment, but could not reach them. A magnet with a rope could help me here, just lower it and pick it up. The problem is that stainless steel parts (screws, bolts, etc) are not magnetic, so that was no solution, not to mention the small pieces of wood that were lying there as well. The swedish people helped me out. He had a little tool, with a spring and a little grip at the end. Hard to describe, but I picked up everyting in the end. I spent more than 6 hours hanging upside down, picking up screws, dirt, wood, tools and even my lost bankcard from the bilge. But now she is clean, but take a look at this bilge-collection
After 12 days on the hard the topsides were painted creamy, the waterline put straight, the hull repaired with Duratek and new antifouling. Andre and Fiona came to visit from Holland and more work was discovered. While Andre was standing under the boat, he leaned against the rudder and the whole thing moved!!!. Since Sylphes steering is hydraulic, this could and should not be the case. So panic..... after some more investigations we concluded that the key, holding the shaft in the wooden rudder must have worn out. So, the rudder had to come off. Thanks to our Maltese friends at Manoel Island Yacht Yard, we now had the knowledge of how to do this and two hours later the rudder was off and the broken and worn out key was indeed the guilty one. Andre managed to drop the 20 kilo rudderskeg on his fingers, or was it me who dropped it?? But it definately hurt and we still hope it is not broken. We took the broken key to the Ayavlik industrial area and 30 minutes later walked out with a beautifull newly made brass key for the rudder, all assembled again and the rudder was fixed. No more play and no more panic. Thanks, Andre, for your help. And so it is time to go back in the water as you can see.
Marit and I will continue some varnishing and other jobs. New stainless steel water and dieseltanks are being made at the moment and fitted in the next days. We are still awaiting some of our broken electronics to come back from servicing in Europe, but the boat will be ready in two weeks time.
SYLPHE turns 65 years this year and I guess she deserves the facelift she received this year. Ready to celebrate and sail intoi the Black Sea for more adventures
AHOY
Roland and Marit
S/y SYLPHE
PS And for those that are curious how the works on GISELA are progressing, have a look on www.giselayacht.com