The monotonous task of wet and dry sanding of the antifoul has been undertaken which has taken a good few days, but the results are good and her hull is now lovely and smooth and ready for antifouling nearer the lift in.
The boot topping has been rubbed down and two coats of paint reapplied so it can harden over the coming weeks.
Another two days work involved buffing up the stainless steel rubbing strake, which looks nice. Prior to re-launch we will fit a new rubber insert (to be obtained from Trend Marine).
While the outdrives were off, we have taken the opportunity to replace the steering bushes and seals. This should have been a straight forward task, however the grub screws locking the steering arms to the shaft were seized solid, one of them rounded off and the hexagon bit snapped off in the other. We have managed to drill the rounded screw out and remove the steering folk, but could not do the same with the other, this has resulted after a lot of 'head scratching and a call to I.V.S.S Marine) in cutting the arm off with a grinder. This was not easy in the tight confines of the engine room and will result in a new steering arm at around £135. This would all have been avoided if these had been properly maintained and reassembled with grease last time they were apart....indeed we do have a receipt on board claiming these had been changed by a marine engineer shortly prior to us purchasing Moonshine, but we don't think these have been looked at in years!
I know exactly how frustrating and difficult this task is, as I had the same problems last time that I was out of the water. I too have the task of replacing the stb.steering bushes once again but have noticed that the seal is much more substantial this time, may last longer. The end result I am sure will result in peace of mind that when completed the job has been done properly and not reliant on work carried out by so called engineers.
ReplyDeleteOur thoughts exactly. If you want a job doing properly, do it yourself.
DeleteJust out of interest do you sand down your antifoul paint every time you repaint it?
ReplyDeleteWe have never bothered. The lads at the yard do a decent job at pressure washing the hull so there is never much in the way of paint build up. Plus we stripped it all off a few years back so there isnt much build up on our hull. Only a layer of primer and a thin layer of antifoul most of which is pressure washed off by the yard!
NC still has a smooth bum!
No, not every time. It was in good condition, but since we are out for a while and have time it was sanded to get a better finish.
ReplyDeletewho in Kent did you trust your outdrives to be fefurbished ?
ReplyDelete