The final fix

OK so the key mechanical and electrical systems are now looking good, now on to the other areas of the yacht. With time running very short job priorities had to be set. Keeping in mind the existing wear and tear, the below is the list on jobs that were done:

• Sail repair - The genoa needed the last half of a foot replaced on the Leach due to root
• The diesel heater failed and needed electrical engine replaced along with several other parts. This cost around £400 which we later regretted as the unit was 15 years old and was still a little on the sad side even once fixed.
• Clean the water tanks with agua-clean chemicals to remove algae. This took several treatments as the tanks had not been used much in the last year.
• Test the water heater on both shore power and by heating via engine
• Check the rigging and Nav lights. Up the mast I go to check all the fittings and steel wires for cracks or fraying
• Replace the genoa sheets and the main halyard.  Halyards should have minimal stretch and for sheets this is not so important (and these are much cheaper) all from super well priced Jimmy Green.
• Fit a dual gas regulator able to take both propane and butane. This was very important for us as some countries only use one or the other
• Repair spray hood and replace plastic windows in spray hood. The spray hood was very old the clear plastic was milky and was hard to see through. A quote to repair minor tears, replace clear windows and some stitching was around £700. ARGG no thanks, so Tia’s mum lent us her standard sewing machine and 8 hours later the repairs were done and windows replaced. (this was completed a two days before leaving, the pressure was on)
• Painted the engine bay. For this we used ‘International’ bilge paint which was of fair quality. The prep work of de-greasing the scrubbing the engine bay prior to painting took much longer then the painting. The idea of this was so that I can easily see if a new oil spot or similar appears against the shiny new white paint. (however it stays white for only a few weeks)
• Paint inside lockers. Tia did most of these, loads of scrubbing (washing detergent works well as it dissolves grease). We used ‘Dulux’ outdoor acrylic paint, which is holding up against the damp conditions. We got this idea from an article in PBO yachting magazine.
• Sand and oil exterior wood. We only had time to do the doors to the main and rear cabin. No varnish was used as we didn’t want the wood to be slippery. Later we changed our minds as the wood started to fade over a few months. More on this later
• Replaced all cabin lights with LED lights. This would save us a lot of money over the course of one year charging batteries. LED lights will use less than 0.1 amp compared to circa 1 amps for old school lights. Over one year the cost really adds up. The details about real cost per amp when charging via an alternator would take a whole blog post on it own.
• Memory foam mattress topper was ordered for front cabin and aft cabin mattress replaced and covered. Total was around £250. Tia and her friends made the covers for the aft mattress as quotes to do this were not pleasing to the wallet
• CD player that we could plug our Ipod was installed. This was a JVC unit which we are very happy with
• Replace water pump as the old one decided it had done enough
• The gas cooker had some problems with main oven and nearly burnt all the hair off my head. Turned out to a corroded gas pipe inside the cooker. The engineer from www.gasboat.net sorted this out for a good price. Very happy with the work
• Replace carbon fresh water filter
• Paint bathroom doors a lovely shade of green
• Send the Epirb to be serviced and tested.
• Sent the Liferaft to be serviced. £400 well spent in our minds. Hopefully we will never need to use it
• Tia made some new Curtains that better matched the colour scheme. (It does look so much better, a womans touch made all the different)

So all done and dusted. Ready to leave, bon voyage, no more things to fix... right?