Progress and exciting events haven’t been totally absent though, so I thought I’d take the opportunity on this quite bank holiday Sunday afternoon to write a little update.

Kudu is launched!

It turns out that I’m going to miss the entire season, but a few weeks ago in a desperate effort to get afloat I had Kudu lifted in to the water. I thought it would motivate me to work a little harder to get her finished to I can leave the docks and venture out, if only for a weekend around the river. I also wanted to try out my new rudder design.

The morning of the lift arrived, and I ran around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to finish last minute jobs off. Kudu would in no way be ready to go anywhere because the cabin was still littered with tool and materials. She had no 12v at all, but I had finished the hull repairs so she would at least float and regain some of her character. A boat on the hard is a lifeless soul, and it takes the addition of water under her keels before she displays a hint of character. I wanted my Kudu back, it had been too long since I was in her company.

The boat was dipped in the the water, and I climbed down the ladder in to the lock to check for any flooding. I wasn’t expecting any, of course, but it always pays to check for an unnoticed broken seacock or perished cockpit drain hose before the slings are released. Checks complete, I gave a thumbs up to the crane operator and he let out slack until I could unhitch the slings.

I gave the lock keeper a call on the phone and asked to go through. Within 15 minutes (I had to wait for the steam train who shares the swinging road bridge) I was on my way, and noticed the first problem. My new rudder design has ruined her handling!

I didn’t really make a massive change, but in an effort to combat the weather helm extended the balanced rudder aft by a few inches. This has made the helm feel very heavy and induces a stall from the rudder far too easily. Not to worry, I thought, I’ll sort that out over the winter. At least we were on the water again!

I moored up in her old spot, and set about enjoying the movement. Kudu was alive again and I was rather happy about it. I started poking around and thinking of ideas for the currently non-existent 12v install. The new 200ah AGM battery was in place in it’s newly built battery harness, but it was connected to nothing but the battery charger.

As I was rooting around under the companionway steps that house the battery, I noticed a wet dribble had ran down in to the bilges. The dry GRP hull had a tell tale trail of moisture heading down towards the bottom of the bilge. Kudu is a totally dry boat, with not even a hint of moisture in her bilges unless I’ve spilled something or left the hatch open in a downpour, so I began looking for the source of this wetness. I peered into the stowage space under the starboard quarter berth and found the problem. She was leaking! There was a small indent in the moulding, half an air bubble in the GRP that looked like it had been there since Kudu was first built all those years ago, but although it had been fine for decades, it had decided to start weeping now. The boat was in no danger, it really was a tiny trickle, but it was unstoppable no matter how much I tried to mop it up with kitchen towel.

There is something curiously motivating about water making its way in to your boat from the bottom. Even though I knew the boat was in no immediate danger, I felt quite startled. This is normal, it shouldn’t be happening. What if it develops in to a more serious leak? I need to sort it quickly. Run Nathan, run!

I sprinted along the pontoons and made my way to the marina building. Surprisingly, without fuss, I calmly explained my problem. “It’s not serious, but Kudu is sinking” I pronounced, before explaining the issue in detail. Steve Miller offered me a solution, he popped out to his car and handed me a tube of epoxy putty. It looks like a giant version of one of those red or green tube like sweets with a creamy white filling that you get charged a fortune for in the cinema.  Application was simple: Wet your hands, break off a bit the size you need, then squish it up until its a uniform colour, before pressing it in to place. I did this, and it went off fairly quickly, thereby fixing the weeping ingress. Panic over.

Unfortunately, I had only fixed the leak from the inside, which means water is still working its way through the GRP hull up to the point of the repair. Not only is this bad news for the fibreglass, but I still had no idea why it was leaking in the first place. I decided Kudu needed to come out of the water again.

Epoxy putting in place

To the left of this picture is the begging of the aft end of the keel moulding. The leak, and thus repair, is on the inner after end of the starboard keel. My theory as to its cause is as follows. She’s been on the hard since about March and has seen a few guests on board during that time as we’ve had various parties around the marine. Up to three people have been on the boat, and all that weight has been resting on her bilge keels. I believe that the indent I found was an existing imperfection in the original moulding, a weak spot, which has opened up with all the flexing it would have undergone recently. There is no obvious damage to the outside, so I’m going to have to grind it back a little bit and check for problems, then repair as required. I’m not worried, I’m getting quite confident with GRP repairs.

A spark of life

I’ve already mentioned the battery installation, and I’ve since done a bit more work. The 61kg Lucas battery came with two carry handles bolted to the top of it. I’ve removed the handles, and utilised the flanges they were attached to fix a little wooden splash guard. The electrical installation is, through absolutely no choice in the matter, under the sink/taps. Obviously this is not ideal, so I decided a splash guard over the terminals would be a good idea. I’ve developed this idea to house the main battery isolator switch, and the shunt for the battery monitor.

I know what some of you are thinking. Having the electrics under the pressurised taps and sink outlet is just plain stupid. Well, perhaps, but as I’ve mentioned, I have no choice. I have further plans for a full on plastic spray screen that should protect the electrics from even a burst pipe, but ultimately, even if that fails, all I’ll lose is the 230v equipment. I can deal live with that. When I’m at sea, the water system won’t be pressurised, and 230v won’t be connected, so taking all this in to account, I’m comfortable with the install.

The Cosy Corribee

The final addition to this lengthy update is news of the start of my insulation project. Kudu has no insulation at all, not even headlining, and this means she gets cold. After last winter, I couldn’t stand another one in such conditions, so I decided to make effort to insulate her properly. Not only will this cut down on condensation (although that’s never been a serious problem), but it’ll keep the cabin warmer while at sea, and retain the heat while I’m plugged in on shore power. Hopefully I can chuck out the ridiculously expensive fan heater and replace it with an oil filled radiator.

I spent quite a long time thinking about the best way to insulate the boat, and looked at many materials for the job, but nearly everything I found was for domestic purposes and often far too thick. The corribee.org website, and Roger Taylor came to the rescue in the middle of  this article.

Roger used Plastazote to line the hull of his junked rigged Corribee, and I decided to do the same. I placed an order with Thames valley supplies, and the sheets of nitrogen expanded foam were delivered a few days later. It’s not cheap, but the closed cell foam is not only an excellent insulator, but also provides added buoyancy in the event of a hull breach.

Roger lined his entire hull with 25mm Plastazote, but at £50 for a 2m x 1m sheet I decided against this. Price was not totally the deciding factor though, since 25mm foam seemed a little too thick. 12mm, on the other hand, was just the right thickness to sit in the spaces between the plywood strengthening that’s moulded in to the cabin roof.  My order actually consisted of 4 sheets of 12mm foam (£25) and 1 sheet of 25mm. The 25mm foam was used to fill the void under the cockpit sole. It displaces 500kg of water, and will help towards the ultimate goal of making Kudu unsinkable.

The biggest problem I’ve found with this project so far is sourcing the glue. Evo Stick contact adhesive is readily available in pretty much every DIY store, but this sovent based adhesive is just far too volatile to use in a confined space. Trust me here, you can’t use it. Even with both hatches open the fumes quickly became way too much to bear. A stray spark could also be fatal.

Evo stick do make a solvent free impact adhesive, but I couldn’t find it for love nor money. I eventually managed to find it on Amazon.com of all places. See here for details (it’s actually the cheapest I could find too!)

The solvent free impact adhesive seems to be latex based, and although it takes 20 minutes or so to sure, it’s safe and bonds well, even to the fluffy lining that was an optional factory extra on my Corribee.

It has already made a big difference to the feel of the boat, and I’ve only done a third of the hull so far.

Winter plans

Given all of the above, I’ve resigned to the fact that this season is a total write off. Instead Kudu will stay ashore and I’ll finish her off properly ready for next year. I’ve made arrangements with Preston marina to construct a temporary shed over Kudu so I can work in all weather over the winter. This should greatly aid progress.

If there’s one man I’d want to be involved if my boat were ever in this sort of trouble, it’s Chris Miller. He’s spent a lifetime in the industrial removals business, and is often tasked with less than ordinary requests to move very large or heavy items in to or out of rather obscure places. He is also the man behind Preston Marina, and his love of boats is very apparent.

The boat had ran aground at the height of spring tide, so there was only one chance to rescue it. If it failed, then the lifeless narrowboat would certainly have been there for at least a month by which time it would be weighted even further by potentially tons of mud. If this rescue failed, it could have very probably lead to a total loss. Preparation time was very limited, but Chris was quick to formulate a plan.

Because of the attitude the boat was laying at it wasn’t buoyant as the tide returned. There simply wasn’t enough hull in the water to support the weight of the boat, and so it flooded in to the cabin. The solution was to seal the cabin at the stern end thereby increasing its buoyancy; hopefully enough to make it float!

Work started early on the morning of the rescue. High water was at 1230, so the boat needed to be prepared before 1000 or it would be too late. Men were sent down by land to seal up the cabin with duct tape and expanding foam. Wherever there was a potential way for water to enter the boat, it was liberally taped up and injected with foam. IF this worked, it would then be possible to attempt to tow the boat off.

A rescue party was formed further up river at Preston Marina. We were put on standby, ready for the word from Savick Brook that the plan had worked and the boat was starting to float. The aged work boat at the Marina is the only remaining item from the original docks. The ‘Lamb’ was a tender to the visiting ships during the commercial life of the docks, and it’s big slow turning prop had the torque for the job. The trouble is the ‘Lamb’ is an old girl, she’s sank 6 times to date, and be revived from the dead on each occasion. We needed backup, and that came in the form of  a 260hp ski boat, and a small RIB.

Tension mounted, and the word from Savick was confused. It seemed to be working, but she was heavily stern down and they weren’t sure how much longer she’d last. We chanced it, and the rescue party departed the docks.

As we motored down the river with the RIB and Mastercraft holding pace with the Lamb, we had no idea what we’d find at the other end. As we turned off the Ribble and in to Savick Brook, spirits were raised at the sight of a floating victim.

Chris’s plan had worked, but only just. The narrowboat was barely floating so we had to act quickly. The lamb came along side and pumps were quickly rigged, running off a portable generator. After 20 minutes it was clear that the two pump were winning, but not winning fast enough. High water was fast approaching and the stranded canal boat still had too much water in her to risk attempting to tow her. The narrow hull of the aptly named narrowboat does not lend to stability, and with tons of water free to slosh around below it posed real risk of her turning turtle. We needed to get the water out, and quickly. A phone call was made, and a 4″ pump was quickly delivered by road. The RIB darted off in to the shallow water to pick it up, and before long it was put to work.

As the weight of the boat reduced, her stern started shifting around in the now ebbing tide until, all of a sudden, it was apparent that the whole outfit of the formerly stranded narrowboat and the attached rescue vessels were now drifting towards the Ribble. Coordinated power bursts from the attached boats kept her on course as the tide carried us out of the brook and in to the river.

Once in to the river, and now drifting towards the Irish Sea, we repositioned the chosen tow boat; the 5.8l V8 powered ski boat. This boat is configured for high speed, and not pulling power but it did a sterling job, and is testament to the build quality of Mastercraft since it pulled the 20 ton liveaboard attached to the ski pole!

It wasn’t long before the convoy arrived back at the lock in Preston, and the narrow boat was lifted to safety.

Phew. I’m getting there. I lile this job though. It’s indoors and i know what i’m doing when it comes to electricity, so it’s quite enjoyable. Ideally i should have three breakers on the distribution unit, but i ain’t, so i’ve got to work with i’ve got.

The charger on on one breaker, and the 230v domestic sockets and calorifier are on the other. The calorifier will be via a fused switch.

The battery is now in place in the box i made, which has been expoxied to the hull. It’s white because i used filler compound to thicken it up for a better bond. It has, afterall, got to stop a 61kg battery from moving.

Progress last month was all but non existent. I’ve had my head down concentrating on work for my client, and a few hopefully money making projects for myself and this has left absolutely no time for boat work. To be honest, I’ve been doing boat work all year it seems, so the break has probably done me some good.

I made a decision this morning though. Kudu is going back in the water this week. She’s nowhere near finished in terms of the project I set out to complete, but excluding a few small jobs I’ve managed to put her back together so far, and the rest of the work can be done afloat. The battery box was epoxied in place today, and the new rudder given a coat of Primocon and then bolted back on to the stock.

When she does get in the water this week there will be no electricity on board, not 12v nor 230v, but inside jobs like wiring are enjoyable evening projects, so I’m sure I’ll have that corrected in no time.

I bought a tin of antifoul a while back, but have decided to not bother applying it just yet. The intention is to enjoy the final remaining weeks of the season, then lift her back out in the winter and finish off the jobs I’ve missed. I just want to use my boat for a while, and I don’t think there’s any harm in that.

Talking of antifoul, it’s interesting to note that the Blakes Tiger I applied (two coats) in 2008 is showing no signs of fouling. There’s a little dried green, formerly of the slime variety, but no growth at all, not barnacles nor weed. I’m not sure why it’s working quite so well given that she had been in the water for over two years by the time I lifted her. Maybe the short stint on the Norfolk Broads when I visited Lowestoft killed off all the salt water growth?

Anyway, with her bottom still in such good shape it makes little sense to open my rather expensive tin of Cruiser Uno for the sake of 2 months in the water. When I finally do, I hope it performs as well as the Tiger has!

I’m very much looking forward to getting Kudu back in the water and spending some time on her. I’m growing to hate Vreli at the moment. The kinetic adventure of her is gone now I’ve decided to stop the project, so all she is now is a very messy garden shed, which I begrudgingly call home. There’s a leak from the cockpit which I quite frankly be bothered to fix even though it’d only take me an hour, and that’s lead to a pool of water in the bilge enough to cover the automatic bilge pump by a good inch. The bilge pump doesn’t have any power though, so the water is staying there for the moment. I really need to get rid of her. I feel a bit guilty about my lack of care for this boat. She really could be a great little sea boat, and I feel I’m denying somebody that opportunity. She needs to get on ebay ASAP, although I don’t think I’ll get back what I paid for her, and I certainly won’t break even on what I’ve spent, but alas, I won’t be the first.

Despite the book reviews page lacking updates recently, I do read a lot of books and fitting them on to a small boat is a problem. What I’ve found, and what I’m excited about, is Amazon’s Kindle. It’s an electronic book reader, and although the Kindle has been out for years, the new version due out in August could almost be designed for us yachties.

I’ve seen the previous version of the Kindle in action, and it has put to rest my presumed distaste for electronic books. I imagined it would be like reading from a small laptop, but it’s not. The screen isn’t at all like a laptop screen, it’s like reading a paper book. Honestly. Apparently this new version is even better too.

So, there’s the usual stuff about e-books which I’m not going to go over. They’re electronic books and you download them, simple, but what makes this such a perfect device to have on your boat? Oh my friends, this is good….

FREE internet access globally! Ok, not quite globally, but within reason the Amazon Whispernet covers pretty much every bit of coastal area you’re likely to visit if you’re reading this, including all of the med! If you start downloading lots then there’s a “small charge” (I couldn’t find out what that was at the time of writing) but for the cruiser keeping in touch with friends and family via email it’s the perfect solution. You could sail from the tip of Scotland to Turkey, and as long as you’re in mobile phone range you can keep in touch with the rest of the world. No messing about trying to find a dongle for the country you’re in, no silly sat phone charges, and no monthly subscription.

The Kindle also includes WiFi capability, so if you’re in a marina with ‘net access, you can download until your heart’s content without any charges at all.

You can even subscribe to newspapers and magazines and they’ll be automatically delivered to the device as soon as they’re published!

There’s one more thing that makes this the perfect device for a boat though. Especially for boats the size of mine where power consumption is an issue. The new Kindle has a battery life of, wait for it… 1 month! Admittedly that’s if WiFi is turned off, but even with it on, the thing has enough power to run for 10 days. Pretty amazing really since the best netbooks last for about 9 hours.

I think this little device which is the size of a paper back, weighs less, is thinner than a magazine, works for a month without being charged up, and can access your email and browse the web almost anywhere in the world, for £149 (£109 without the 3G option) is definitely a must have on any boat. I’ve got one on pre order, and I honestly can’t wait to try it out.

Clicky here to have a gander.

Be gone, bastard weather! I don’t want you here!
I want to be in the Med with my friends and a beer!
I see in the distance, river turning to sea
the home of great memories, for Kudu and me.

So please stay here sunshine, for as long as you can
you help with the work of this miserable man
and next year, I promise, I’ll raise that white cloth
because me and my Kudu are going to fuck off!

I’ve just done a quick check of the water system. All is running correctly. Kudu now has hot/cold pressurised water. Quite happy. Really need to get a move on and find somebody to do this woodwork for me. It’s starting to hold things up.

This evening, I drilled a big hole in the forward deck and fitted the water tank filler cap. It needs bolting down and gunking up wioth sikkaflex, but at least it’s in there. I also drilled a couple of floors and bulkheads to run the fresh water outlet pipe, and spent a while finding a suitable place to fit the water pump. I also removed the inlet seacock for the sea toilet I removed last year. I had already glassed over the outlet hole, but left this one in place at the time. It’s useless, and I need the space, so out came the hacksaw (it was ceased). Oh, I gave the battery tray I’ve made a coat of epoxy too; I have a pet hate with people who fit out boats and don’t finish off bits that are out of sight. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s ok to leave bare wood, especially not when it’s at bilge level.

In fact, Kudu is not too far off ready for the water again. The only big job left to do is build the new companion way, which is an essential part of the switch panel installation I’ve designed (you’ll have to wait to see it to understand why). The woodworking for that is a bit beyond my capability, and while I like to have a got at these things, I’ve just not got the experience to produce the quality it needs to be. Trouble is, I can’t seem to find anybody who can do it!

Vreli now has a make shift galley too. I salvaged a few bits of scrap wood to make a decent sized shelf, and bought on of those single burner gas canister camping stoves. I must confess, that has made a big difference. Between the stove and the microwave I can make a proper meal, and I’ve got a brew on demand now.

On that note, and because I’ve had a productive evening, I’m going to let you in to my plans for my little Corribee. In fact, as Corribee’s go, I think I might well be building the poshest. If you know of any rivals, I’d be delight to hear about them.

I’ll start off with a couple of pictures.

Here you can see something towards the end result. I’ve done away with the drab 1970’s dark plywood interior, and brightened it up with a coat of jersey cream paint. To balance the cream, I’ve used Deks Olje D1 on the freshly cut interior bits. The entire cabin will be finished off with polished stainless fittings.

Then there’s the sink! Note the mixer tap; this is because Kudu will have hot/cold running water. Of course, without an engine the hot water will only be available while on shore power, but I figured it’ll stay warm for 36 hours of so, so would keep things civilised during the odd night at anchor.

I’ve actually done quite a lot of work on her so far, but there’s still a few weekends left before she can go back in the water.

I’ve got a new stainless steel compression post, which looks so much better than the original galvanised (then painted) stick. I salvaged a scraped pushpit from the boatyard, found a straight length long enough, cut it to size with the grinder (removed the uprights at the same time), then cut the circular base of the post with the angle grinder out of some 3mm sheet in the scrap box, and got my mate to weld it for me. It transforms the interior, and is functional too, since it’s stronger then the previous one.

Excuse the mess

I bought a 200ah AGM battery, and built a custom battery box for it too. Actually, it’s not so much a box, but a tray with a couple of threaded bars to clamp the 61kg battery down with. This outfit will be epoxied to the hull, under the sink.  I’ve also cut new cabin sole boards out of 9mm marine ply. Actually, I’ve removed an awful lot of weight from Kudu in various ways. The flooring tile galley top that I thought was a great idea when I first fitted her out back in 2008 was pretty darn heavy. Instead of a sheet of 12mm ply, and the weighty flooring tile, it’s now just a single sheet of 9mm, sprayed to Rustoleum textured paint.

The cabin step the housed the original sink was a bit over engineered too. Actually, to be honest over engineered implies it was made stronger than required, but that wasn’t the case, it was just made with heavy wood nailed together. Using a bit of grey matter and investing in the time to produce the woodwork that Newbridge would have considered too expensive for their product, it’ll be both lighter and stronger.

I’m currently researching switch panels too. The standard shiny black rubbish that you get on chandlery shelves is not going to cut the mustard for this project. I’m currently deciding between a BEP panel, or a Blue Sea Systems panel.

Also, yet to be done is the insulation. I think this will make a huge difference to life onboard. I’m going to use Plastazote, after reading an article by Roger Taylor on the Unified Corribee website. It’s not cheap, but it’s safer than polystyrene (which incidentally, is not hydrophobic). I’m going to use this is “unsinkify” Kudu too. I.e. fill the useless voids like under the cockpit with foam.

That’s only half the jobs, but I’ve resolved to get her in the water as soon as possible. Ideally the deck could do with a lick of paint, but it’s not dire, and it can wait until next year; there only so much pre-season work a man can stand, you know.

So, lots of big exciting plans. I’ve not even mentioned the new rudder, wind vane idea, and rig, but I’ll get around to that in good time.