Saturday, May 7, 2011

Tops and Bottoms

I worked on the top today, Deb worked on the bottom. The mast is stretched out on the deck, hanging off both the bow and stern pulpits. It only took the combined efforts of ten or so hearty laborers taking advantage of the high lake levels. I nosed The Tartan right up to the bank since there was more than 5 feet of water over the road. Heave on the hoe and pretty soon mast and boat were reunited. The rest of a long, long day was spent stringing out the rigging to decipher what went were. By nightfall the number of cables equalled the number of places to hook cables too...always a good sign. The wind was up and the breakwaters are still under water, but I managed to assemble the rigging on a bouncing deck without dropping a single pin / screw / cotter key in the lake.

While I made like a rigger Deb was disassembling the head / forepeak area to solve our water system mysteries. Among the discoveries:

- The aft "Waste" deck fitting doesn't actually go anywhere, the pipe just hangs below the deck behind a panel in the head.

- The outside water fitting next to the useless "Waste" fitting doesn't go anywhere either, just a length of hose ending under the floorboards.

- A line running off the holding tank also didn't really go anywhere. (Lots of hoses not going anywhere useful on this boat.) It ended up under the "V" berth - its only apparent purpose was to let stink escape as an indication there was stuff in the holding tank.

- The holding tank vent is in the chain locker...that's a new one.

- Instead of the promised 4 water tanks, there are just 3, which equals the number of "Water" deck fittings. Its good when the bread and peanut butter come out even.

- There is a thru-hull that goes into the tank bowl, it was left open.

- There is a thru-hull to empty the head overboard. That line was capped with a plastic sandwich bag secured by a zip-tie. Fortunately that thru-hull was closed.

We even found a Tartan Manual buried in the paperwork - thanks for the offer Ed, but it looks like we are covered after all.

We got a lot done today, but I'm thinking the sun will rise on a sore body paying the dues of spending a day clambering around the deck like an eight year old playing on a jungle gym.

By the by, we were planning on leaving the exterior teak gray - until I sanded and oiled the helm. That is some good looking wood...



(Some videos coming tomorrow - too big to load on the marina wifi!)

9 comments:

Bill K said...

It sure makes you wonder just what those people where thinking when they left all those hoses unhooked. :((

What kind of teak oil did you use ?

I am afraid I have a lot to redo.

Thanks

Bill Kelleher

Ed said...

Tim,
It looks like the previous owner pulled tankage for weight.

The question then becomes, as a live-aboard, do you put that tankage back onboard or install a watermaker or just live with it. I put a 200 gpd watermaker on board our Tartan 42 (S/V Tardis) that can fill all the ships tankage in a day.

What's nice about the Tartan 42, besides from being a gorgeous boat, is all the capabilities onboard for distance cruising.

ed

Ed said...

BTW, I love the Jost Van Dock sign. There are 2 great bars there called roxies and sidneys peace and love. When you get your Tarten out of the lake you should visit them.

ed

TJ said...

We are using WATCO teak oil. 60 - 150 - 220 grit, wipe it down, put the teak oil on with a rag. So far its looking pretty good and I hope that maintenance is no more than wiping it down with fresh oil every few months.

A watermaker is definatly on the list of equipment to add. And we have every intention of visiting the real Josh Van Dyke someday soon.

Ed said...

Have you talked to your surveyor since discovering all of the disconnects.

If I understand you correctly, none of the heads are attached to tanks, just 1 open thruhull and 1 closed.

The plastic bag with a tie wrap is an old way of meeting Coast Guard requirements that vessels cannot discharge directly into the water.

ed

Bill K said...

Thanks TJ :))

Daughter,son inlaw and I got the bottom painted on my boat today.

Still have to install trim tab hoses.

Bill Kelleher

TJ said...

Ed, the discharge line from the "Y" valve has been removed. (Replacing it is on the list of things to be accomplished.) The baggie / zip tie are on the end of the thru-hull, maybe to keep junk out of there? The head is connected to a single holding tank, with a second (smaller) thru-hull to feed lake water into the bowl for flushing - something we don't do on our lake.

I haven't talked to the survayor. I suppose I should, but the fact is that will not make any difference to the list of work I have to do.

Deb said...

As a side note, one of the reasons that there are so many disconnected hoses in the boat is because it used to have a Lectra San head that the previous owners decided didn't work very well, so they took it upon themselves to remove the macerator and the salt feed tank and in doing so just cut the excess hoses without bothering to cap them in any way. Our system doesn't resemble the system in the manual in any way, shape or form.

Ed said...

Hi Deb,
I too has spent many an hour cursing at the lectrasan as well. After replacing everything replacable, I discovered the real problem with that unit is that it is very sensitive to the slightest corrosion on any terminal. Now the unit works great.

Once you started describing the plumbing issues on your boat i figured I couldn't help much because everything on your boat is different to mine.

BTW, I also am a grey teak guy. Now that you two have been working on The Tartan for a few weeks, do you have any sense for her name yet?

ed