"Cover your aft babe"

As you can see, we're having a nice snowy winter. To prevent snow blowing through the aft hole, we measured the opening. And it's quite big: 2.4 by 2 meters. We'll buy some cloth to stop the snow, but still let the wind through -- otherwise the wind forces might just "blow our house down".



Other things to do before the spring repairs: charge the batteries. We bought a CTEK M200 marine charger -- and as always, marine gear comes with marine price tags :-)

Another visit - another fix

This time we went there together to brush off the snow that had accumulated on the deck. We also closed the doors to the aft cabin, checked the thermometer (which read -14C) and Teemu fixed the cushioning:

We're within limits - barely

Visited Summertime on a cold and windy night. I expected to see a disaster of some scale but luckily everything was still in place. I guess the fact that we use springy ropes to attach the tarpaulin and that the tarpaulin is not anchored firmly to the ground has managed to create a flexible enough construction to withstand strong winds.

The wind was really blowing, the tarpaulin was making huge waves and the A-frame made squeaky sounds but did not budge:

There was even more snow on the deck so we need to find a way to keep the snow out but let the wind blow through:

The night was not completely without tragedy. I saw several torn tarpaulins, wildly swinging weights and this poor individual with wooden plank banging on her sides in heavy gusts:

If only I had my proper camera with me, I would have taken a couple a knock-out shots with the wind, snow, night-time and massive boats as my models...

All is well

Went to check how she's doing (after a windy night) and found her in a-ok condition. The frame was in the same place as we left it, so it seems we finally managed to load enough weight on it.

The aft wall of the frame is quite open and some snow has fallen on the aft deck. We'll need to cut a piece of the tarpaulin we got from the previous owner to close up the aft opening.

Devil is in the details

But first: whoa, what happened? This is what was waiting at the docks when I decided to take a gander on a semi-sunny day...



Regardless of our hard efforts to secure the A-frame with weights etc the aft part had moved about 40 cm to babord, maybe due to strong winds. The cover was ok at the fore. So the work doesn't really stop...



Anyhow, with about five months remaining before Summertime should be ready for the sea again, it's time to start thinking of repairs. Mikko had mentioned that he'd like to polish the instruments in the cockpit, so here are some detail shots.





Summertime came equipped with a Silva compass, an original installation from 1965. Hopefully Mikko will have the endurance to polish this too :-)



And finally, we'll have to sort out the electrics as well, but it seems to be a simple system, and properly documented too.

Glykolera mera

Some visual remembrances from the long night with the anti-freeze. The time-line details have been long forgotten, but somehow it took 4 hours to get gas in the tank, get gas into the carburetor, and start the engine -- that's us :-)



I think even 5 liters of the water-antifreeze mix would've been enough.



Naturally we thought of nature, storing the overflow in a bucket and then disposing of it properly in the waste containers of the docks.

Just in Time!

Hooray! We managed to start the engine and run the anti-freeze substance to the cooling system. The actual procedure took only about 3 minutes but as always with us in charge, it took 4 hours with the preparations and our usual trial and error approach :P

I was ready to quit after 3 hours but Teemu kept our spirits up (pun intended) and with his brilliant suggestions everything worked out beautifully in the end.

Here's Teemu with the green stuff:

The night was eerie and I began to wonder whether having a boat actually means you get to sail it some day. So far my experiences with having a wooden boat have been: lots of carrying of stuff around, multiple visits to multiple shops with strange shopping list in one's pocket and a considerable amount of less money on the way back, long nights without food.

Anyhow, I'm very happy we were able to start the engine ourselves and prepare it for the winter. And not a second too late, as this was what I saw on my way to work this morning:

Recipe for 'glykolering'

In our Volvo Penta B18A 75 hp gasoline engine a mixture of fresh-water and anti-freeze fluid cools the engine, and that mixture is cooled by seawater. It's a cooling system by swedish manufacturer Martec, probably this 901-1015 type (PDF).

Before the winter sets in, one has to get rid of the seawater and replace it with and 50% mix of fresh-water and anti-freeze.

For us, that means:
- put a bucket below the boat under the exhaust pipe
- prepare another 10 liter bucket with the 50% mix
- take off the hose coming from the seawater inlet
- insert one end of a 1 meter hose in the bucket and connect the other end to the water pump

In the photo, the red arrow shows where to connect the "bucket hose":



As the engine has been cold for two weeks now, we use this starting procedure:
- switch on the batteries
- run the engine fan to get rid of any gas vapours
- pull the gear-switch plug up/right to neutral
- as there's currently no choke button/cable, use the hand pump on the side of engine to pump gas
- also spray some "gas starter" on the black thingy
- push the gas about half-way in and turn the key to start the engine

Now the engine is running and the water pump will suck in the 50% mix. Continue until the bucket is about empty (also the water coming from the exhaust pipe should be 50% mix by now).

Then just turn off the engine and wait for springtime!

Shopping list:
- 5 liters of anti-freeze fluid (glycole)
- 1 meter of rubber hose (outer diameter 23mm, inner diameter 19mm, approximately)
- some hose clamps

Whoa, what happened?

Tonight I went to the docks to install some clamps to fix the horizontal poles in the A-frame. To my horror the aft "A" had moved forward about 30 cm, making the whole frame lean forward, and also twisting one of the metal clamps at the other end of the frame.

After quite a lot of swearing alone in the cold night, I managed to rectify the situation. Still to be done: buy a 4m ladder and fix the twisted clamp.


Continuing the sad saga, the aft board keeping the tarp off the sides had made a hole in it. Added more "softening" to all boards.


On a more positive note, the engine looked clean and well taken care of, for a 45 year old engine anyway. And I found the serial number for the registration and insurance!

Winter is coming!

They're predicting -1 Celcius and snow for Thursday... I hope it's only temporary!

One problem at a time

With the winter freeze approaching we felt slightly panicky, as the tarpaulin was hanging too low and loose on the ground, the A-frame wasn't really tied down to anything, AND Summertime had been off the wagon (i.e dry) only for four days -- fear of mahogany freezing and shredding to bits raised it's ugly head.

But, as always, rationality prevailed and we tackled problem #1. We lifted the frame from port to aft by 50cm so the tarpaulin got off the ground. Mikko created effective and funky weight bags from cloth filled with rubble, attached to the tarp by stringy cord and clip-ties.


Moving forward, we tied the frame to nearby poles and other fixed objects (stones and blocks). We still need to install clamps to prevent the frame from lifting up from the horizontal supports.
To get the tarp off the sides of the boat, we installed three boards, one on top of port cabin, one on top of aft cabin and one in the middle. These were easily fixed in place with clip-tie again.


Other achievements of the day were cleaning and washing the bilge, removing all floor and bed panels, bedding etc. All the was left were the mast, the flag pole with the Swedish flag, and a plastic owl.


One problem at a time - that's our motto from now on.

It's getting colder...

Surfed around for tips on preparing Summertime for the winter. Here are some links in mainly finnish and swedish:

http://www.suomenlahdenpuuveneilijat.fi/hoito-huolto.htm
http://www.trabatsakuten.nu/tipsotrix.htm
http://puuveneemme.blogspot.com/
http://www.biltema.se/sv/Bat/Kemikalier/Ovrigt/Klibbduk-10-st/
http://www.tope.fi/le_tonkinois/index.htm
http://www.jotiko-marine.com/yleista.htm

Undercover

As a recap: the NOA A-frame worked fine (after deciphering the swedish instructions), "some assembly required".



Hoisting the frames up was painless...


And finally we tucked her in for the night.

Welcome to Finland, Ms Summertime

Here she is. After safe journey she arrived in Helsinki around 11am and we were there to welcome her to her new home. Straight to winter storage she goes, in order to dry enough before freezing nights.

Is it just me, or does the mahogany look pretty good in the setting sun?

Although I designed and we built the support blocks based on photographs alone, they turned out to be just the right size.

Teemu washed the bottom and I started assembling the NOA A-frames. In the meantime, I admired her sides.

Every now and then Teemu asked me: "Isn't she an ok boat?". I had not seen her before. Teemu visited Jesper and they test drove her in Sweden and I had seen some photographs and a couple of videos. I'm pleased: she's not ok, she's perfect :-)

Then we assembled the A-frames and the deck supports. We also hoisted the tarpaulin on top the frame and attached in a hurry. Need to go back and fasten the tarpaulin better before autumn storms kick in...

Uplifting Moment

She's up! Thanks to AG Marine's helpful people and their professional service (www.agmarine.fi), she's on her way to Kapellskär, Sweden and then to Naantali, Finland during the night. Hopefully everything goes well and she will arrive in Helsinki around noon. Also, special thanks to Jesper (previous owner) in Sweden for letting her go :-)

Done!

After 17 hours of hard labour, this is the result.


It actually took 5 hours, but 12 to shop for the materials...

Total cost for the materials was 125€, but we accidentally bought too many steel rods. 115€ is the "real" price for the materials.

Shopping, part II / N

Due to challenging schedule, we could not buy everything we needed on our first visit to Bauhaus. Here's the shopping list for the second visit:

• 160mm long screws, about 50 pieces
• 90mm long screws, about 100 pieces
• Wood glue, any kind
• Drill bit, at least 150mm long, suitable for the screws above
• Electric extension cord, at least 15m long
• Hand saw, Stanley
• 4 x 40-50cm long, 16mm diameter, threaded rod
• 20 x nuts for the rod
• 20 x washers for the rod
• extra planks to spread the tarpaulin so that there's room for the air to circulate around the boat

And here's what we need to build tonight:

Shopping, part I / N

So. We went to Captain's Shop in Lauttasaari to get

• NOA A-frame 11 meters long, about 4 meters tall, 742€
• Tarpaulin, 8 x 12 meters, Proflex, 199€
• some rope and a broom to clean the bottom of the boat, 35€

Nice shop. We'll visit them again soon for some flexible rubber "dampeners" for the tarpaulin fixing and most likely for the Jabsco toilet and septic tank I'm planning on building and installing during winter.

Next stop, Bauhaus to buy timer for the support blocks

• 2 x 100mm x 100mm x 3300mm pine blocks
• 4 x 100mm x 50mm x 2900mm pine blocks
• total of 55€

Bauhaus has a nice sawing service, consisting of an X-shaped sawing support and a hand saw :-)

  

Checking the dock

We went to Verkkosaari dock to check out the premises and see how others have "winterized" their loved ones.

They were hoisting boats at that time and the weather was misty and mystical, with boats appearing as if from nowhere.

Next stops: Captain's Shop in Lauttasaari (tarpaulin and NOA frame and some misc items) and Bauhaus (timber for the blocks).

It's final!

The payment has been made, transportation has been arranged and hopefully Summertime will arrive in Helsinki around noon 6th of October, 2010. Now all we need to do is build support blocks, buy a winter cover, make sure we are there when the boat arrives and figure out how to place 3 tons of wood safely on the blocks we've made and make sure the boat will survive its first winter in Finland.

Let's hope winter arrives late this year. Would hate to see the wet wood freeze on the first year.

Wanna see it? Here she is: