Chain Plate success.

We have at last got the chainplates back on, there was a weeee hiccup last weekend. The new chainplates, that have been in the bilge since we bought her, did not quite fit the existing positions. All the bottom bolt holes were out by a few millimetres, this meant filling and then drilling new holes. Also we had to get the Capshroud chainplates bent to the same angles as the old chainplates, we only discovered this last bit when we had put on the chainplate and it did not fit right. But after being bent by Terry our local Stainless Steel guy, they fit like a charm.

Pauls fibreglassing efforts on the hull are looking pretty damn professional (well that's what I think). Luckily there is Jurgen the Fibreglass guy at Norsand Boatyard, and He gives the odd tip and encouragement. Next weekend it will be the outside of the hull He needs to glass.

I have now finished work for a while, so I will be getting into a few jobs around the boat. Varnishing the hatchway and around the sink/chart table, then cleaning up the mess that the boat has become over the last few weeks. The Composting Toilet is still sitting in our lounge, right in front of the TV, unused of course. We both want to get it installed but we have other things to do first. The list does not seem to get any shorter.......... the curse of a boat.

Removing the old chainplates.

Paul bashing out chainplate bolts


Ever since Paul and I bought Kabuki there has been a running discussion between the two of us about replacing the chainplates. At last we (I had a win) have decided to replace the existing 35 year old chainplates. Removal of the existing plates was not quite as fraught with difficulties as we thought. The main problem being getting hands up inside the bulwark space to undo the top bolts. Luckily Paul has a valuable assistant who has the advantage of ......small hands. I never thought my small hands would be an advantage, but there you go.
The old chainplates don't look too bad, we can't find any cracks but there is a bit of pitting. So I am glad we have changed them, it is a bit more peace of mind. Getting the new plates on has been reasonably easy as well, with a well executed ballet of back bending (inside the head locker) and total co-operation by both parties...... Not a cross word was said.
So things are going reasonably smoothly with the haul-out so far, we will see what the next few weeks bring.

Getting Groco Thru-hulls out- Pauls Procedure

Just thought I woul put on here how Paul actually got Kabuki's Groco Thru-hulls out without to many problems.
First of all Paul ground a flat bar of steel so that it would slot inside the external fitting of the thru-hull, it needed to be a nice firm fit. Once this was in place he attached a adjustable wrench to the end of the steel bar and put a length of pipe on the handle of the wrench to give extra leverage. He then proceeded to undo the thru-hull without to many problems.
We had thought we might have to grind the face plate off, but no thank goodness.

Removal of old Head.

Paul cutting the holding tank in half in the bow.




Well Paul and Phil (Brother-inlaw) motored Kabuki down to Norsand on Thursday, she was hauled out without any problems. Paul was successful in getting the Groco thru-hulls out. He was actually pleasantly surprised how easily they came off, considering they had been on the boat for 35 years. The task then began to remove all of the plumbing for the Head (toilet), Holding-Tank, and the deck wash pump (which we never use).

We are quite glad we decided to install a composting toilet, as most of the existing pipes for the head were nearly blocked with scale build-up. We are very lucky that we had not had any explosive blockages to date. The whole process of removing the plumbing was not as bad as we had thought. The only bad part was having to cut the holding tank in half to remove it. This meant we had to cut a hole in the top, clean out the residue (yuck) then cut it in half. This was all done without tooooo much discomfort.

We now have a huge storage compartment up in the bow, what to fill it with??????