Repairs and maintenance to Shangri La

Shangri La in the shed

As I mentioned in the last post I returned to Zwartsluis for about 10 days, and with some help from the guys at de Kranerweerd, did a whole lot of overdue repairs and maintenance.

I managed to get a lot done but it was not a very comfortable few days.

Winter was setting in so it was pretty chilly and wet, and I lived on board up on the hard.

 

Compressor and needle gun

And I needed the boat to be under cover out of the rain for some of the work, so I had to move to a B and B for the last 3 nights as you cant stay aboard when the boat is in the shed.

I thought my days of chipping and painting and climbing in bilges were long gone.

Mmm – not so.

 

De-rusting the stern

I borrowed a compressor and air needle gun to deal with a whole lot of rust spots around the stern…..

 

Freshly painted forward bilge area

……as well as a rusty section in the forward bilge area.

Water damaged wooden hatch cover

We had had a lot of leaking around the port side windscreen on the back deck, which over time had seriously damaged the wooden hatch cover.

Re furbished starboard hatch cover

Also the wooden starboard hatch cover was coming apart.

Brand new sliding hatch cover

The port forward window in the saloon had started to leak.

So both these windows were removed and re sealed.

I sanded and repaired the one wooden hatch cover.

The sliding hatch was beyond repair and I got the yard to fabricated a new one.

Working on the leaking windscreen

I had the same company who did our new upholstery and curtains the previous year make new outside canvas screens for all the windows.

These help to keep both sun and water out.

 

New screens for the windows

I have painted the de-rusted steel with epoxy, and will do the finishing when I return this year.

As will I have to do the caulking in the 2 wooden hatch covers.

I will do this myself as labour is hellishly expensive in Europe.

New flagstaff for SA flag

We love flying our flags, but they do rather obscure the view from the driving position.

I have fitted 2 stainless steel flagstaffs up on the radar arch for the courtesy flag and our SA flag.

And – we managed to get the stern light working!

Really looking forward to getting back on board, finishing off these jobs and getting on the water again.

Next – plans for 2015 – where to head for?