Time is an illusion

In a conversation on a sailing forum recently, someone told me that ‘DIY boat time’ is unrelated to ‘DIY time at home’.

On Saturday I went up to Deganwy with a list of jobs, a spare toolkit in the car. And a headful of optimism. I really have to do something about all that optimism.

The list of jobs was:

1. Sand and oil the coachroof grab rails
2. Sand and oil the companionway washboard
3. Replace the (broken) port compass with the compass recently removed from the starboard bulkhead
4. Check and drain the bilge
5. Remove the LED torch
6. Measure the volume of and sterilise the port and starboard fresh water tanks
7. Clean the shower/head/galley taps
8. Full electronic & lighting check
   • Tricolour
   • Navigation
   • Cabin (main)
   • Deck/anchor
   • Blower
   • Instrumentation (companionway)
   • Instrumentation (navigation table)
9. Remove all food, drink, & bedding
10. Remove all rubbish and empty the bins
11. Sweep up and tidy up
12. Pump out the heads bowl and rinse with freshwater

For reasons best known to who knows who, I started with job #3. The port compass has been broken (empty of lubrication fluid) for a few months. The compass that used to be on the starboard side (it was removed when the Raymarine Chartplotter was installed) is the same build/size as the broken one on the starboard side, so this should have been a straight swap, yes?

Erm, no.

When I removed the broken compass it became apparent that the liquid that was supposed to float the compass mechanism had leaked down the electrical cable that carried current to the illumination bulb. The connector (which was pretty substandard anyway) was corroded.

So I cut and peeled back the cable and the wire inside the sleeve was actually green. All the way down as far as I peeled it, it was green. Electrical cable isn’t supposed to be green.

So I got in the car and drove to B&Q in Llandudno and bought some replacement cable. From the marina I got some marine cable connectors, got back to the boat, and started work.

I took out the old cable and replaced it all the way back to the main junction box. Just like that. Except it took over an hour to do the ‘just like that’ thing. But with the cable replaced all I had to do was fit the compass into the pre-drilled holes and Robert’s your Mother’s Brother.

Except Robert isn’t my Mother’s Brother; I slid the compass into place, put the polyurethane bolts in and blow me down the bolts were too short. How the fixing bolts were too short I have no idea, especially as this compass came over from the other side of the cockpit. But too short they were, and by about 3cm. I tried the little hardware shop in Llandudno Junction. They had the perfect size, but only in zinc. The reason the fixing bolts are polyurethane is because (1. non magnetic and 2. non rusting). Anyway, I went with the zinc bolts because I couldn’t leave a bloody great hole in the companionway bulkhead for a few weeks. So the first job (#3 on the list) ended up taking four hours. But I have subsequently ordered polyurethane bolts of the right size; they’ll be here before my next trip to Deganwy.

By now it was getting dark and cold. As it was getting dark I worked my way through the list of tasks that comprised job #8 (full electronic and lighting check). There were a couple of niggles, but nothing serious.

Then I did job #7 (clean the shower/head/galley taps). Then I did job #4 (check and drain the bilge). Then jobs #9 (Remove all food, drink, & bedding), #10 (Remove all rubbish and empty the bins), and #11 (Sweep up and tidy up). Then job #12 (Pump out the heads bowl and rinse with freshwater). Job #5 (Remove the LED torch) eluded me. Can’t find the bloody thing. I turned the boat upside down and still it didn’t turn up. This is a Very Annoying Thing. Hey ho.

Sanding and oiling the various woodworks didn’t get touched, it was far too late when I’d finished fannying around (technical term) with the compass.

So the list of outstanding jobs looks like this today:

1. Sand and oil the coachroof grab rails
2. Sand and oil the companionway washboard
3. Replace the port compass fixing bolts with polyurethane fittings
4. Remove the LED torch??
5. Measure the volume of and sterilise the port and starboard fresh water tanks
6. Fix the lighting niggles:
   • Deck/anchor
   • Blower
   • Instrumentation (companionway) – backlight