Winter Time

Winter Time.

Winter time is not the right time to work on the hull or any outer construction of the boat especially with the weather conditions of rain and snow and the cold temperatures which prevented me from using any type of glue.

   

One thing which needed to be done was the cleaning of the bottom not only in the cabins but also in the engine-room.

As with all older ships when one cleans the engine room bottom a lot is found which should have been removed in an earlier stage.

A clean oil free bilge is not only important for the environment but also in case of leakage or minor flooding of the boat one minimizes the risk that dirt will enter the bilge pump which can result in a failure of the bilge pump.

Due to the hatches in the steering cabin to the engine room the Engine room of the Storebro 34 is good to enter and one is able to clean almost the complete engine room bottom.

This process has been taken several weeks to clean and removing dirt and grease from the bottom is time consuming, also since I’m not as flexible as 20 years ago and it was freezing cold.

At the same time an inventory has been made from all overboard outlets and valves.

I was a bit amazed that a lot of overboard openings do not have a shut off valve although they are below the water line, while this type of boat has been designed for voyages across big lakes and coastal travel.

I will install on all overboard openings new valves.

Also I noticed that the engine cooling water inlet filters are placed below the water line which normally is not seen in small yachts.

Now that the bottom is cleaned a start was made with the removal of the paint, this is done for inspection of the hull from the inside as well as to apply linseed oil on the hull.

The same has been done with the aft cabin and after removal of the paint on the bottom two small area’s were discovered which will need some attention in the summer, wood is damaged.

This means removal of parts of the bottom planks and placing new inserts.

The cleaned area’s received several layers of linseed oil to protect the wood.

Electrical Installation:

This is another part where one can work on during the winter time it is important to get familiar with the electrical installation and layout in case situations arise which do need a quick follow up.

I have the impression that most of the electrical installation is still original and the projection at this moment is to leave the installation as it is with upgrades where required.

Since there are no drawings with the boat and since Storebro in Sweden did not reply on my request for copies of electrical drawings I was more or left stuck with how all the fuses were connected to the electrical system.

Luckily I was supported by a Gentleman in Germany from the Storebro club who has sent me pictures of the drawings which are clear enough to check the present installation.

As with all older projects over the years more wires are installed than sometimes really needed and not always in a proper and professional way.

I found a type of spaghetti in the fuse cabinet and around the batteries.

First thing was to determine which wires could be removed which had no use, this was not only the 12 volt circuits but also the 220 volt installed in the boat.

The next step was to shorten all wires which were to long and could be shortened.

The 220 volt circuit with outlets were checked and upgraded to ships standards although not finalized it gives me the necessary outlets on board the ship which allows me to plug in tools for the coming work inside and outside.

The drawings were checked against the installation on board and most of the fuses are still serving the circuits as per drawing.

Some changes had to be made to allow to new equipment to be connected and changes we made to connect original installed equipment on the correct way.

At this moment about 50% of the electrical installation has been checked and cleaned up.