Wander Lost

Category: Maintenance

Maintenance work on Lady Cindy

  • Back in New Quay

    I have arrived back in New Quay, made an expensive mistake, spent time talking with and getting help from amazing friends and family and ready to laze away the summer in this fantastic place.

    New Quay RNLI going out on excersice

    The trip up from Milford Haven was mostly uneventful with light winds but St David’s Head was a little exciting. Winds, tides and waves constantly changing direction and a rocky coastline stretching miles out to sea. I motor sailed through the last section because I took a short cut between two rocky islands to reduce the time in those confusing seas, visibility was poor so I was cross checking the chart plotter with the GPS on my phone. In strong winds, I would avoid this area by passing much further out. This is exactly the place where I needed the radar, but never used it 🤔. For lots of reasons, the display is at the nav station and I did not want to leave the cockpit, I trust the charts, no other shipping etc. So why do I have it? Well the short answer is it came with the boat. I need to consider what to do in future about this.

    After an overnight in Fishguard, my arrival in New Quay was special. I knew there were several people on the shore welcoming me in but frustrating for me not to be able to rush ashore to meet them. I had to anchor, tidy everything and get the tender out before coming ashore. New Quay needs a deeper harbour, in fact all the harbours along this coast could be a sailing mecca if the authorities invested time and money in dredging and providing docks.

    I posted this on Facebook just before I arrived…

    About 1.5 hours away from New Quay. Feeling a mixture of excitement, impatience and a little emotional. Under a year ago I was sat on my own in a tiny flat watching YouTube videos for days on end about other people’s adventures. I said to myself the same thing I said 5 years earlier before I went to Africa on a motorbike, stop dreaming, do it.
    So here I am doing it.
    I set myself some milestones to achieve before I cross the channel. The last was to sail around from the South of England to New Quay. I have proved to myself that I am physically, mentally and emotionally prepared to sail around the world and that the boat is capable and safe to do it in. Thank you to all that have helped me get this far. Here’s to a great summer in New Quay and the next step, whatever that may be 🤔

    Now the the expensive mistake, again summed up in a post…

    Overnight I lost my tender, its my own stupid fault, I secured it to the boat last night and got dotty and my shopping aboard and could not of tied it correctly. It was there when I went to bed and gone when I woke up. Its an offshore wind so likely on its way to Ireland. Reported to coastguard but on the off-chance someone finds a small zodiac inflatable with a black 3.5hp motor of the back mark TT Lady Cindy, please contact me or the coast guard. In the mean time if anyone has a tender for sale in the New Quay area, please let me know. I am OK on the boat, I have plenty of everything I need for at least a week, although I would like to get ashore to see friends and family at some point in the next few days.

    The response has been overwhelming from offers of lifts, loans of tenders, watching local sales sites in case it was stolen and messages of support. To cut a very long story short, I got a new tender with a Honda 2.5hp engine from a local dealer, it went pop on first usage, has been patched and will be replaced under warranty. And thank you Clive for the book on knots 🤣

    The last few days have been amazing for me, I cannot walk 100 paces without somebody saying “hi john” and stopping to chat. My sister did my washing, I have had lots of offers of lifts, been out fishing with my stepson, drinks and a meal with friends, even sat on the box outside my old shop with dotty like we did for days on end during lockdown. This is a special place.

    I am getting my second covid jab today and need to do some shopping so a day mostly ashore, I have been invited to a steak night with a very special family tomorrow, need to help with some book keeping in the shop and I want to take as many friends out on the boat as possible so really looking forward to the next few days.

  • Missing cup

    I am moving west at a reasonable pace and hope to go around lands end today. A major milestone in my trip to West Wales. I’ve seen some stunning coastlines but had a couple of small setbacks.

    The Lizard Peninsular

    Setback one is my wind speed measuring device (anemometer) has been unreliable and as its at the top of the mast I can do nothing about it yet. I can see that one of the three cups is missing, an easy repair when I get the opportunity to get up there.

    Setback two was as we were leaving Falmouth Dottty followed me onto the pontoon as I was slipping the lines. Normally she jumps on and off without problem but this time she had her lifehacket on. The top of this touched the safety rail halting her mid leap and there gravity took over, splosh she was in the water. Fortunately there is a handle on the top of her lifejacket so I lifted her in. She looked very confused.

    Setback three was the lizard peninsular. This is notorious for its tidal race. I had the tide with me but wind was against so it made for some big rolling seas that I had to motor through. OK this is not really a setback thats just sailing but hey it made a better headline.

    I am currently crossing Penzance Bay with the engine running because of light winds. Forecast is for it to pick up later but the next few days are looking bad for sailing, good for everyone else with little wind. I want to get to St Ives then will reassess but I may be there a few days.

  • About Lady Cindy in 2021

    Lady Cindy is a 32 foot, long keel yacht and was one of the first GRP production boats ever built. She was built in 1965 by Halmatic and Camper Nicholson. More information about the Nic32 can be found on the Nicholson 32 association Web site. I have yet to find a definition for a classic boat, but I think she qualifies.

    Lady Cindy

    She has a very thick hull and topsides and 3 tonnes of lead ballast in her full length keel. Nic32s are renown for their safe and kindly behaviour, a big factor in my choice of boat. She is slow in the water compared to modern lighter boats, but I am in no hurry to get anywhere and I do want to get there safely. They suffer from osmosis like all GRP boats but Lady Cindy has previously been properly peeled back and treated and shows no signs of problems since.

    Lady Cindy was originally purchased new by a syndicate (hence the name) and has been kept for most of her life in the Portsmouth area. I think I am the third owner in her 56 year history; that is if you count a syndicate as one owner.

    I bought her in the late summer of 2020, just before the second wave of Covid 19 in the UK. My intention was, and still is, to live aboard and explore the world.

    Over her years, she has been well cared for and essential work done as needed. However, she needed updating especially the electrics, plumbing and eventually the engine. Priorities were the electrics and navigation, followed by the plumbing, both unsuitable for liveaboard. I have blogged the work done so far.

    The engine, a Yanmar 2gm20, is old but serviceable, it’s got a few years left in her but I cannot see me doing 6 knots of speed for several hot and long days that would be required for Panama or Suez canal crossings. She has been serviced regularly and only smokes at startup, which is normal for these engines.

    Rigging and sails were all in good condition as was the hull. I got a couple of spare sails with the boat but the storm sail will need replacing, it is the original 1965 one. She has a slab reefed mainsail, furling genoa and a spinacker. The cockpit is deep and a good place to be in bad weather. Although all sheets and the furling genoa run to the cockpit, you still need to go on deck to raise, lower and reef the main sail, running at least the main halyard to the cockpit and investigating lazy Jack’s and single line reefing options are on my list of jobs. I want at least enough control from the cockpit to get the mainsail down if I get caught out by high winds, ideally reefed from there as well. I will seek expert advice from a rigger for this.

    She has two anchors, the original Danforth in a factory fitted deck locker plus a plough anchor mounted on a bow roller with 40m of chain and an electric winch.

    The interior retains much of the original teak and is in the original mark V layout. This includes a galley, nav station and 3 bunks in the main cabin, a heads area and two v bunks up front. Eventually I want to improve this layout by converting the two bunks on the port side to be a wide single with storage over the top. The existing bunks are very narrow which is fine on a passage but not good for livaboard. The forward v cabin is where I sleep but condensation is a problem here. In time I want to improve the insulation and ventilation and move the chain locker and winch further forward and seal it from the berth area. Sleeping next to a smelly chain is not ideal.

    The galley has a sink, gas cooker and there is a fridge under the nav station. I want to improve the cramped storage here by putting in a cupboard above the sink.

    The heads has a jabsco hand pumped toilet that uses sea water to flush. There is no holding tank so I need to do something about this before visiting places like the USA where you must have either a holding tank or a composting toilet. I have heard a lot of good things about composting toilets but these are expensive. I can get the special seat to make one fairly cheaply so I may end up making my own that is built specifically for the space. The hull rise and the mast make it a difficult place to fit factory produced toilets. The sink now has running fresh and salt water, as does the galley sink, these are fed by pressure sensitive pumps. The taps have a shower attachment so showering in the heads area and using the bilge as a drain is possible. I do use it over the sink to wash my hair to minimise soap in the bilge.

  • Wind vane steering

    Lady Cindy was fitted with a monitor wind vane steering system in 2006 by the previous owner. Just before I bought the boat it was removed and sold separately from the boat. Wind vane steering uses the power of the wind to keep a boat on course much like an autopilot would. If the yacht wanders off course, the perceived wind direction changes, which pushes a vane over, which adjusts the steering to bring the boat back on course. It requires no power so is perfect for long voyages.

    I managed to contact the buyer to see if he had fitted it to his boat and would he be willing to sell it back to me. After several months, he agreed so today I sailed to Portsmouth, did the deal and together we fitted it back on Lady Cindy. Fortunately I was able to redrill out the original mounting holes so the whole process was completed in less than three hours.

    The trip back was ‘fun’. 25 knot headwinds and 3-4 meter swells. I decided to motor back rather than sail and I am glad I did. Another yacht was under sail and had to tack about a mile to my starboard side and back several times. I overtook him and got back before him plus had a more comfortable ride with my bow to the waves, he had the waves on his beam giving him a very rolly ride.

    I was involved with another emergency with the coast guard on the return. A mayday call came across the radio but the vessel did not respond to the Coast Guard calling back, a DSC distress message also came up on the radio. A short while later a yacht about 1/2 mile behind me made a pan pan call saying they were taking on water but pumps were controlling it. I thought it was all related but later the Coastguard put out a call asking if anyone else heard the mayday. It turns out they were seperate incidents. I reported what I had heard and gave the MMSI number from the DSC message. Later they reported the incident was closed.

  • New plumbing, pumps and taps

    I have spent the last two days ripping out the old sink plumbing, laying new hoses and installing new taps and water pumps.

    Lady Cindy new cold water system

    Originally there was hand operated pump taps at the galley sink and in the heads pumping fresh water from a 150L fresh water bladder tank. Have you ever tried to wash your hands and pump water at the same time? They leaked and the galley counter top has rotted around the taps. They had to go.

    My options were a foot pump or electric pump, I found a water pump with a built in pressure switch, I was not sure if it would work without a pressure vessel but they were not expensive so thought I would give it a go. I mocked up a system before starting to rip out the old taps and it worked.. really well 🙂.

    The taps are designed for hot and cold water supply, I don’t have hot water but I do have sea water, a very big supply of it. Most people seem happy with salt water washing and fresh rinsing so I plumbed the ‘hot’ supply to sea water from the toilet supply through hull. This line has its own seperate pump mounted slightly higher to keep it above the waterline (in case it leaks).

    Both taps have pull out hose attachments so now I can take a hand held shower. Water can drain into the bilge but I will make sure most of the soap goes down the sink and I run a flush of water down afterwards. My bilge pump is in automatic and in testing coped well with the flow.

    I read a lot of conflicting views online on using the bilge for this. Many reported no problems, others said yuck it will smell. Time will tell but my view is as long as I run lots of sea water through the bilge at the end of the shower, this may result in cleaner bilges.

    Due to the rot around the old galley pumps. I sacrificed a chopping board to cover the old holes, create a mount for the new tap and provide a watertight seal to halt the rot. Visually it’s not great but it is functional. At a future date I will replace the entire counter top.

  • Learning to live afloat

    The last few days have not been as the forecasters predicted, why am I surprised? 🤣. It has been useful though because I am learning about living afloat while waiting for better weather. This is something I will be doing a lot of in the coming years.

    Simple things such as having a full body wash including my hair in just a few litres of water. How much power I can expect from the solar panels when overcast, how much power various devices and the heating use in normal operation, how to stay warm while minimising power consumption plus lots of other stuff.

    I am also being more adventurous in the galley, using the oven more, including doing some baking. I plan to make some bread today. I have been reading and listening to music a lot as well. Yesterday we proved remote support for my old shop and a charity I was treasurer for can work

    I am investigating options for a haul out next month on the Isle of wight where its cheaper.

    I have set up links from this blog to Instagram and twitter, lets see if this post arrives there.

  • First trip out

    After several days of more work on the boat including fitting a new radio, dressing the new wiring, organising and cleaning cupboards, plus selling the car, I finally felt ready to take Lady Cindy out for a run down the river and back. All went well, the speed through water is not working but everything else worked great.

    I got her up to 6.2 knots when I reached Southampton water, that was not full throttle but fast enough for me. She was comfortably doing about 4.5 to 5 knots at revs that felt about right (she has no rev counter). No pictures I’m afraid, I wanted to focus on the boat and it’s a narrow channel with lots of other boats moving about. I did misjudge docking though and touched the boat behind me, luckily no damage done but it was embarrassing.

    Tomorrow I move the boat across the river to Deacons boat yard as its a bit cheaper. I need to be tied to the Dock another week and will hire a car on the 2nd to go back to Wales for my covid jab. Lockdown restrictions eased on Monday so I no longer need to rely on the goodwill of marina staff to sleep aboard.

  • Officially moved home

    I returned to New Quay last weekend and came back to the boat on Wednesday. I cleaned the flat and handed the keys back to the landlady and helped with some shop admin. Since getting back I have been doing some more of the electrics. I fixed the auto bilge pump which was not level, moved the radio to a better position and fixed the starter battery charging which was caused by a faulty wire. The weather was bad today but I hope to get the boat out down the river under motor this weekend. I am booked in deacons boatyard from the 31st for a week. I have my covid jab on the 2nd and hope I can sell the car quickly afterwards. I will then move to an anchorage and start doing some sailing.

    Renault Clio for sale

  • Odd jobs

    I am awaiting parts to finish many jobs, including the rewire but I am happy the major jobs needed before taking the boat out are now done. I have been doing a lot of odd jobs in the last couple of days, including putting up picture frames, cleaning, getting rid of a lot of stuff. I threw out a lot of clothes before coming down, I went through the rest today and got rid of about 1/3 of what I had left.

    Picture frames put up with temporary photos until I get chance to look through my albums.

    I plan to take the dinghy out for a run tomorrow and later Lady Cindy under motor. I only plan to run down the river and back but it will give me confidence in both the outboard and the main engine.

  • Stormy weather

    A big Atlantic storm has been blowing through the last few days but I am in a well protected spot here at the marina. I have been continuing with the rewire including the stern lights, interior lights and more work on the console.

    These were removed from about 2 foot of cabling in a cockpit locker.

    I have decided to get a new radio as this will be one of the most important safety items on the boat. It came with a reasonably good marine radio but that got its GPS position from a separate garmin GPS, I also have an AIS receiver. I am replacing all three with a single radio with built in GPS and an AIS transceiver which can broadcast my position to other vessels. This will be an important safety improvement and reduce the chances of being run over by something big. The new radio has DSC which means I can press a distress button on the radio or nav station and it will automatically send out a radio message with my position and nature of the distress.

    I have been looking at options for moving the boat next month. Swanwick have quoted me an eye watering £780 per month to stay here, no thank you. Most marinas are expensive and do not allow liveaboard so I am thinking about anchoring in Chichester Harbour to give me easy access to the Solent to give the boat a thorough work out before sailing around to New Quay for the summer.