Pre-season we came to the boat to attend to winter maintenance.
New AIS (Automatic Identification System) Transponder
Mick installed a new Em-trak Class B AIS system as recommended by Malcolm Stuart of Yacht ‘Lady Hamilton’, who fitted one last year. The system transmits our location and details to other ships and shore stations. We have always been able to receive information from other ships but never transmitted it ourselves.
All the parts laid out prior to installation.
The completed installation. For the technically minded, one orange unit is the active VHF aerial splitter and the other the AIS transponder. The GPS aerial reception was found to be perfectly adequate below deck which provides a much more protected environment than the outside rail.
You can now find our latest position on www.marinetraffic.com at this link
Life Raft Servicing
We took the life raft for its regular 3 years service to Liverpool Northwest Marine. The best part of the trip was to be able to see a similar raft full inflated with all its interior accessories in situ. I hope we never see them for real.
Boat Cushions
We spent most of January 2017 making new cushion covers for the seats in our boat. Last year we had made the 4 base seat covers and this year we made the other 7 seat back covers.
The house looked like a furniture factory. Each cushion had 2 curved foam cushion inners.
The issue which makes this a hard task is the irregular shapes of the cushions with no two the same. They also have an internal piece attached to the middle of the front panel and zipped to the back panel which pulls in the shape of the cushion. We bought 20 metres of zips which are cut to length and fasteners added as required.
Therefore the side pieces are curved to fit and enhance the pulled in shape.
There is also a zip around two sides of each cushion to give access to the internal zip.
All the external curved seams were sewn 3 times, once to hold them together, and two rows of top sewing for design and durability. Hence we used a lot of thread.
This one won the prize for the most corners. The velcro keeps it in place against the boat sides.
The corner cushions won the hardest items prize.
Mick was chief pattern maker and material cutter.
The reverse side corner piece above also shows the black centre piece.
Corner cushion with foam inside, before back attached.
One side of corner cushions assembled together.
All the new cushions complete.
The cost of new covers from the boat manufacturer is approximately £2,500, we did this for £50 material, £10 zips, £20 Thread (the grade stronger than normal), £20 for the breathable backing material (black), £200 for new foam for the base seats (J and A Foam, Blackburn). The material was bought from Immanuel Fabrics, Bright Street, Burnley at £1 per metre. It is proper furnishing fabric with a fire retardant backing. Total £300.
We worked from 10am til 4 or 5pm, most weekdays until they were complete. Approximately 2 days per cushion.
My respect for upholsterers has increased greatly!
We hope now that they wear out individually and we don’t have to do a full set again.
Outside Maintenance
Antifouling took place in March and Fleur is now ship shape for the 2017 season.
New creatures which we had not encountered before had attached themselves to the keel. The less squeamish may like to zoom in and check out the finger sized, bags of jelly!! Yuck. There were hundreds of them. Double Yuck.
Mick also changed the Cutless bearing on the propeller shaft.
Ready for Action.
I can confirm the new upholstery looks brilliant and is comfy. X
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