Maintenance month

Since her return from Yarmouth the main focus on Toucando has been maintenance.  Andy, my sanding consultant came down for the long bank holiday weekend.  We took Toucando over to Shamrock Quay, where there would be a supply of electricity and water, as well as ready access to a chandlery.  Andy quickly identifid that the taff rail was delaminating on the starboard side and that the bowsprit needed some repairs.  There were some also some patches on the gaff which needed attention.  Glass fibre filler and various clamps were procured and put into action.

The process of sanding cleaned up the deteriorating woodwork.  Any holes or splits were filled. Coelan "yellowish" primer was used in accordance with Toucando's original colour scheme.  (I like the Coelan colour range: there is a choice between yellowish and reddish!).  After a suitable interval it was possible to apply the clear topcoat which dried to form a durable but flexible plastic skin.  Whilst Andy did the woodwork I did a number of smaller tasks, such as installing a new seal on the aft perspex hatch to stop rainwater ingress.  By the time the weekend was over Toucando was already beginning to look smarter.

Andy's work and some dreary commitments meant a return to the midlands, but at the end of the week i was back south, stopping at KJ Howells in Poole to acquire some more Coelan berfore applying another couple of coats.  A whole week of public duties kept me in the midlands before I was able to come down on Saturday 16th.  On Sunday crew members Colin and John came to Toucando, who relocated to Shamrock Quay again.  They were very helpful in sanding the rest of the taff rail and the tiller.

On Monday Rob the engineer arrived.  He sorted out the intermittent fault on the freshwater pump, which means that water now reliably comes out of the tap when it is turned on.  He connected up the electric bilge pump, sorted out a leak in the salt water hose, cleaned the fuel tank, replaced some of the fuel lines which had degraded quite badly and which were leaking very slightly, and realigned the engine so that it does not judder at slow speeds.  Roger I dropped by and helped with yet more sanding.  I was able to complete the application of the Coelan.  The weather forecast had not been good, but in fact the sun shone for four days and quite a lot was achieved.  There are still lots more jobs to be done, mainly treating other parts of the woodwork, but I am hopeful that this will be possible in the near future.

I am very grateful to Andy, Colin, John and Roger for dropping by to help out.

Toucando is looking forward to sailing again soon.  Her programme is visible at toucando.net under the Calendar 2012 tab.