Fitting out & maintenance Archives

Fitting out Spring 2026

by chris | Apr 2026 | Fitting out & maintenance

I had seemed or indeed was a long cold and wet winter and spring seemed a long time coming. I seemed to be waiting for ever for the weather to be warm enough to want to spend time in the boat yard. Eventually in mid May it seemed the time was right. Arriving at the boat, untouched since late September, it was a relief to find all alright. The cover still on and secure, mousing lines intact and opening the hatch all dry and non smelly inside. Time to start working through the list. There is often a logical order of jobs to do but this is modified by conditions and it was dry but quite breezy so I made a start on the sanding down and antifouling of the prop, 2 coats of primer and 3 of antifoul – Velox spread out over 5 days.

All the running rigging was re-reeved, Furlex swivel cleaned and regreased & furling line refitted.

The anchor rode and chain stowed away in the locker from where it had been airing, Next the heads seacocks and pumps were re-assembled, I alway dis-assemble them so they don’t seize up over winter. On then to the engine, oil filter fitted, oil refilled, anodes checked and the new water pump fitted. Yes I had decided to splash out on a new pump after all the intermittent water cooling problems that had plagued me last year. Late last season in an effort to solve these water cooling problems I had replaced all the engine cooling water hoses with silicone rubber hoses. I find the “normal“ clear plastic reinforced ones tend to harden over time reduce the effectiveness of the seals they make on the spigots.

new water hoses in engine

One morning the wind had dropped, so tit was time to go up the mast, check all the rigging split pins, masthead sheaves and lubricate them, refit the mast head speed instrument which I take off at lay up so it is not idly spinning all winter and attach the lazy jacks. Then I could fit mainsail & sail cover and furling yankee. Fit the spray hood and it is beginning to look like a sailing boat again.

A purchase over winter had been a PcNautic tiller pilot as I had become increasing frustrated by the performance of the Simrad item, perhaps a bit under spec for a long keel heavyish boat like the Vancouver. The PcNautic item comprises 3 components, the drive, the motor controller and the control head. The drive presented no problem, just a straight swop for the Simrad, just change the power cable plug. Siting the motor controller caused some head scratching but I eventually hit on a suitable location. For the control head the sensible place was on the bulkhead on the cockpit, of course this meant cutting some holes through, a job approached with some trepidation and no little care. Who doesn’t hate cutting hole in your boat? I was surprised by how thick was both the fibreglass moulding and the ply backing panel but indicitive of the sturdyness of construction of Vancouvers. Then of course installing the wiring involving grovelling on ones back in the quarter berth and removing and replacing head panels, pulling wires through.

The final job was to burnish the coppercoat and to wax & polish the hull. So a weeks hard work and a few final jobs like the jackstays and running backstay can be done once afloat. Let us hope we have a better season than last year,

PcNautic control

Pc Nautic ram

A scrub for Sea Bear

by chris | Jul 2024 | Fitting out & maintenance, Voyage Logs

Sea Bear on scubbing posts

An early morning drive followed by a row out in the cub took me out to the boat. Fouling seemed particularly bad this year and Sea Bear had been very sluggish on the last trip. I thought it was time for a bottom scrub. I had originally planed to do this via a swim but two things persuaded me against the idea. Firstly the water was quite choppy in the afternoon and past experience had showed me this made the task difficult and unpleasant or should I say even more difficult and unpleasant. Secondly the water in the Orwell is so murky that you cannot see what you are doing. Ok only thing then was to utilise the scrubbing post on Pin Mill hard. Accordingly just before high water next day find me manoeuvering alongside the posts and making secure, a tricky business single handed but we managed. Then come the nervous wait for the tide to ebb, adjusting the lines and ensuring that the boat sits upright on her keel, ideally with a very slight lean into the posts. As soon as the water was low enough, on with the wet suit and overboard to start the scrub. It is best to have water to brush off as you scrub still it is a bit of a race to get it all down before you are left high and dry. Surprisingly the weed wasn’t too bad but there were lots of small barnacles and the prop was very badly fouled with barnacles and growth. Looked liked the antifoul hadn’t worked on that at all. Job done time, for tea and dinner and then a little nap waiting for the tide to return. It was around 3.15 am when we were afloat again, time to free the boat for its multitude of securing lines and motor back out the mooring. It was a very dark night so great care needed to avoid all the other moored boats and spot the pick up buoy. I always prefer to do this without a torch which I find spoils one’s night vision but it does make it tricky. Safely done and so to bed.

Fitting out

by chris | May 2024 | Fitting out & maintenance

It had felt like a long wet winter and the weather forecasts still were not looking great. But by late March I thought it was time to make a start on getting Sea Bear back ready for the water.

It was cold and windy in the boat yard with rain at times but I got started on the list of jobs. A mix of outside and below decks jobs, only some of which I will mention. The evenings were long dark and cold but the Dickensons stove really came into its own, firing it up soon had the cabin warm and toasty. First I tackled cleaning the hull and topsides followed by waxing and polishing the hull. It is hard work but a bit of a spirit lifter seeing the boat come clean and shiny. Sea cocks cleaned, checked and regreased. Heads re-assembled, I alway take them apart at lay up time, that way then don’t seize up over the winter. I learned that the hard way long ago. Engine water pump checked and re-assembled. Prop cleaned and antifouled. All running rigging was re-reeved. A convenient break in the weather, it dawning windless and sunny enabled me to fit the furling yankee, mainsail, reefing lines and lazy jacks. Up the mast for this task so refitted the wind speed indicator and inspected the fittings and split pins at the same time.

My liferaft, take for servicing in November had been condemned so a new one purchased. One in a canister rather than valise this time so it was fitted just forward of the refitted spray hood which had been given a treatment of water proofer. After 7 days I was done almost all jobs ticked off the list and Sea Bear was ready for the water and another season.

April – Setting up the rig

by chris | May 2023 | Fitting out & maintenance, Voyage Logs

Sea Bear was re-launched in mid April and I went down to finish setting up the rigging. First job was to ensure the mast was upright and with the right amount of rake. It is not a job that can be down with the boat ashore as that the boat is level cannot be assured when it’s chocked up in the yard. Afloat and you know the boat is level. There was no wind and the sea calm, essential conditions and I was able with the aid of measuring, a plumb bob and by eye that the mast was straight and all in order. Next step was to get the correct tension in the rig, I had invested in a Loos rig gauge to assist me with this. So slowly I went around adjusting the bottle screws a turn or two at a time. First the cap shrouds, then when where properly tensioned, moving on to the backstays, lowers and babystay, a bit at a time and checking checking. A time consuming process but one not worth rushing. Finally I was satisfied and could fit split pins to all the bottle screws. I will recheck all the tensions etc after a few weeks as as things settle in.

Another calm day saw me finishing off a few more little jobs. I really wanted a nice steady sailing breeze to check out the rig under sail as recommended but then instead we had very strong winds and whats more very cold ones, it still felt like winter, and in light of a poor forecast I went home for a bit.

A week later I returned, the winds were lighter though still from the East so cold. I sailed down to Hamford water to anchor for the night, it is always nice when you can just sail up the long narrow channel, without tacking and without the engine. I always like visiting here, it is a beautiful spot.

Next morning I left and decided to sail out towards the Rough Towers. The wind were light so a gentle sail with flat seas, very relaxing. I didn’t quite get to the Towers, perhaps a mile or so short but I had set myself a turn-around time so that I wouldn’t be too late back. Reaching Harwich I turned up the Stour and up to anchor just past Ewerton Ness.

The following morning I though to go further up the river, past Wrabness to anchor at Stutton Ness. This turned out to be not one of my wiser decisions. The wind had increased in strength and was blowing right up the river so the anchorage was a trifle bumpy. I resolve to stay her only till the tide turned and I could take the ebb back downstream. In the event I returned to Pin Mill. Once again the forecast was not great for the next few days so I returned home. I was a bit fed up with being so cold sailing in these E and NE winds.

Winter refit 2023

by chris | Apr 2023 | Fitting out & maintenance

This winter, whilst Sea Bear was laid up ashore I decided it was time to renew the standing rigging. I had arranged for the yard to take down the mast for me and arranged for a rigging company to make up a new set of rigging using the old as patterns. With the mast down I removed the shroud deck fittings to check on their condition and to re-bed them, after all I reckoned the old sealant was maybe the original and so needed renewing.

Sea Bear no mast in yard

It was also a convenient time to replace the masthead tricolour as the lens was very badly crazed, so that was replaced with a new LED unit. Another replacement at the mast head was new VHF antena and windex, the old one had lost its direction arrows. The steaming/deck light was also replaced being badly corroded. Whilst at it I replaced all the wiring to the lights and a new VHF cable too. The old wiring was just domestic cable un-tinned so looked and was in a nasty state. All replaced with proper marine grade tinned cables. Last job on the mast was a new radar reflector, the old one having been lost in a storm of Jamaica some while ago.

new bits on mast head

All that done the mast could go back up, the yard did that when I wasn’t there. Ah but there was a problem. They told me the clevis pins with the new standing rigging were too big to fit so they put it up with temporary pins. They said they had told the rigging company of this and it would be sorted.

When I went down to the yard to finish fitting out I discovered with horror that the baby stay was not connected and the rigging company had put in undersized clevis pins, thinking this would do.

Toggle & pin mismatch

No No No I thought that just won’t do. They took some persuading that they had used the wrong size toggles for parts of the rig when making up the new rig.

The had overlooked the fact that on a Vancouver, although all the wires are the same size at 6mm, the toggles and of course turnbuckles are different sizes for the cap shrouds and forestay from the lowers, back stays and baby stay. This despite them having the old rig as patterns. A rather schoolboy error I thought. Eventually they agreed that they had got it wrong and would make up a new rig. But of course the mast had to be unstepped again. Eventually after much delay the right rigging was supplied and the mast back up.

Meanwhile I had finished the rest of the refit, cleaning, checking and maintenace, a long list as usual. Sea Bear was ready to go back afloat so a date for relaunch was arranged. It will be good to get back in the water. It has felt a long, cold and hard winter.

The Cub

by chris | May 2022 | Fitting out & maintenance

For quite a while I had wanted a rigid tender for Sea Bear. Something that would row better and didn’t involve all the faff of inflating and stowage, preferably one that you could stow on the foredeck. Of course that was a bit of a problem with a small boat- lack of room and of course you wouldn’t want a tender that was too small and would feel unsafe in waves or if you had far to go.

Still I came across a picture of a Vancouver 28 with a rigid dinghy on its foredeck and had an email exchange with the owner so I knew it was feasable. After some research I settled on a Eastport nesting pram dinghy, one that would seperate into two halves – that would make stowage less of a problem. So started the project to build the Cub.

Boat kit

Boat kit

I could have course built it just from plans but an easier option, the one I plumped for was a kit with all the parts pre-cut. It dully arrived and so the build began. I am fortunate in having a garage so the initial stitch up of the panels with copper wire of the hull took places here.

hull wired up

Hull wired up

The next stage was epoxying it. Now successful epoxying requires a minimum temperature of at least 16 degrees but it was winter and the garage was cold. I decided that heating the garage was out of the question cost wise. The solution, clear out the living/dining room in the house, spread out a big tarpaulin over the floor and work in there. I was using eco epoxy which has little or no smell or fumes so that was OK.

epoxying the seams

Epoxying the seams

Gradually it all came together, bulkheads filleted in, seats supports added, gunwales affixed and rubbing strakes and skeg added. Then it was time to give it coats of epoxy inside and out.

complete & ready for sanding