Inexperienced compass adjuster

We’ve spent last few days trying to further improve our living quarters on Janna. Even though frequent rain showers or outright downpours were against us, we’ve managed to move ahead a bit.

Gutted galley

Our original plan was to completely rebuild our galley. This has not happened, mainly because we couldn’t find [...]]]>

We’ve spent last few days trying to further improve our living quarters on Janna. Even though frequent rain showers or outright downpours were against us, we’ve managed to move ahead a bit.

Gutted galley

Our original plan was to completely rebuild our galley. This has not happened, mainly because we couldn’t find any suitable timber to use. Either too soft or we would have to buy in bulk. Neither was an option. Thus we followed Fatty Goodlander’s prime example of yacht refitting from old garbage. He calls it recycling. So do we. There is a great benefit hidden in this approach: you save money.

So we disassembled the whole galley and found out that most of the wood is still quite usable. Well, we knew that part. We’ve plugged old screw cavities with some epoxy putty and drilled new holes. After a short wrestling match, we’ve managed to set the boards in angles quite resembling the right angle and fasten it all together. Our companion way stairs are attached to the galley and suddenly they stopped squeak. Praise the Darwin! Alas, that was just a beginning.

So far, our galley was basically just a worktop, no doors, no nothing, just a big gaping hole under a sink. And that gutted piece of seagoing furniture started to dispirit us. When we have hauled out for the first time in Singapore, we threw out the dysfunctional and grossly under-insulated fridge. It was followed by the rest of crap that was stashed under the sink by the previous owner. Then there was not time to play carpenters. We had to learn how to manage the whole boat and get her out of Singapore before we go broke on marina charges. So, we thought that we could cover the mess behind the galley door, which, however, could not be used due to the (only) slightly oversized four burner stove with oven that we demanded and installed. Thus the door remained stashed out of sight in our starboard storage area, more conventionally referred to as quarter berth, until four years later our galley-rebuilding project finally began and to fit in, the door had to be shifted few inches to the side, for the sake of which, we butchered nice piece of mahogany. But it was worth it.

Like-new fully functional galley

Since our engine installation extends slightly under the galley, we have also built a small encapsulation so as to stop the hot stinky air from the engine room to flow directly into the main cabin. We’ve rebuilt the stairs at the same time and removed the old filthy foam that was glued at the back side and replaced it with nice new and flashy soundproofing. Nothing fancy, just a generic car stuff. Let’s see how it fairs.

Janička is removing old filthy foam

Then we’ve switched hand pump for a foot pump so now we have the fresh water foot operated, which frees both our hands. The foot pump can be quite nicely controlled so you get just the amount of water that you need. Why didn’t we switch it earlier? Just why?

And we also sealed the galley sink so that water can’t run under it. Under the sink we’ve installed two partitions, which created two huge storage areas. All this took about three days, mostly due to the rain. To celebrate our new galley, we went shopping to Costco and filled our new pantry with some lovely stores. The best thing about all this is that we must have about two months worth of food in there and it is still half empty!

New pantry, still only half full, or half empty?

Next project was a folding table. It turned out to be a little challenge. Again mostly because we could not find any suitable wood. Up with the recyclin’! We had this sliding door, that was jammed all the time anyway, laying around. It was just the right width. So we trimmed the old table a bit, dug in two double acting hinges, installed two support timbers and now we have nice large 100x100cm folding table. Let guests come! And may them be plentiful! It’s not a work of beauty, more of a woodbutchery, but if works just fine.

Hinges must be counter sunk first

Table unfolded

In the meantime, Jana managed to create a paper towel holder from an old coat hanger and changed our companionway pad lock, since the old one was furiously rusting away.

And since it was raining cats and dogs, some of the water got inside. Not dripping, mind you, it was pouring in along a VHF cable. Once the rain stopped we ran out and caulked the hell of out the through-deck wire seal. There’s never enough caulk if you ask me.

The day before yesterday we’ve also received our brand new propeller, but the water is too muddy and just plain dirty due the rains, so we have to wait with the installation until the harbour cleans up. Let’s hope the typhoons will take a break for a while and the monsoon will also ease up, so that we can go out and do some of that sailing we hear so much about…

Janička fits everywhere

Byli jsme velmi nezkušení, vlastně jsme v té době v podstatě nebyli na palubě plachetnice. Ale naše budoucí loď byla v Singapuru a velice brzy jsme zjistili, že najít dobrého námořního inspektora není vůbec snadné. Většina lidí, které jsme oslovili si řekli 1000,- [...]]]> Tento seznam jsme si připravili, aby naše amatérská kontrola Janny před koupí.

Byli jsme velmi nezkušení, vlastně jsme v té době v podstatě nebyli na palubě plachetnice.  Ale naše budoucí loď byla v Singapuru a velice brzy jsme zjistili, že najít dobrého námořního inspektora není vůbec snadné. Většina lidí, které jsme oslovili si řekli 1000,- USD za den s tím, že jeden den zabere inspekce a jeden den zabere psaní zprávy… To je dost peněz, ale vzhledem k tomu, že jsme že jsme byli tak nezkušení vypadalo to, že nemáme na vybranou.

Asi dva dny předtím, než jsme si najali jednoho z vytipovaných inspektorů, nám předchozí majitel Janny poslal jeho starou zprávu a shodou okolností to bylo podepsáno tím samým člověkek, kterého jsme si my chtěli najmout. Byla to hrůza! Něco ve stylu: loď má na boku zlatý pruh, tři plachty, vypadá v dobré kondici. Toto měla být práce profesionálního námořního inspektora, zaplacená 2000,- USD!

Řekli jsme si tedy, že uděláme to, co umíme nejlépe: zasedli jsme a začali studovat. Nakonci nám z toho vylezl seznam položek, díky němuž jsme odhalili většinu problémů, kterým budeme muset věnovat pozornost až budeme Jannu opravovat.

Nyní, když už jsme celou loď rozebrali a zase dali dohromady a prolezli všechny její kouty, můžeme si oddechnout, že jsme jako inspektoři amatéři odvedli docela dobrou práci.

Zde je ten slavný seznam: Inspekční seznam (k otevření použijte volně dostupný kancelářský balík OpenOffice.org)

Zde je seznam použité literatury (vytvožený skvělým pomocníkem výzkumíka, Zotero):

1. Calder, Nigel. Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual. 3rd ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2005.
   Téměř vše, co člověk potřebuje vědět o fungování a údržbě lodních zařízení. Bezvadná referenční příručka i dobrý úvod do světa lodních systémů. Není to zrovna návod, který by bylo možno krok za krokem následovat, ale nabízí to, co je vůbec nejdůležitější – pozorumění, tomu, jak se věci mají.
2. Casey, Don. Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1996.
   Návody pro zelenáče, aby se tolik nebáli když budou muset vrtat a řezat díry do jejich druhé (někdy jediné) milenky.
3. Hill, Annie. Voyaging on a Small Income. 2nd ed. Thomas Reed Publications, 2002.
   Spousta praktických informací, co jim vyhovolalo a bez čeho se obešli. Jachting pro chudé.
4. Hiscock, Eric. Cruising Under Sail. Adlard Coles, 2008.
   Klasika, povinná četba.
5. Marino, Emiliano. Sailmaker’s Apprentice. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2001.
   Označováno za nejlepší referenční příručku i učebnici šití klasických plachet. Velmi detailní informace o inspekci starých plachet.
6. Mustin, Henry C. Surveying Fiberglass Sailboats: A Step-by-Step Guide for Buyers and Owners. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1994.
   Podobných knih je více. My jsme četli jenom tuto a svůj účel myslím splnila.
7. Pardey, Larry, and Lin Pardey. Self-Sufficient Sailor. 2nd ed. Paradise Cay Publications, 1997.
   Jak i ostatní knihy od Pardeyů, mnoho nápadů, jak prakticky vylepšit jachtu bez toho, aby člověk házel spoustu peněz do chřánu jachtařským supermarketům. Bez motoru, bez elektriky, kyblík místo záchoda. Základní mantra: Jednoduchot, funkčnost, nezávislost.
8. Pardey, Lin, and Larry Pardey. The Capable Cruiser: The world’s best known cruiser-writer team shows how to cruise with precision, pleasure, and self-sufficiency. 1st ed. Paradise Cay Pubns, 1995.
9. —. The Care And Feeding of the Sailing Crew. 3rd ed. Pardey Books, 2006.
10. —. The Cost Conscious Cruiser. Paradise Cay Publications, 1998.
11. Roth, Hal. How to Sail Around the World : Advice and Ideas for Voyaging Under Sail. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2003.
    Moderní verze Hiscockovi Cruising under sail. Moderní výbava, elektřina i motor, ale vše zjednodušené na největší možnou míru.
12. Toss, Brion. The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice: Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1997.
    Téměř vše, co člověk potřebuje vědět o takeláži. Není to tak dobře napsaná kniha, místy trochu zmatená, ale při pozorném čtení vhledu neujdete.

This is a checklist that we’ve prepared to help us go through with a survey of our Janna.

We were inexperienced, barely have we ever been on a sailboat. But our future boat was in Singapore and soon we’ve learnt that it’s not exactly easy to find a good marine surveyor that would make a good survey of a sailboat. Most of the people we have approached would charge US $1000/day, one day for survey and another day for report… This is lot of money, but as inexperienced as we were, there seemed to be no other choice. Just couple of days before we hired the surveyor, the previous owner has sent us his survey report and it was from the same person we were about to hire! It was horrible. Something in the line of: the boat has a golden stripe, three sails, it seems to be in a good condition. This was work of professinal marine surveyor who works for big money!

Thus we decided to try what we knew the best: we sat down and begun to study. At the end we had a checklist that helped us to uncover most of the problems we were about to face when refitting Janna. Now when we’ve took almost everything apart and reassembled it back, we can feel relieved that we did quite a good job as DIY marine surveyors.

Survey checklist (OpenOffice.org document)

These are the books we have used:

1. Calder, Nigel. Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual. 3rd ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2005.
   Almost all you need to know about boat maintenance. Excellent reference. Good starting point when you need to learn about new systems. Not a step-by-step guide, so lacks details, but offers what’s usually most important – understanding.
2. Casey, Don. Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1996.
   Step-by-step guide for greenhorns.
3. Hill, Annie. Voyaging on a Small Income. 2nd ed. Thomas Reed Publications, 2002.
   Lot of practical information, what worked for Hills and what they could do without.
4. Hiscock, Eric. Cruising Under Sail. Adlard Coles, 2008.
   Classic must have.
5. Marino, Emiliano. Sailmaker’s Apprentice. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2001.
   Probably the best reference and guide for classical sail making. Very detailed discussion of sail survey.
6. Mustin, Henry C. Surveying Fiberglass Sailboats: A Step-by-Step Guide for Buyers and Owners. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1994.
   We haven’t read any other book on the subject. It did the job for us.
7. Pardey, Larry, and Lin Pardey. Self-Sufficient Sailor. 2nd ed. Paradise Cay Publications, 1997.
   As all other late Pardey books, it gives you many ideas how you can improve your boat without feeding your local chandlery. Simplicity, functionality, independence is the key mantra.
8. Pardey, Lin, and Larry Pardey. The Capable Cruiser: The world’s best known cruiser-writer team shows how to cruise with precision, pleasure, and self-sufficiency. 1st ed. Paradise Cay Pubns, 1995.
9. —. The Care And Feeding of the Sailing Crew. 3rd ed. Pardey Books, 2006.
10. —. The Cost Conscious Cruiser. Paradise Cay Publications, 1998.
11. Roth, Hal. How to Sail Around the World : Advice and Ideas for Voyaging Under Sail. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2003.
    Modern version of Hiscock’s Cruising under sail. Advocates modern cruising boat with electrical systems and modern technologies, but kept as simple as possible.
12. Toss, Brion. The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice: Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging. 1st ed. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1997.
    Almost all you need to know about rigging.