We have kept Buccaneer on a pontoon mooring at Fareham Creek for the last year. Although we have had a few short sails, there is limited scope for different outings. So, I have decided to move her to Chichester harbour.
Three weeks ago, on a pleasant Tuesday afternoon, I got her out and onto the trailer with the help of a friend, Gavin. While getting her ready a paddle boarder came up by my berth, clearly very confident, as he was in ordinary clothes! So it was, that I met and had a super chat with Simon Payne, a local Consultant Vascular Surgeon, who lives nearby, and regularly gets out on the water, on his SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard).
She doesn’t weigh a tonne, but she does weigh half a tonne, so I was very glad for Gavin’s help. There are a lot of ropes on a gaffer, and it takes (me, at least) a while to get everything secured. Eventually, we were “ready to roll.”
The anti-foul has coped fairly well with her drying out twice a day on the mud. There were a few barnacles and a coat of muddy slime. After jet washing, there remained some residual fouling of the lower part of the undersides. This would probably have come off with a good scrubbing, but I managed to arrange for the multiple layers of old antifouling paint to be removed, down to the gel coat, by Paul, who runs a company called Symblast. I had expected to need to do this once I had trailed her round to Thornham Marina in Emsworth, but Paul was doing a job in Gosport this week, so he fitted her in that Thursday.
The removal of the old anti-foul paint left/created a fair amount of pitting to the surface of the gelcoat. I decided that, rather than fill these myself and have a go with paint/epoxy, I would get Paul (Symblast) to prep the undersides and apply a couple of coats of epoxy and (might as well, while they’re there) put on a couple of coats of anti-foul.
With her upturned, I took a good look at the pivot pin for the centre plate. Not-surprisingly, there has been significant wear of this pin, and it’s time to replace it. After managing to pass a message her now-retired builder, Greg Dalrymple, he rang me and we had a good catch up and also discussed the best way to replace the pin (the original was galvanised steel but A316 Stainless steel would be an option).
In the meantime, while I wait to get her back with her “new” bottom, I have varnished the mast and bowsprit, and I am looking forward to completing the refurbishments so I can get her in the water. I have booked a pontoon berth in Emsworth, and hope that there will be some good sailing to be had in the huge and sheltered Chichester Harbour area, where there are lot of interesting nooks and crannies to explore.