Speedwell of Hong Kong

Life Locked Down on the Hard

Author: Shirlz

29th April 2020

Yesterday New Zealand relaxed into a level 3 lockdown and the boatyard has come alive once more. After 5 weeks of ghostly quiet, with the birds becoming bolder and bolder, the gates have been unchained and the workers are back on the job, albeit keeping the mandatory 2m social distance. Not always easy.

Speedwell is secured in a cradle at the edge of the slipway which gives me a good view of the water and the boats being hauled out or relaunched. There had been no movement during the level 4 stage of our lockdown, but now the slipway is open again and I have something to watch while I sit in the cockpit having a coffee break.

 

 

It has been a fairly productive month. I find it much easier to get things done in the cooler weather without being plagued by my glasses fogging up and sweat running into my eyes as I battle to reach into unreachable spaces with a screwdriver or spanner.

The first job was to sand down the underwater part of the hull to get rid of all the flaky old antifouling paint. I had invested in a battery powered orbital sander and a bargain-priced vacuum cleaner which could be attached to it so that no noxious, toxic dust could make it’s way into the atmosphere. The system worked well but the vacuum cleaner wasn’t quite up to the heavy industrial-type demand. It needed some coaxing to keep it going till the job was done, after which it quietly expired.

 

 

The mast had been lowered with help from Julie just before the gates closed which has meant that I’ve been able to properly repair the chafed patches caused by the parrels rubbing against the corners. When I set up the rigging this time I’m going to try using webbing at the mast which might help to prevent this happening again. It might also overcome the problem of the parrels jamming up on themselves as the sail is raised. We shall see.

Annie has been a wonderful help, generously giving me access to her impressive collection of tools. We share a ‘bubble’ so are allowed to visit each other and many a convivial evening has been spent discussing world affairs over the odd glass of rum. Sometimes, for a treat, we sit in the exquisite interior of her almost-finished boat, Fanshi, two crazy old bats sipping bubbly from crystal glasses.

 

 

I spent about a week repairing and patching my hard-working sail using her heavy-duty sewing machine. All the webbing loops for attaching the sail to the battens were looking very thread bare and have been replaced. Now all looks good for the next 10,000 nm providing, of course, that we will ever be allowed to freely roam the seas again. The day before the lockdown began I was able to take delivery of five lengths of 50mm o.d. aluminium tubing to be made into a new set of battens for the sail. The old ones were 35mm and I have been told by those who should know, that there will be no need to reinforce the new ones with glass and epoxy. It certainly makes things easier.

 

 

The weather has been turning wintry with some cold, wet and windy days. Time for inside jobs. The electrical wiring on Speedwell had become a bit of a rats nest over the years with rather too many unidentifiable loose ends and dodgy connections. It seemed like a good time to tackle the problem. Annie to the rescue again with the loan of her professional-grade wire crimper for replacing the connectors, along with a kind donation of heat shrink insulation from one of the other boatyard inmates, making the job relatively easy. Some nightmarish bits of almost chafed-through wire were discovered and replaced, redundant wires removed, all corroded connectors renewed and every single wire labelled. I felt quite proud. I’m even thinking about drawing up a wiring diagram.

 

 

The engine came next. I thought that all it really needed was a bit of a clean-up. Maybe a wipe down with an oily rag, as I’ve been told one should do on a regular basis. I set to with a will. Hmm.. there seemed to be quite a lot of water in the bilge. Surely I had dried it all out just the other day? Oh, dear. The culprit was a steady drip coming from the raw water intake pump allowing all the old water still in the system to find it’s way into the bilge. So, the pump was removed, not without difficulty, and to my great relief I was put in touch with an engineer who has done a great job of repairing it. How different to the agonisingly difficult time I had trying to get the same thing done in Annapolis a few years ago.

 

 

In these quite extraordinary times, I count myself very lucky to have landed up in one of the safest places I could hope for.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 2nd, 2020 at 23:36 and is filed under Cruising, New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.