4th June

1 month since last post!!  Bad me - but you dont need info on garden work and tree felling and log splitting.  Had crappy weather for most of the month but summer has arrived in the last week.  When Nuts is in the water I wont be spending much time in the garden so got to keep Mrs Nuts happy now.

Bits for the trailer arrived (eventually) from Vevor.  Most packages take about 1 month to arrive here except from Amazon which can be from 3 days to 3 weeks.  Temu about 1 month but free shipping to the middle of nowhere which I think is a good deal.

I ordered 4 acrow jacks which I had to cut down as they were too long.  I welded bases and support struts so I could bolt them onto the trailer or use them as a cradle on the ground.  My trailer is not street legal so the plan is to load it onto a car recovery lowbed for transport to the marina (and bring my fishing boat home).  I also plan to load the keel onto the trailer first and position Nuts above to be lowered down for the bonding.  Maybe it will be easier to lift the keel up to the bottom with threaded rods to be removed once the main keel bolts are in position.  I went down the road this afternoon and measured the heights of overhead wires for clearance.  There is 1 electric wire and 1 internet fiberoptic cable that might be a problem but can push them up while passing underneath.

Finished splicing the guardrails and fitted this afternoon.  6mm Dyneema. Pullpit and stantion bases got their overdrilled holes epoxy filled and re drilled before fitting with SikaFlex.

 I reprogrammed the Victron MPPT for LiFePo4 charge profile as recommended by the battery manufacturer.  Now I just have to swap out the battery.  They are the same size so my mounting does not need to be changed.

My buddy Lex had lots of fun fishing on my little boat.

Ive been out a few times and off to sea again tomorrow with Sister Nuts to try some deep drop (250m) to see what is lurking down there.

 4th May

Just a quickie.  Pullpit and bow cleats mounted and drilled and removed for epoxy saturation in the mounting holes.  Epoxy cured.  All shiny and ready to Sika Flex on.  Stanchions all bent and mounting pads and supports cut and drilled - just waiting for me to weld, fit, polish  and drill for epoxy coating on mounting holes to be ready for final fitting.  Then a bit of Dyneema splicing for the rails and done.

Old friend Alex here from Netherlands for a fishing holiday with a friend so checked out my little fishing boat - Eco-  for him to use.  Also been painting garage floor and doing stuff in garden - including destroying my ride on mower - so have more repair jobs to do!

Still waiting for trailer parts to arrive.  Spent my remaining pension fund on antifouling!!

I wanted a white bottom and the only available white antifouling on the island was from a UShip outlet here in Horta.  They have a very good selection of marine equipment and charge the same prices as in Europe even though we are in the middle of nowhere.  I get a small discount as a local boatbuilder and grateful for that -  still scary on every purchase though.

Going with ablative which is easy to remove if  it doesnt work out. Nautix A3.

 23 April

Finished and painted the gas storage box.

It ended up pink because it is what paint was left over.

The inside is yellow as ran out of pink and had a bit of yellow left over!  All epoxy coated before 2 coats of epoxy primer and 2 coats of polyurethane topcoat.  Should last longer than me.  The box is on a teak slider and can be removed.  Plenty of space for butane canisters for my cooker plus a separate space for other goodies.  Each butane canister is vacume bagged and sealed to prevent rust and check for leaks).  Took many days to finish but not many hours of work.  Paint and epoxy takes its time to cure!!

The stern is complete.  Everything bolted and sealed.

Got busy on the pullpit.  With lots of help from Mrs Nuts holding the tubes at the "correct?" angle under my misguided instructions while I pulled on the pipe bender.  Was a bit of a mission to work out the angles but made many templates and got it close enough.  

Welding the bits together.  Tomorrow job is to weld the mounting pads on the end of the legs after final fitting and the loops for the guardrails and start the fun job of grinding, sanding and polishing. 

Inside is pretty much done.  Just got to stock the bar!!

Looking aft.  Been fitting fixing points for leeboards, washboards, and bungees for holding stuff in position.  A 5m boat is not going to be a smooth ride.

Looking fwd. Sail storage up to port with general storage below.  Below bunk level is filled with foam buoyancy in the fwd half and  storage for water bottles in the aft half.

Mrs Nuts made me a bunch of beanbags.  They are filled with polystyrene balls inside waterproof fabric.  I think Im going to ask for some more sewing.  (Got to be nice to Mrs Nuts!!) I bought 200 liters of foam balls so might as well use them.  I think Im going to fill the aft lkrs in the quarter berths  with foam filled bags for extra buoyancy.  A bunch of small bean bags weigh nothing but might be useful to jam me in to stop me getting smashed up in a storm.

My target is to finish the pullpit and stantions by the end of the month and have them bolted on.  Only got 5cm clearance on my workshop door to wheel Nuts out once pullpit etc is bolted on.  I have to remove the windvane mount though.

This is the last major job to do other than fitting the keel and antifouling.  There will still be plenty of small jobs to do though - like connecting solar panels, second VHF antennae, etc, etc.

Parts for making the trailer are on their way and should be here in a week or so - Azores time.

Most of the skippers (including me) entered in the SAC were hoping to use LiFePo4 batteries which were outlawed under the lithium ban due to fire risk.  Because of the advancement of the safety of LiFePo4 batteries and minimal fire risk they have been allowed provided the batteries are of a sufficient quality and have good protection.  

After a lot of research and reviews from reputable people (Will Prowse etc) I have gone with  Li Time Trolling Motor 50Ah Bluetooth. The reviews from independent teardowns with extensive testing of the BMS have satisfied me.  The inside protection of wiring and connection insulation against vibration looks excellent. It is not the cheapest but not the most expensive either. With Bluetooth you can monitor the balance between cells and the status of the BMS.  That should give you a warning if things are going sideways.  I have ordered battery terminal fuses that mount directly onto the battery ( 30Amp) that should open  before any overload issues.

I am going to be using a trolling motor for getting in  and out of marinas so need a battery that can deliver a bit of power for a short time.  I have several 100Ah AGM batteries but they weigh a ton - non starter. (over 50kg -ex submarine)  The 32Ah Marathon AGM batteries (got 2) are OKish but can only use 1/2 the capacity before doing damage to the cells. They could keep Nuts alive but only just.  LiFePo4 - can use the full 50Ah without doing damage (and they weigh less).  I will have 2 x50Ah LiFe Po4 batteries on board.  One for the boat supply and one for the motor.  I will only have 2x25w solar which will be used for the boat power which is in keeping with the SAC philosophy.  I dont want to take petrol onboard.  My dinghy will be an inflatable canoe and if the shit hits the fan I will use the paddle to move.

 15 th April

Tick tock - summer is on its way.  (I hope)

Port side aft is done.  Welding, bending, cutting, grinding and polishing stainless steel is almost as bad as sanding fiberglass.  My welding skills have deteriorated with old age so required more finishing / patching up .  Fitting the nuts and washers on the very aft corner was a mission.  Had to tape the nut and washer into a ring spanner and hold it with a vice grip to reach.  Mrs Nuts on the outside to screw it in.  All fitted and nice and tight.  (got a long handled socket on the nut once it was threaded on) Also got mounting ladder brackets sealed and bolted on.  All home brew bits.  I added a U bolt on the cockpit edge for using as a tiller fixing point to lash the tiller or add a bungee for self steering as well as main sheet fixing option.  Maybe when running under two jibs I can fix the boom to one side to stop me banging my head when climbing out of the cabin.

Aft compartment refilled with flotation foam and closed off.  Mrs Nuts sewing skills on show.  Had many complaints about the fact there was a frame butting into the cushion but she did an amazing job even though the slot is at an angle.  Lee boards and spray dodger still on the cards (but dont tell her yet - got to keep her happy!!) 

Opened up the Stbd side and removed some of the foam so I can seal and bolt up the Stbd tab holder, outboard mount and the railing.  Tomorrow job and then can refit foam and close up.

Running out of jobs to do.  Cockpit gas storage box (plus space for other goodies) just needs its topcoat.  It might end up pink as I have some pink paint left over.

Been going through navigation stuff.  Printed up a bunch of plotting sheets (only A4) and the almanack for sun Dec and GHA.  Still have my sight reduction tables for air navigation and going to take a plastic sextant.  Hope I dont need it but if the shit hits the fan and GPS goes down Im fine. (or total power failure).  Have to motivate the brain to go back in time but it could be fun.

 4th April

Spring a bit slow in showing its face.  Dodging hail showers today.  Still ticking along here though.

Bolted some hand holds in the cockpit (also inside).   Epoxied two support/sliders for a box to be slid against the transom.  The box is for gas cannisters for the cooker as well as whatever I decide. It will be well secured and also easily removable.  It will be on runners so even if upside down it is not going anywhere.

Box under construction.  8mm ply .  200mm fore and aft and 350mm deep and the width of the cockpit.  Will be able to store plenty of gas canisters as well as other goodies.

In the process of bolting the tab brackets.  So far only the port side finally fixed.  I had to remove all the buoyancy foam through the hatch at the foot of the quarter berth and bolt on extensions to my arms to reach the eyebolts to fit the nuts and washers.  Mrs Nut outside to hold the eyebolts in alignment.  Sikaflex 291i all squished out so should not leak. 

Tab fits very well.  After glassing the mount and even after 2 coats of epoxy primer I was not happy with the fit.  Even though it was snug it was not tight.  I decided to grind off all the primer and glass another 5 layers of 200g/m2 with the trailing edge clamped a bit closed without the tab inside.   After curing for a few days I did a test fit and it was nice and tight.  Then slapped on a couple of coats of epoxy primer and with a 2 day window of nice warm, no wind and low humidity weather gave all the bits a couple of coats of PU paint sprayed on.  Also gave an old aluminium tube I had a couple of coats of epoxy primer after a good sand and it also got the spray treatment.  I will have 2 running poles - one  50mm dia with proper end fittings and one 38mm(od) with homemade delrin end fittings.  Both poles are 2.4m long just because that was the length that I had.  If they are too long it is very easy to shorten.  3m was recommended by a skipper that has already crossed the Atlantic but got to go with what I have. 

This is the hatch Im working through.  So far the first layer of foam as been refitted.  I forgot to number those pieces so it was a bit of a jigsaw.

This is the rest of the foam for the port side aft.  I decided to do each side separately so there is no chance of mixing up the foam pieces.  Still got to finish the boarding ladder mounts and the pushpit so they can be bolted on before closing up the port side and moving over to the stbd side.

 15 th March

Crappy photo but trimtabs got their final epoxy glassing and a coat of peel ply.  Keeping warm next to our fireplace  which is off to sleep for the night.  Down to the last 1/2 m of peel ply from a 100m roll.  My best investment.  Now got to do finishing and painting. Still waiting  for Amazon to deliver the 8mm 316  mounting eyebolts.

Miserable weather here and big storm forecast for Sunday.  Off to marina tomorrow (today) to put extra lines on my little fishing boat.

 13 th March.

Ticking along slowly.

Trim tab mounts in progress.  I used vinyl over the tabs (like used in outdoor furniture cushions) as a friction surface for the tabs.  Good idea?? We shall see.  6 layers of 300 gram roving epoxied over the top as the first stage.  Flat mounting panels started off as polyester sheet which was left over from a CO2 scrubbing system I made for a submarine. (Lula 1000) and epoxy glassed over to thicken it up.  I then epoxy glued the 2 bits together hopefully at 90 degrees with a very small fillet.  Today I glassed over the small fillets on each side with 3 layers of 200 gram glass and then put bigger fillets over the join for a better radius.   It is keeping warm next to our fireplace for the night and will get a bunch more epoxy glass to bring it up to design spec tomorrow.

It is windy and cold here in the Azores at the moment so need heating for epoxy work.  

Going to prepare all the bits that need to be bolted onto the transom so they can all be done at the same time.  It is a mission to remove the foam flotation through the hatches to gain access but at least it is possible.

 7 th March

Weather was good for a few days so went hunting for kitty food.  Spent some hours on the sea but is was not fireworks.  Kitty happy though with some fresh triggerfish treats and a bit for the freezer.

Some goodies arrived from Temu.  

Engine mount came surface mail from China and took 2 months.  Only cost 67 euros and could never make one as good for that price.

Bought a string of 200 country flags and hoped I would get some I could use as courtesy flags.  Useful ones include - Portugal, Poland, France, Spain, Brazil, Morocco,  Bahamas, Aruba, Trinidad, St Vincent, Grenada, St Lucia, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Bahamas, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.  I am missing Anguilla, Bermuda and Cabo Verde.  Got hundreds of non usefull flags but only cost 9 euros for the lot with free shipping so very happy.  20cm by 15cm.  Pretty small but just fine for a small boat.  Got a good sized Polish flag for the stern. (Polish registered).  I should be well covered if I get blown off course Or change my mind where Im going on the way😊

A small 3m2 kite also arrived.  Going to play with it to see if it could be useful as an emergency sail in case the mast goes swimming.  Very small and light package.

Clear skies so cold temperatures for epoxy etc. 

  

Trim tabs faired and got their tops with handles epoxied on today.  Keeping kitty company while getting some warmth to cure.  Next job is to give them some coats of epoxy primer before making the support brackets.  I was going to make the brackets with polyester resin but only have a little old polyester resin and plenty of epoxy resin.  Just have to leave out chop strand mat.  

 1 st March

Decided to fit the trimtabs before launching.  They were fabricated and epoxy glassed many months ago but not finished.  I was going to trial sail before fitting more stuff on the transom.  After hearing feedback on the Setka Challenge WhatsApp group it seems that trimtabs are very beneficial especially in downwind sailing. (as expected)

Giving the tabs an epoxy and microbaloon skim before sanding smooth and glassing the support mountings.  Going to use polyester resin and glass for the mounting brackets.  Still cold here in the evenings.  Diesel heater warm air duct blowing over freshly mixed epoxy filler to speed up the cure.  

Made up 1 running pole so far.  Only had a pole length of 2.4m (approx the LP of the jib).  I made this up from used bits that I bought in the Netherlands last year on the way home from selling our canal cruiser.  Going to make another one but got to pick my brains and fiddle on the lathe to make end fittings.  Too expensive to buy fancy Selden (or other) parts.  Got some ideas!  I will also make another stainless steel ring to pop rivet on the front of the mast for the second pole or as a spare.

Nice weather arriving here in the Azores in the next days so fixing roof leaks and hope to do some fishing.

Testing DIY dehydrated meals is working out very well so far.  Just got to decide what I like the best.  Youtube is a great tool but be careful.
 

 19th February

Lunch was the rehydration test on leftover dehydrated bits.  Spaghetti with elbow noodles and Chilli con Carne with rice rehydrated for 15 mins with boiling water tasted exactly the same as the freshly cooked meals.  😊

Going to test the same meals vacuum sealed in a few months to see if it really works.  Back to the shops tomorrow to get more ingredients for more experimentation.  

18th February

Vacuum sealed some experimental meals.

Using chamber vacuum sealer.  The dehydrated pasta, rice, spagetti sauce and Chilli con Carne ends up quite crispy and sharp and can pierce the plastic when under a strong vacuum (as I discovered).  Just doing small portions for taste testing and to see which recipes work best.  Going to test taste some soon and save same pacs for testing in a month or two.  Made 2 of each recipe to vacuum seal and going to experiment for lunch tomorrow on the left overs.

Also bought bulk salted peanuts at about 5 euros for a kilo and resealed into 130g packs with sultanas.  100g peanuts and 30g saltanas per pack.  Good for snacks and keep fresh for a long time.  Expensive to buy small packs of snacks and I like my snacks in the evening.

Next test will be chicken and curry recipes.  Also got to try veggies and stews.

 16 th February

Time wizzing by.  Not up to much as weather still crappy.  Been organizing safety equipment though and got my flares (4 hand red, 4 parachute red and 1 orange smoke), lifejackets (2), saftey harness, and fire extinguisher, head torches and tacked on a small power kite in case the mast falls down.    Off to town tomorrow to speak to our insurance company that insures my fishing boat to see what the options are.  Only looking for compulsory 3rd party for marina stays.  Got to have insurance before being allowed in the marina.

Food!!!

I like my food!!

Started this afternoon with experimenting on producing our own dehydrated food for the adventure.  Starting in very basic experiments.  Several types of pasta and some rice. (all precooked).

This is very early stages and looking forward to the results.

Stacked in our new dehydrator which has a much larger capacity (10 trays).  Our old one was great but small capacity.  Got to learn the quirks of this new box of tricks - very quiet compared to our old one but cost almost 4 times the price !

Mrs Nuts also cooked up a Chilli Con Carne and a Spagetti sauce which will be the next victims for the dehydrator.  Going to vacuum seal and do a test eat in a few days as well as a set aside and test eat in a few months.  This keeps us occupied and makes the kitchen smell nice.  

Lots of ideas on the food front thanks to Youtube.  Just got to test and try.

Marty Bates - a fishing partner from many years ago - has offered a welcome to me with a mooring in Sao Nicalao in the Cape Verdes.  He is a top world recognized big game fishing captain and a super nice guy from NZ and now living and operating big game fishing and a BandB out of the Cape Verde.  (maybe he can be convinced to help out several Setka Captains for a jolly 😜  

 12 th January.

Been watching the 5.80 boats leaving the Canaries.  Got me excited to get busy again.  Been chilling and taking life easy over the holiday season and put on too much weight!!  Time to get started on the finishing stages of Nuts and get it ready for launching in Spring.

I did experiment on vacuum sealing the gas canisters.  Bought a small vacuum sealer for this as didnt think it was a good idea to put the cans into my chamber vacuum sealer.  The idea is to stop rusting as well as being able to see if the canister is leaking.

Also time to start experimenting with dehydrating meals.  I hope to update the blog on a more regular basis starting now.  Hope you all had a good festive season and now back to work!