Well thought I would fill in another hole in the deck, ie. the hole just forward of the main hatch. It had a horrid plastic mushroom vent that was brittle and didn't take much effort to remove.  I have this lovely brass mushroom vent...

However, it needed a wooden Surround to mount it on and a similar piece of wood to finish it off inside.  I found a nice bit of teak and set about cutting out a circle with a hole to fit the mushroom vent.  Having a small lathe I decided to turn the wood and these are a few pics of me doing this.  I firstly made a disc the diameter I wanted then when happy with that. Started to cut the hole.  Had to be careful to tuen off the lathe once I had broken through.

 Result looks pretty good I think.  Now to fit it to the boat.

Pic of vent closed and open with teak base.

I was having second thoughts and thought maybe I should buy one of those solar powered vents and sell the bronze one to cover the cost.  What does anyone think?  The mushroom vent is fine but if I forget to close it and get one over the top I will get water below.  Whereas the solar vents allow air but no water to vent the cabin.  I would have liked one of the low profile cowl. Vents but they seem to be very expensive.

I have a smaller mushroom vent that I might fit on the stern to vent the rear lockers.

Well, progress albeit slow...here are some more pics with the bolts in temporarily and the perspex.  Now to decide if I put the dome nuts inside as first thought or outside.  Any thoughts anyone?  I think the hex head bolts on the outside would look cleaner.

This last picture shows the perspex bedded into the inner frame and the outer is bolted on simply to hold the perspex in place whilst the Sikaflex goes off.  I will remove the outer frame and then bed this in separately and putting the bolts in one final time.  The bolts will be finger tight until the Sikaflex cures then tightened up.  Hoping this gives me a strong water tight seal and also look good.  Then it will be on with the Starboard side.

Long time no action but ....

Well it has been a very long time since I posted an update to my blog.  Lots has happened in my life, I was very ill for a while and as a result no longer commuting to London every day, and no longer in a profession I have been in for over 30 years.    Stopped drinking alcohol, only drink water and tea now.  Lost weight, now starting out on my own gardening and DIY in Sussex and surrounding area.  Bought a VW T25 camper and had to do lots of tinkering.  Drove all the way to Bordeaux in the summer which was fun and surprisingly relaxing.   Also making things from recycled materials, bug hotels, candle holders, wooden iPhone amplifiers, all-sorts, whatever takes my fancy and whatever springs to mind.  Also have a few dinghies to work on for some friends.

Sea Witch has been sadly neglected but not forgotten.  Today I finally pulled back the tarp and got to fitting the new windows.  I had four identical frames cut from 3mm stainless left over from another boat project.   The idea is to put one frame inside and one out and to bolt through the fibreglass and sandwich a tinted perspex window inbetween.

Today I used Sikaflex to fix the port inner frame in place.   i bolted the outer frame in place to pull the inner frame against the coachroof and to give an even fix.  I will then remove the outer frame, bed in the perspex and re fit the outer frame and place the bolts and dome nuts back. Once the Sikaflex has cured I will tighten the bolts to give a water tight seal.

This may seem all a bit OTT but I had the stainless and having the frame in one piece gives the boat a good look I think as well as adding some strength.  Here is a pic of the frame in place before fitting the perspex.  More later this week and hopefully this is the start of more activity... Famous last words...

Not a bad Alacrity for sale in Plymouth

Saw this on eBay, probably a bit overpriced as a starting bid on eBay but not a bad boat that with a little TLC could make a good boat.  Keels are like mine not encapsulated but that is not a bad thing.  Interior has been altered a lot so nothing original as far as I can see but not bad equipment.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370558640642?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

Hole for heads now blocked up...

I removed the horrid ball head toilet from the boat and I have now blocked up the hole.  Having used a disc sander to clean around the hole on the outside I put a patch of 3 layers of glass fibre matt soaked in epoxy and held them to the hull with a plastic disc held in place with a piece of wood and a brace.  I then went inside the boat and put more epoxy resin and chopped glass matt in the hole as well as a wooden plug. I then put more epoxy on top...no water getting in here!

Here is outside and inside shots... 

This is after I had sanded the area and put some surface filler on the hull.

It just needs a final sand and then it can be primed for the antifoul but that is still al while off.

 

This is the hole from the interior.  I just need to sand flat and it will be a base for the locker bottom.

Re-furbished outboard bracket

I took the bracket apart and cleaned up all the wood and re-varnished and looks pretty good now. 

This is before...

And now after...

Notice the rowlock socket so you could scull the yacht if the engine failed.

Glassing over the water tank filler

My Alacrity had a small water tank glassed in at the front starboard side and it was rank.  Filled with black water and unable to clean it out and with a filler right at the bow, who would do that?  It had to go.  It had a rotting ply surround and was covered with a perished rubber cap.

It was a struggle as it was a copper pipe with a flange between the tank and the deck.  You can just see it protruding at top right of this pic which is after I cut the tank open.  I cut into the tank to make a locker in the bow and I had to cut into the top of the tank to get at the pipe and flange. 

It was a messy job and I ended up with a very large hole in the deck.  In this pic you can see where I removed the pulpit and also anchor chocks which were cast iron and rusting nicely. 

A view from inside the boat showing the top of the tank I cut out and the hole in the deck.

I used a disc grinder to clean the deck around the hole then I made a disc of thin ply and covered it in clingfilm to stop the epoxy sticking to it.  I then put a wire through it and held it tight against the underside of the deck. Here's how it looked from inside.

This it afterwards I used three layers of fibreglass matt and epoxy resin then some epoxy with chopped strand to fill in the top.  I was quite pleased with the result and I just need to blend in the gel coat to make a finish similar to the non slip deck but I am painting that anyway.  Obviously I just needed to remove the wire and the disc of ply from inside.



Looking from inside, looks neat enough and might need to line this locker to cover where the tank was bonded inside the hull.

This is a pic after applying white gelcoat.

You can just see the round patch where the filler was removed and glassed over against the deck which has been sanded and given one coat of white primer.  You can see the deck in the distance which is still discoloured and dirty.  I am looking forward to seeing the whole deck painted with new non-slip areas.