Help And Hinderance...

I've spent quite a bit of time over the past few weeks on the Contessa forum gleaning some useful tips from the experience of other folk who've done what we're planning before. The technical papers have proved to be useful, it's interesting to know exactly what's under the floorboards and how I should have taken the windows out, for example. I'm particularly indebted to the owner of Waratah who has fitted a fridge, heater plus hot water system and found some ingenious places to locate the bits. He explained how the compressor unit can be fitted behind the cooker, the calorifier in the locker and the heater in the engine compartment - thanks Paul! Much of the planning is now complete, it's just a question of getting bits at the lowest price and getting on with it.

This weekend's work has been a bit on the boring side cleaning out all the lockers, rubbing them down and preparing them for some coats of Danboline. They all look rather sad so a fresh coat of paint everywhere should make quite a difference.

For the first time I've been able to find out where the mast is, and, despite it being in a rather precarious position, take  a good look at it. Not the best of news, on close inspection there's more work than I'd anticipated that has to be done. The survey had identified that no wedges had been fitted between the mast and the deck allowing it to move and wear underneath the waterproof gaiter; the surveyor had assured me the mast could be repaired without difficulty. What wasn't mentioned was that there was corrosion under several of the fittings, the standing rigging was undersized and that the lights needed to be replaced. It's an Isomat mast  rather than the usual Kemp mast and, of course, it's no longer possible to get sections or spares for it. One of the riggers that took a look just wanted to sell a new mast, the other was more helpful and accommodating but it was clear that there's a limit to how much patching is economic. I'll have to take off the fittings, let him see how far the corrosion has gone and then we'll know if it can be repaired with a sleeve or not. I'm hoping it can, a new mast would add a significant chunk to the already strained budget!

A further hindrance came in the shape of the bulkhead compasses; one was leaking oil, the other badly chipped. They both looked in need of replacement, which, according to the forum was easy using a Contest 130 which was of similar size. Trouble was that Plastimo (the manufacturers) had gone bust and although they were probably going to be bought out, production had ceased for a while at least! Few chandleries had any stock and the bargain prices had evaporated so to get a pair I had to pay premium prices - or wait six months or more to see if production re-started; not a great choice.