East Coast Diary

[pks1702]

That is a plan Gav but make sure you book its the time all the tight ar*e Yotties have there boats out

Our ship has been dropped back in and currently looking at the webcam has a man putting in around 500 litres of our lovley UK only Red

[Jim]

Nice and shiny Perry. Those polishers are really good and once the sun shines a bit more, I'll have to do our hull as she's looking a bit dull. It'll be interesting doing it from an inflatable though

[pks1702]

Lack of time meant I did not have a great deal of time to test it out Jim but I will do the upper works properly over the coming weeks. Hopefully an investment that will pay dividends over the years.

I went for the dual action as this gives less risk of swirling http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing ... at_81.html

Although a car site plenty of useful information. http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/i ... ishing.pdf

[Jim]

Thanks Perry but we've already got the one I used in 2005 and that will have to do

I'm spending a bit on her now and over the coming months but it all has to be earned somehow. This is our tight time of the year with the mooring renewal, two tolls plus the spend on the latest shiny bits plus a new outboard

It gets easier then until September

Nice jobbie done by FM on the calorifier, shore power etc....well pleased

[pks1702]

Thought you had one Jim, just posted for general interest.

Hot Water and Leccy

[Jim]

Thought you had one Jim, just posted for general interest.

Hot Water and Leccy

Got there in the end Perry and Max is well chuffed at not having to boil kettles anymore

Only taken 8 years to get there

[mbird]

Now that is shiny Perry!

Having just compounded, polished and waxed (3 coats) the hull on Secret Lady, I know what hard work it is, but results like that make it worthwhile too!

[Guest]

Hi Mark

Was just wondering how you are getting on with the second love of your life, Secret Lady.

I thought she was OK at Newark. Managing to get all the jobs done? Will she be ready for the new season so that you can cut a dash coming alongside Oulton ?

James

[mbird]

Hi James

She's needed a lot of cleaning to get the hull nice and shiny, and re-antifouling. She's now back in the water and waiting till the weather improves to get the topsides done. We have a list of jobs as long as our arm (a lot of it cosmetic), but my priorities at the moment are installing new nav equipment. A new Raymarine C90wide went in the lower helm yesterday, as there was no plotter downstairs at all. A second C90W for the flybridge and a digital radome are currently waiting for me to install them too. We've sussed the problem with the starboard engine supercharger too, so that was all a relief. She'll be ready for the Oulton meet, which hopefully will be our first sea trial as we intend to go around the outside from Yarmouth.

[pks1702]

Having just compounded, polished and waxed (3 coats) the hull on Secret Lady, I know what hard work it is, but results like that make it worthwhile too!

To be honest Mark the polisher made it a whole lot easier.

[Hockham Admiral]

I only had time to do a quick polish and seal on the hull but will compound the upper works before polishing and sealing.

You are welcome to boroow 'my friend' Mind you we are parked so tightly I could probably carry on across!

Perry, Hi

What compound/polish/sealer did you use to get that fantastic finish?

[pks1702]

Hi John

I used Meguiar's 83-Dual Action Cleaner Polish which is a light compound/polish designed for dual action machines, and my old standby Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. This has proven to be pretty long lasting in a marine environment. I have tried all sorts of sealers including nano technology last year, but this for 'off the shelf' is pretty good, it goes on very easily and more importantly polishes off well. It is a sealer though so I am afraid you have to polish first and use this as the final finish.

Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection is an extra tough, protective sealant that contains a complex blend of hard resins and waxes. Treated surfaces are protected with a super-tough finish to keep paintwork looking brilliant for longer.

This durable deep gloss film is suitable for all types of automobile paintwork, including metallic, clearcoat and waterbased finishes.

Unlike a polish, it contains no cleaning or polishing agents and should only be used on clean, dry, blemish-free paintwork, ideally pre-treated with Autoglym Super Resin Polish.

The resultant highly durable, deep gloss finish provides an extra tough barrier against most environmental contaminants.

[mbird]

I've used that stuff on cars, but didn't realise it'd stand up to marine use too! Do you use that instead of a carnuba wax then Perry?

[pks1702]

Hi Mark,

Kiki was not particularly oxidised based on the regimes of previous years but also probably becuase of the A Glaze Ceramic Coating we had done a couple of years ago. This was excellent but I wanted to invest in my own kit which will also allow me to remove for example scuffs and fender marks. Due to the light oxidisation I was able to get away with the Meguiar's 83-Dual Action Cleaner Polish.

I only had 3 hours to change all anodes, Polish & Seal so missed out the full wax polishing process. I would recommend a polish with as good a grade of Carnuba Wax content as you can find. This will give the best protection to salt, sunshine & humidity etc. Had I the time I would have used Meguiar's Flagship Premium Marine Wax after the light compound.

We all have our own favourite brands 3M I have also found to be good.

The Sealer is really a last layer of protection, it has quite a high solvent content which helps clean any slight marks in the waxing process.

Cleaning the boat down as soon as you can after a run in the salt will help reduce dried salt which is your biggest enemy to a nice shiny boat. If you do have dried on salt then I would hose the boat down to try to re solublise the sale and was down with a boat shampoo, avoid detergent like the plague as this will strip the wax. I quite like the attachments which allow a reservoir of boat shampoo to be attached top the hose to aid even shampooing.

Most of the above has been down to trial and error and while it might to some seem rather anal does give protection to the GRP.

David is still trying to find a UK distributor of Salt Away but so far we have drawn a blank.

[Hockham Admiral]

Perry, Hi. Thanks for that info.

Do you know if I can put that sealer directly onto freshly painted International Perfection? Or would I need to polish it first?

[mbird]

That's very interesting Perry, thanks. When we got Secret Lady back to Brundall, I used the 3M machine compounding stuff on a polisher, followed by 3M finishing polish and then 3 cats of the 3M carnuba wax. Unfortunately the wax had to be applied and polished by hand as the fleece mop on the polisher just seemed to swirl it. Although it was hard work, the results were stunning, but I want them to last! I think I have some of the Autoglym stuff somewhere, but I have also been given several different bottles of various Maguires concoctions so I think a little experimentation is in order.

Here's what the hull looked like after we'd spent a couple of days on her.

Interesting to hear about the A-Glaze, as I know a fellow forumite is looking to apply this to their ship next week, so we'll see the outcome of that too!

The top sides are particularly grubby and oxidised too, but we have yet to tackle them. What sort of regime would you suggest; similar to what I outlined above?

[pks1702]

I have our topsides to do Mark so can take a bit more time over it rather than the dash on the hull. Sounds like your regime is right to me and the results are excellent.

I am using pads rather than Fleece for the reasons you outline. http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing/cat_2.html

Plenty of good information on this site albeit car based http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/forum/

[pks1702]

Hi John

Sorry I missed your post.

This is a sealer so if your paintwork is not polished it both won't look so good and be harder to buff off but will still protect.

AG say

Unlike a polish, it contains no cleaning or polishing agents and should only be used on clean, dry, blemish-free paintwork, ideally pre-treated with Autoglym Super Resin Polish.

Ignore the bit about super resin Polish any high quality polish will do the job it clearly does not have to be AG.

[pks1702]

Sadly on the best boating weekend this year we were not at our ship.

I was laying my father properly to rest god bless him; very moving and in the place he wanted to be.

Good to see our 'neighbours' blowing the cobwebs from their engine

KF2.doc

KF1.doc

[Jim]

Hi Perry,

The AutoGlym sealer is the stuff we have used for years and it does stand up to the boaty environment very well. I hope all went well this weekend for you and no doubt you will be back on your ship next weekend.

You'll be pleased to know that the Seago260 you kindly gave to us back in 2009 is now fully registered with the BA as 179V and known as Topaz Too! Just got to pick up the new Mariner outboard next week and have fun

[pks1702]

Good to hear the Seago is in service still and now with an engine. It will give you more scope to explore places you might not want to take your ship or avod the fray of busy moorings by dropping the mudweight and taking your tender ashore.

The AG does seem to do a fair job of a final seal on a polished ship.

All went as well as these things can Jim; time to move on and get back to normal; weekends will now be fully boaty

[Jim]

I managed a sort of boaty week as I used her as accomodation for Weds, Thurs and Friday nights while working at Caister Holiday Park. I must get the settings right on the overblanket Rachel recommended. It gets very cold when it switches itself off during the night

[Hockham Admiral]

Hi John

Sorry I missed your post.

This is a sealer so if your paintwork is not polished it both won't look so good and be harder to buff off but will still protect.

AG say

Ignore the bit about super resin Polish any high quality polish will do the job it clearly does not have to be AG.

Many thanks, Perry. When Boulters have finished painting and polishing Friday Girl I'll ask them to give her a coat of that!

You'll probably not recognise her next time we're out!

[pks1702]

Good to get back on our ship now the work has been done and she is back in the water.

The merest mention of the drought word and someone at Shotley did a rain dance - it persisted down from just after 9.00am Saturday until 3.30am on Sunday, that will help a bit!

Saturday I was up reasonably early and as the marina was deserted set to work with the pressure washer getting rid of the winter coat I was soaked anyway so when the rain started it really mattered not.

Saturday night saw us relagated to the Bristol Arms as local Yacht Club had taken over The Shipwreck for their 'fitting up' supper. Mind you judging from the number of cars parked outside when we returned from The Bristol there would have been a fair few 'weak Lemon' drinks, certainly nothing like the Shotley Point Club

Sunday morning saw us out to test Kiki's new prop thanks to the crew of Kingfisher for assisting. David kept his eye on the shaft seal as we ran her up to full revs (I had run her up in gear on tick over in the marina yesterday). I am pleased to report that she was smooth through the rev range and gave quite a kick when the turbo cut in, she is back to her old self.

Hats of to Clement Marine who specified perfectly the Prop it is bang on what she needed

[pks1702]

So Easter was upon us with the usual poor forecast so it was the old standby in inclement weather - Ipswich.

Plenty to keep us occupied if needed but the holiday weekend was really one of chilling - literally, thank goodness for Mr Webasto.

Thursday night was very cool but the bonus was Blue Sky's and sunshine on Friday morning. The tides were very high this weekend, it transpired that Ipswich closed the lock gates on instructions from the EA on Saturday for a couple of hours both sides of HW to avoid floods in Ipswich.

Any way it was a very pleasant tootle up the river and we came across this lot

http://www.boatshed.com/the-dutch-tall- ... 10703.html

http://www.rotc.nl/

One...

They keep coming

Precarious

Amongst the tall ships was this boat; sorry guys I had no idea it was you I did not recognise the boat.

More

And still they come

We had a very nice meal in Chimichanga on Saturday night, I can thoroughly recommend it, and also had Sunday lunch at The Salthouse this never disappoints. Looking at the forecast for Easter Monday and the gale warning and heavy rain we decided to head back to Shotley late Sunday. The visibility was poor and the rain came early, a damp end to the day but a pint at The Shipwreck was a nice end to an enjoyable if cool weekend.