Winter work 2

The 2nd hand water tank proved to have a leak when l filled it up for the first time, so in the end needed to be removed again. Which left me with a dilemma of finding a new replacement. In the end l ordered a new solid plastic one from TEKTANKS, not a cheap option but a long lasting solution. I ordered 2nd of February and it was delivered on 29th March, with Elektra’s relaunch set for 4th of April didn’t leave a lot of time for fitting, plumbing in, then cleaning and loading Elektra’s cruising gear.

The new solar frame and 2 new 80W solar panels had been fixed and the wires and cables run though the tubes, though the cockpit coping (l hate cutting holes in my boats) and on foreward to the chart table and switch panel. The wires and cables had been wired in and all was working. The AIS was working much better with the antenna moved from inside the cabin(as recommended by marine electronics guy in 2021) and outside onto the new solar frame.

Back in December l had bought from Mike Lucas new stanchion deck inserts, at the time l didn’t think l would have any spare time to fit this winter. But with the second half of January and all of February being so dry jobs had gone quicker than expected and l had some spare time.

So l chose a dry day to chip out the starboard side inserts, it took about an hour per inserts, l found the best method was to use a hammer on a 1/2″ wood chisel. The problem came with the new inserts were a little oversized. Having made contact with Mike again for advice, l had the new inserts turned down on a metal lathe. The delayed the job by which time the rain had started. So it was a case of waiting for a dry day. After 10 days a dry day arrived and l got on with the job again. The new inserts went back in with plenty of sealant very quickly, so l started on the port side. I must have learnt something from the starboard side as the 4 port side inserts were chipped out cleaned up in 2.5hrs. I am pleased with the final result.