Scarboreugh / Redhill Marina

Mick picked up a hire car first thing, returning home for a quick breakfast, then we were on our way to Redhill. Tilly was miffed as she wasn’t allowed to come with us, but she’d not have enjoyed the car journey, best to leave that for another time when she wouldn’t have to come back again. Pah!

The drive took around two and a half hours, thankfully not too much traffic but the occasional rain shower. We pulled in towards the back of the marina (if you can class the land based boats being in a marina), away from the workshops and even further away from the river. Gosh things have grown since I was last here! The ground before was at least visibly uneven, but today it is hidden beneath an awful lot of friendly cover, Tilly would so love it. You can tell Oleanna has been sat here for around eight months, thistles, nettles, even an elder bush has grown alongside her, the flowers pickable from the side hatch.

First thing was to open up Oleanna and find the sketches I’d done of her new colour scheme. The step ladder was brought down out of the welldeck and Mick climbed on board, the sketch book was soon found where it had been left ready for today’s meeting. Then it was over to meet Tom in the paint shed. It took a little while for us to realise he was inside and shouting that we should come in.

Inside was the 45ft boat that was ahead of us and another boat, more like 58ft which has been primed and is sat waiting the next stage. The 45fter was having its windows put back in, ready to be taken out of the shed tomorrow and refloated, she looked good.

The three of us walked back over to Oleanna to take a look at her and discuss the jobs we are wanting doing on top of the repaint. Time to show Tom my sketch, cream cabin sides and roof, the bow and stern to be the dark blue, grab rail still red, lettering blue with a red shadow. I made sure Tom knew where I wanted the shadow to be and why, we don’t want another paintgate!

RAL numbers were discussed, I still had the touch up pots of paint inside so would dig them out later for the numbers. We may go for a dark blue with a touch of purple in it, which was the original plan when she was first painted, but Finesse couldn’t match the colour.

Extra T studs at the bow to match the one by the gas locker, welded or bolted on, we opted for welded. The locker lid hinges have seized again due to lack of use this winter, they will get looked at. The Alde boiler flue on the cabin side will have new screws and a clean up. Mushroom vents will be painted to match the roof. The stern locker lids which have done serious damage to the paintwork will be adapted by a carpenter, leaving a wooden surround and then having a lift out section to keep the maximum opening rather than adding hinges to the lids. Our double-glazed windows arrived a few months ago and the internal window surrounds will need some alteration for the increased depth of the thermal break frames. The galley sliding windows will remain single glazed and get a good clean before going back in.

We looked at the state of the hull with all the large rust patches. Tom gave them a wipe with his hands. Apparently 1mm of rust equates to a thou of steel having eroded. The large areas of the hull feel pretty smooth so he suspects once Oleanna is grit blasted we won’t be able to tell where she’d rusted with little if any pitting. We’re hoping he’s right about this and await the verdict once the paint has been stripped. Tom did say that the chap who does the grit blasting will love doing the hull as the paint will come off very quickly.

The vent from our gas locker has always been very low. It’s a wet locker meaning that water gets into it when we cruise, well if the water tank is full and the gas bottles are also full we rarely get to see the vent even when stationary. Hannah, who did our BSS last year, suggested we have the vent extended upwards. Tom will check inside the locker as to where the water lies and most probably put a new hole further forward so as not to cut through a rubbing strake. The amount left on the two sets of anodes is more than brand new ones, so we’ll not be needing to do that. Tom suggests that after four years we get Oleanna out of the water to inspect the blacking, and then we might require new anodes.

He looked at the woodwork we want re-varnished. Moving the plank and pole rack towards the bow, so that the centre lines don’t catch. We talked about removing the solar panels, which we intend to replace with modern panels, a chat with Matt from Onboard Solar will be arranged for when Mick is next down.

Clare Norton the sign writer will be put in touch with us to discuss any art work we’re wanting.

Next we got onto talking about windows of good weather. The forecast would be watched over the weekend, he’d chat to the grit blaster if there was any chance of a dry day on Monday. The marina was also aware of Oleanna needing to be moved to the hill and then into the paint shed. Then we chatted dates and how our house will be full with nowhere for us to sleep in a few weeks. Tom counted the weeks, we should be back onboard before we run out of time, but we can always move back onboard whilst Oleanna is still in the paint shed as the final jobs are done to her.

With everything discussed, Tom went back to putting the 45fter back together, and we walked down to the cafe for lunch. A tuna cob and a jacket potato were enjoyed with a refreshing cuppa before we headed back to Oleanna to do some jobs.

Mick ran the engine whilst I got a scraper out to see what I could do with the sticky mess we’ve got on the dinette. The new cushions and covers with flame proofing have reacted with the ten year old varnish and made it all sticky. This has stuck to the cushions over the last couple of years and left red sticky fluff everywhere. We’ve had the cushion covers dry cleaned, but now the stickyness on the woodwork needs to be solved.

I spent a good couple of hours with my scraper removing the failed varnish, it was a bit like chewing gum. Then I had a go at cleaning the remainder off with white spirit. This worked on the solid wood edges, but once dry on the faced ply areas they were still tacky! Further investigation was later done, so I may try meths, thinners, acetone, but I don’t want to sand the wood as it’s only faced with oak and it won’t take much before the surface has gone.

Whilst this all happened, Mick busied himself removing the pram and cratch covers. These would be taken off by the painters anyway before the grit blasting. Our original plan had been to get new ones made either by SPL or All Seasons, keeping the same framework. However, due to the delay in our repaint we now won’t be going anywhere near either of these companies as we’ll be heading southwards not north once back in the water. So the new plan is to clean the current covers up as best we can back in Scarborough, re-waterproof them and continue to use them until we return northwards to have new ones made which will also take into account the new T studs in the bow.

As we were closing up a chap from the marina drove along the track infront of us, he was checking to see what would need moving to get Oleanna out from her resting place, a small dinghy was the only visible thing. He drove round the friendly cover opposite to check there wasn’t anything lurking there and then warned the boat across the way that we’d be moving next week. Tomorrow the jungle surrounding Oleanna is likely to be strimmed to make her extrication easier.

With jobs done it was time to say farewell to our dull rusty dark blue Oleanna. We climbed into the car and headed back northwards. Sadly the distance between Redhill and Scarborough means we’re unlikely to be able to watch her transformation in person as much as we’d like, but Tom will send us updates and hopefully we’ll be down to see her for ourselves at various stages.

As we dropped back down from the Yorkshire Wolds, I put an order in for fish and chips from Capplemans. These were enjoyed with a glass of wine, it’s been one of those weeks where wine is allowed most days. The covers are folded up and in the dining room, we’ll have to hope for a dry day here to give them a good clean in the back garden at some point, then when dry, store them for a few weeks.

So at last things are progressing. We still need everyone to keep their fingers crossed for a fine dry day early next week for the blasting.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 0.75 of a sock knitted, 1 colour scheme, 1mm equals 1 thou, 1 jungle, 3 colours, 1 different blue, 1 jacket, 1 cob, 1 shiny boat, 1 rusty boat, 2 hours scraping, 1 hour white spirit, 2 sticky still! 1 jungle to be strimmed, 0 elderflower cordial, 1 rusty sink! 1 service station pit stop, 2 of each, 2 covers taking over the dining room, 1 busy week.