Lagging and polishing - such fun

As the weather started to feel like spring (at least on the days when the sun peeps through and the rain and wind hold off) we figured that it was boat cleaning and polishing time. This is not a joyous task but as it heralds the start of the cruising season, there is some motivation to get active.

One remaining maintenance item from our planned winter list was to renew the exhaust lagging in the engine room. The dry exhaust for the main engine has a nice thermal blanket on it which has started to decompose quite horribly, releasing lots of dust and surface coating as it does so. Not nice stuff for the air cleaner element on the main engine to ingest and filter out.

We saw a really nice blanket replacement that had been completed on Michael and Frances' Nordhavn 40 "Coracle" and so we asked the same folks to do ours. Here are the sad "before" pictures showing how the blanket was deteriorating:

Pretty sad as you can see. This is the interior of a piece of the lagging showing how it is decomposing - looks more like a sea monster:

Stripping the old stuff off was a messy job but luckily it revealed an exhaust system in excellent condition. Here is the expansion area (shown before the mess left from the old lagging was cleaned off):

Adrian from T and M Supplies came over and measured up for a new bespoke blanket. They do work for the RNLI so if it is good enough for a lifeboat, it is probably good enough for us. Should be delivered soon for a DIY fit. The new stuff will have a grey silicone outer layer, not the stuck on silver foil finish that was used in the factory. According to the T and M expert, the silver foil surface always peels off and causes trouble over time.

It has not been all work though, we did manage a little break to go walking and take Bronwen, the waterbus ship's dog with us. When we hitched a lift back across the bay, Bron seemed tired and needed help propping up her head:

We know that feeling well after a few days of hull and boat polishing.

The boat had a little burn around the bay area to warm up the machinery and to let us berth port side to - ready for more hull cleaning on this often neglected side of the boat. One of the challenges is keeping that side clean when you always berth starboard to because of the asymmetric design. However, we love the extra space this layout liberates inside the boat!