As promised in my last post, the image above shows the part details for our Macwester Malin’s Lombardini Marine engine and Allpa stern gland. The two-part Allpa stern gland seal cost just over £40 including delivery from the Netherlands, the Jabsco impeller just over £37 inc VAT, and the Lombardini engine anode £15 inc VAT. For my future reference, the full serial number/code for the stern gland double lip seals is: TC 30 40 7 TTO DO 1126. UPDATE: the Allpa stern gland was subseqently replaced, so this part number does not relate to the current stern gland.
Getting back to my to-do list, I’m struggling a wee bit for one or two images …and may have to add images later on when I get the chance.
We used ‘Flag’ anti-foul paint. As it’s our first attempt, the jury’s out until the end of the season. What proved to be an epic ‘fail’ was the 3m Scotch blue edge-lock painter’s tape. At £10 a roll including delivery I was disappointed to see it bring off some of the navy blue stripe that it was supposed to be protecting when we peeled it off our Malin’s hull.
I had help from a friend at the club when it came to replacing the Allpa stern gland seal. Replacement meant taking the shaft back as far as possible to get the stern gland out. There wasn’t quite enough space in front of the rudder, so we had to take the large nut off the rear of the propeller (see above) to make extra room.
While she was out of the water, I checked the hull fittings. While it functioned perfectly well throughout last season, the fitting under the sink (shown above) was a bit of an unknown quantity.
It comprised of a non-reinforced hose with one single rusty jubilee clip holding it in place. The fitting itself is new-ish, but it’s not bronze, so I did some investigating and gave this further consideration.
As you can see by the subsequent shot above, I replaced the existing hose with reinforced tube and also replaced the rusty jubilee clip with two clips in better condition. I’ll keep my eye on this fitting over the coming season, but for now it’s certainly an improvement over what was already operational.
I also checked the rudder & steering. The key structural elements look as though they’ve been replaced quite recently, and all appear to be in good order. The rusty-looking loose bar visible to the top and left of the image above is the emergency steering tiller; I checked that this fitted and was serviceable.
Additionally, this year we decided to upgrade existing fixed mooring system to incorporate Hippo SB1 foam-filled buoy. I’m hopeful this might make life a little easier when we’re returning to our mooring, as the 18mm chain we have at the bow is reasonably heavy.
On top of the above and amongst other things, over the winter I gave the aft cabin a modest facelift.
Above is the view to the stern, and below the view to the cockpit. It was mainly painting and varnishing, along with replacing a tired vent, and upgrading the lights to LEDs which give a warm wall of light on each side of the cabin (see image above). We still plan to do something with the upholstery, which is in serviceable condition. However we want to change the colour, so that will mean recovering in some shape or form.
As you might expect, every time I crossed one thing off the list, another took it’s place. So just ahead of crane-in my list isn’t any smaller, however it’s now populated with items that can be done after crane-in. Fingers crossed that our 32ft Macwester floats when the moment comes.
Not long now!
Macwester 