Original post is from May 2020, and after I have joined some nautical groups, I have decided to translate it into English
A week ago I experienced a stressful situation on leaving the marina. After it happened I
activated an option that I had added to the boat off plan, so I’ve decided to describe this one, as
well as some other changes I’d added in the course and after finishing the construction.
Let’s start from the mentioned event – On leaving the marina, having switched the command to
reverse gear, instead of the usual 20 – 30, the boat tilted aside by over 60° and headed straight
toward Goca’s boat. No big deal, as I was moving slowly, I just needed to fully move the rudder,
give it a fast forward and straighten the course. Yeah, right. The boat started reacting with a
delay of some 10 seconds, I very nearly struck Goca :)
I immediately realized something was wrapped around the propeller. Managed to pull out of the
marina, sailed to where I wouldn’t bother anyone, and started moving back and forth, back and
forth, xxx times. The status improved slightly, but it was clear that I would not be able to easily
shake off whatever got hooked.
I had two options.
The first was to dive to reach the propeller. The Danube was still chilly, but that would not have
been a problem, as I have on boat a diving suit, designed for very low temperatures. The problem
was that, following the dire fall off a bike and an ear operation two weeks ago, I was strictly
banned from diving for the rest of my life :(
The next option was to use the opening for access to the propeller from the aft cabin, for the first
time in 14 years after launching the boat in water.
While the boat was still under construction, an acquaintance told me of the trouble he went
through in Greece after having the propeller catch and coil up a lengthy nylon rope. Coiled it
and, he said, curled it into a giant hank. The guy struggled for almost a day but, realizing he
could not cope with it, finally hired a professional diver.
At that moment I resolved to do what is only done in far more serious vessels.
My problem was that the berth in aft cabin was located a few centimeters below the water line. As I did not want to lift the berth by 10+ cm, I caught again,
whom other than Neša :), to us fiberglass to make this, so to speak, vessel, rising as the berth is
moved.
Using the vagres hose I could see that the water line is some 4 - 5 cm below the vessel
edge. Some would say, - just enough, but... here in the area of Yugoslavia Hotel, although
speeding is strictly prohibited, there are lunatics / egomaniacs finding greatest satisfaction in
doing just that. For, Gee, who would notice them at all if they speeded where it was allowed?
The waves these produce would probably cause to water slightly overflowing on the vessel at
moments. No danger there, I could, say, take a broad linoleum band, wrap around and glue it
around and above this plastic vessel, thus gaining additional 10 - 15 cm.
Better safe than sorry – as I was venturing into this process for the first time, and being alone on
the boat, I decided to take additional precautions this first time. I set on to relieve the aft part, and
burden maximally the bow part, in order to additionally lower the water line above the propeller.
As you can see – I pulled out 60 m of chain from the anchor well and laid it over the anchor,
inserting in it a spare chain, anchor, plenty of tools and more stuff. I placed on the bow the
bicycles, kayak, ropes and a 300 l water bag, purchased for another special occasion of a
different kind (more on that later).
I lowered the water line by the propeller by additional 10 cm, so the process may begin -
the door may open :)
As I do not have the permit, it immediately struck me that here I could easily fish,.. I just might
buy a small hook and a piece of nylon :)
It occurred to me to do another translucent plexy cover, so that I can watch fishes from the stern
bearing when at the seaside :)
This time I managed to catch some fish without a hook
Anyway, it was just as I’d expected - quite a large bag wrapped around the propeller. It must
have been even larger at first, but some parts were torn off after those repeated back and forth
attempts.
You can see below the part that Neša made for me of fiberglass and which precisely levels up
with the bottom line once the cover is down.
Openings on a hull - placing depth gauge and speedometer sensors
It is these openings below the water line that bothered me constantly - you construct a steel boat,
completely watertight, and then on its bottom you drill holes and close them with plastic which
can, in extreme situations, rips off, and ciao - the boat sinks.
I have read about such cases, when, for example, a man on a sailing boat came upon a floating
container, which shaved his log encoder, water started pouring in at enormous quantities, two
large for the bilge pump to handle, he did not find a solution, and the boat went under.
Even if you manage, if you have the plugs ready, by the time you realize what had happened, find the
hole where the water is pouring in and pop the plug, you will have a considerable quantity of
water in the cabin.
Here again the rule applies - better safe than sorry. Following such reasoning, I decided to fully
protect the hole intended for the log sensor (diameter of 40 mm). I welded the prochrom pipe
with a cover flange around the sensor by a full weld. Only one hole was made on the side for the
cable, but it is sealed with silicone, preventing a drop of water, even if the hole is completely
opened, from entering the boat.
_______________________________________
Depth gauge sensor on a steel boat is another cup of tea. In plastic and wooden boats it can be
placed in oil in boat interior and read data faultlessly. They say that some sensors are able to
operate thus in steel boats, as well, but I wanted to play it safe.
I had a turner make a kind of glass, of full prochrom profile, which fits the outer sensor part.
That was welded onto the boat bed, cut and polished to the level of the plate it had been welded
on. This part is slightly visible below the polished glass that I had made of prochrom pipe to
protect the outer part of the sensor. The turner cut a short pitch screw thread on its part, and then
cut in on mine.
Once the sensor was fitted, the rest of the outer cavity was filled in with Sika.
Refrigerator
Well, I had major uncertainty regarding the refrigerator, where to place it? The plan envisaged it
would take up a part of the kitchen space. A serious capacity refrigerator with good insulation
would occupy a considerable part of the kitchen, which I did not like at all. At first, until I find
the right solution, I put inside the lounge a fridge with capacity of (20l). That was small capacity,
but consumption of electricity was high :)
The right solution is a compressor refrigerator in the right spot, so I finally decided to place it
into the bow cabin.
The part where the fridge is now was originally an empty space. So, the drawback is that now it
is cramped, but I consider this drawback to be incomparably smaller than what I gained.
After I laid the polyurethane insulation of 9 cm thickness, the master Neša takes the stage and
does his share of work – plasticizing the inside, outside of the fridge, and placing the cover. The
cover insulation is somewhat thinner, but there will be a pillow on the outside anyway, which
represents additional insulation.
Capacity of the refrigerator is cca. 75 l, which is not so bad for a boat, and electricity
consumption is ridiculously small – according to my calculation, cca. 12 Ah per 24h
I have in mind, the first opportunity that I am on boat in summer, to adjust cooling to the
maximum during daylight and, the moment the sun sets, to completely switch off the
compressor, and check the temperature in the fridge the following morning. As the insulation is
excellent, I am certain that the fridge could be used thus, it does not even drain 1 Ah from the
battery during the day (solar panels are more than sufficient to provide the required energy).
I have placed the compressor in this space beside the bunk.
ANCHOR WELL, WINCH, BOW ROLLER AND BOWSPRIT
I have already increased the space within the anchor well in construction by setting the bed,
designed to be horizontal, under a steeper angle.
I drilled a hole at the bottom of the well at the very bow, inserted and welded a piece of
prochrom pipe. Many others tend just to drill holes on the side for draining, but then they get an
ugly trace of dirt from draining and possibly from the corroded chain.
I have firstly placed the winch under the cover, as it is mostly done. The I saw that it would be
much better if I moved it back slightly, to have the chain hanging above the lowest part of the
well.
This is how I did it
Having moved the winch, I engaged Neša again, to make an appropriate cover for me. He did
both this one and the large cover inside the cockpit with airex in sandwich. He also used
fiberglass to make two smaller covers on the stern. Previous designs, as far as I remember,
planned to use mostly wood/plywood for these things, but I strived to have everything made of
fiberglass, wherever possible.
BOW ROLLER; BOWSPRIT
I have done the anchor roller like this for two reasons.
The first is - to throw the anchor a bit further ahead of the bow and move it away from the winch
that was placed in the front at the beginning.
The second reason is that the anchor, when reaching the roller, breaks much more easily in this
combination with 2 rollers and angles 135 degree angles, than with one roller, where it "breaks"
at 90°.
The winch of 1000 W will deal with that without a problem, but if, god forbid, it breaks down,
then my back and my hands will thank me for this move :)
Bowsprit
I have made the bowsprit (that I use for the genaker) of stainless steel pipes. It is easy to hang on
the ancillary roller, and the side cable clamps are similarly hung on the edge pipe posts. It is
always upright by the bow fence and, when necessary, can be tightened down by dyneema rope
in a second.
Black tank
At the time when I was getting ready to start the self-construction the regulations were not so
strict and the wastewater tank was not the required norm. It was for my sake that I’d decided to
go with it. Just like, when you anchor in a heavenly cove, dive in by the boat, and then a crew
member enters the toilet and slightly changes the sea colour just where you are :)
The waste tank can be placed in two ways - below or above the water line. If it is below, you
have to have the discharge pump. I decided on the second, simpler option, deciding to place it on
the partition within the space intended to dispose of wet things, immediately next to the toilet.
Having resolved that, all I needed was to make a tank of such shape to be used ideally in the
space. I start making the model that Neša will later use to make the fiberglass original.
The Styrofoam proved as the ideal solution for this purpose. I join 4 tables of styrofoam of 5 cm
thickness (as I’d decided that the tank thickness be 20 cm). Then I cut the styrofoam in such a
way as to exactly fit to the boat side and tailor an ideal angle in the lower part at the spot where
the valve would be placed.
After I sandpaper the edges and angles, I cover the whole model in broad adhesive tape for Neša
to be able to directly start producing originals. When he does that, he cuts it in half, throws out
the styrofoam, inserts and laminates prochrom pipes and grips that I have prepared. Then he
joins it again and closes and hey presto - the tank can be installed and filled in :)
Here on the river I keep the discharge valve open at all times, while on the sea (some day :) ) it
will be closed both in the marina and in the anchorage. Once you set sail, you just open the valve
and the valuable content simply pours out into the sea in free fall :)
Before sailing on the sea, I shall have to make some more regulatory modifications, to be able to
empty the tank in the marina with the pump. Capacity of the current tank is 60 l
Navigation table
Modifications to the navigation table were, in my opinion, a complete success.
This is what it looks like on my boat.
According to the design, it was supposed to be much lower, a sitting desk with a small chair.
Below the upper board there is a part to hold the charts in, on the left and on the right the design
had set drawers or chambers, by choice, while the middle part was left empty (feet space), that is
to say, completely unutilized.
I opted for the standing navigation table, and elevated it considerably, in the part where the
broadside is the widest, moving it slightly towards the boat axis to achieve an enormously larger
capacity.
Below the part intended for the charts I keep 6 large boxes with tools, spare parts and
other boat equipment, as well as a number of little cases and boxes with bolts and trinkets.
I have affixed a nautical chart of the eastern Mediterranean and covered it with epoxy resin, quite
abundantly, so that, after so many years, it went slightly jaundiced.
When it is used, you can draw it a little further out, to obtain larger area.
Otherwise, following the advice of Annie Hill, I did not install any doors, only curtains. If it is
possible to avoid doors, then you’re saving time, money and, more importantly - boat weight,
well worth the consideration. However, when it has bothered the wife for years, then, after a
while, you still decide to install a door there, hence the curtains were removed there :)
The genoa rail, edge pipe, railing, cleats...
When it comes to deck equipment, I’d tried to weld whatever was weldable, on the “fit and
forget” principle.
There is nothing worse than realizing that your deck has "leaked" through the hole where some
of the mentioned equipment parts were fastened, and you have to remove the plating and the
insulation in order to repair the leak :)
If welded, there will possibly be a hint of corrosion, which is quickly and easily fixed with a
sanding brush and a little paint, and there is no way water can penetrate the cabin.
Prefabricated genoa railings are 2 x 3m = 6m. On each 5cm there is a bolt, so totally 122, which
means 122 holes in the deck. I have made them of prochrom flah and welded onto the deck.
I pondered a lot with regards to the edge pipe. In steel ships people most often just add flah and
drill holes in it for drainage. At first that seems most logical, the easiest and the cheapest
solution, but afterwards you have maintenance problems, ugly corrosion marks on the broadside,
etc.
Therefore, I’ve decided to install a prochrom pipe, like the one you can see on Etap boats.
The prochrom pipe protects the boat edge from impact, it is suitable for hanging on the fender,
the gennaker reel and as handrail for climbing or descent along the side, or crawling along the
deck in a storm :)
The drawback is that small things can slide into the water underneath the pipe. At the very
beginning a girlfriend of Vuk had the telephone fall into Danube off the front deck. After that
we’ve been warning all guests to mind their small stuff.
Placing, say, a strap between the poles
would eliminate that problem, but, as we are being careful, I haven’t done that yet.
Finally, to answer the question - where did the large water bag on the boat come from? (visible
above in the bow photo)
A couple of years ago, a friend sent me a recording of Y T, showing a man hanging a large water
bag (probably on the genoa halyard) and tilting the boat with the help of the bag just enough to
slide under the bridge.
The height of my mast is 16 m above the water, and clearance under the bridge to Pančevo at
medium water level is 13 m. When I bought the bag at army junk yard, I thought its capacity was
200 l (perhaps I was misinformed at the time). Later I concluded that the 200 kg of load would
not be sufficient to tilt the boat enough.
I’ve only just discovered that capacity of the bag is all of the 300 l, so I shall probably perform
an experiment. I shall calculate the height that the bag should be placed on in order to touch
water when the boat tilts at 40° (I reckon that the angle of 45° would be quite sufficient to pull
under the bridge).
Of course, I shall firstly present the idea to the people in Selden and, if they approve, I shall sink
the bilge pump on the side, fill the bag and see what happens :). It would really be great if I could
sail to Đerdap with the mast on (last time I went there it was laid down on the deck).
That’s it... for now :)
If you have a facebook profile, you can see the photos of transferring the boat over the house:
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