Hull Fittings

These include skin fittings, sea cocks, cockpit drains, and instrument fittings.

All skin fittings should be checked, no matter what material they are made from.

Bronze can corrode and be affected by stray electrical currents which may originate from your boat, underwater cables, a marina berth or the boat next to you. Look for signs of pitting or Verde grease, (green corrosion). If found, be suspicious and take them out check them over and replace if necessary.

Check for cracks or damage on composite plastic fittings and replace if necessary. Do not over tighten these just make them nice and snug.

Re-bed them with a good marine sealant (Not Plumbers silicon leaves this stuff for the plumbers to "play with")

When re- bedding any fitting it always pays to mask off and clean around the area of the fitting and be generous with the sealer.

Always lightly tighten the fitting so that sealer squeezes out evenly and leave for 2 days to allow the sealer to cure. Then give a final tighten to snug the fitting home. This will give you a much better seal as you have allowed a thin gasket to form.

After 2 days you can also trim off any excess sealer with a Stanley knife. To protect the thread while doing this and allow you to carry out the final tighten up put a little petroleum jelly or silicon grease on the area where the nut will be.

All through hull fittings should have a ply backing plate on the inside and under the nut.

Check for leaks between the thread and the seacock,(Valve) and the hose tailpiece.(if fitted). This is a good place to use PTFE tape (thread seal tape). This gives a good seal and makes it easy to remove valves and tailpieces.

Check that all valves are operating properly. The motto is to disassemble and lubricate with silicon grease every 3-4 years. OK, the Toilet outlet valve it just replace when it stiffens up!

Under no circumstances should BRASS gate valves be used anywhere there is salt water, always use bronze, reinforced plastic (RC marine type) or 316 stainless.

All hoses and hose clips should be checked and fit double hose clamps on all underwater through hull fittings.

Of course you will all have a softwood tapered plug of the right size tied to each through hull with light nylon cord "just in case a valve or skin fitting breaks off and in does cometh the sea".

What do you mean you haven’t yet, well now lets get that done too because there is no way you can hold your hand over a hole under, lets say the sink, and at the same time reach over and find the softwood plugs which are kept in the lazaretto! These plugs can be purchased from any good chandlery and are not expensive.

Hull

The hull is the part of your boat that keeps you floating and thus quite an important one. Keeping it in good shape is essential for a good sailing experience, and the effort to achieve this depends hugely on the type of Gulet you have. In this article, I outline the different basic maintenance tasks a neat hull requires.

In order to estimate the amount of care that will have to be dedicated to the hull, it is useful to think of the different materials it can be made of and the resulting specific maintenance needs.

The first material to think about is the classic one: Wood has been used in boat building ever since people have built boats. It looks good, feels natural, but is generally heavy and requires a great deal more work than GRP. The wood itself is always protected by at least one layer of paint, epoxy resin or other finish.

If this finish is damaged under physical pressure and parts of it rub off, the damage needs to be fixed to prevent water from getting in between the protective layer and the wood. It might be necessary to sand the affected area; for large-scale repairs, you might have to strip off a larger part of the hull. Take care to roughen the surface in order to increase the adhesion of the paint.

The finish on wooden hulls normally needs to be polished once a year. Fall is a good season for that, in the course of winterizing the boat. Depending on the quality and type of paint that you use, your finish should last for 3 to 7 years.

Hulls of some Gulets are made of metals, most commonly steel or aluminum; the are durable and require less work than wooden ones, however, don’t meet some (traditionalist) sailor’s aesthetic preferences and are not the ideal material for small boats. Much like wood, steel hulls come with a finishing layer of paint. Maintenance work for steel and wooden hulls is very similar, too.

Aluminum hulls are a different story; the material is light and very easy in maintenance, but expensive. If you apply paint to an aluminum hull, than essentially for aesthetic reasons – if they are left untreated, you will save on work and the metal’s surface will oxidize over time to an elegant gray. If you choose to paint the hull, it requires similar maintenance as steel hulls.

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Concept Yachts

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How to Manage Running Maintenance Work

Every yacht that is in use will deteriorate over time, the heavier the use, the faster. No boat owner will get around frequent repairs, and it is useful to manage these “running repairs” in an efficient manner. In this article, it is given some advice on how to achieve this.

The maintenance of a yacht will require frequent repairs, since many parts of a boat are “consumables”: they wear off, they deteriorate, and eventually they break and need to be fixed. It is useful to have a checklist handy when it comes to managing running repairs.

Since different Gulets have different “weak spots”, it can only give general advice on how to manage repairs and maintenance work. A big uncertainty factor is the weather, which will depend widely on your local climate. Take this into consideration when you plan repairs.

Checklist for Returning Repairs

1.) Try to write down all parts of your boat that might need to be exchanged, fixed or treated in some way. Rank them according to their importance for safe sailing – start with crucial parts like the canvas and go down to “cosmetic” parts such as the teak on your deck. Designate numbers to each of these parts.

2.) Think about how often you need to check these items – once a year, once a month, before every sailing trip? Under most conditions, there will be checks necessary at the beginning of the sailing season and at the end of it; before major sailing trips; and maybe some for special occasions, for example, when it is dry in the summer and the ideal season for repairs on the hull or woodwork.

Write down all these dates or occasions and then add the numbers of all the parts that should be checked at this occasion. For example, you might find “Early spring: 1, 3, 4, 8, 12, 18.” This will then match with all those parts of your yacht that you should check at the beginning of the sailing season of this time. A list of this kind can be very convenient.

3.) Over the course of a year or season, you should keep an eye on your boat; it is likely that you will discover more things that wear off and need to be fixed. Be ready to amend your list and keep in mind that it is meant to be a guideline, not a natural law.

4.) Mind the “risk curve”. Let’s go back to the list from above: The top-positions should be held by vital parts that will be crucial for sailing. If they break, you will have serious problems during a trip or at least an unpleasant interruption of the sailing season.

Ask some simple questions: Are spare parts available in my area? Are they going to be available all year round? How do these parts into the “risk curve”? The “risk curve” is a diagram in which you plot the likeliness of a part to break against the damage this would cause.

For example: The mast; if it breaks, the damage would be horrendous, however, it is not very likely that it will. The varnish on your deck; little damage occurs if it wears off, with no safety risk involved – however, it wears off quickly and needs to be replaced frequently. These two items will occupy opposite positions in the “risk curve”. It should help you to identify parts that have a particularly high significance for your safety.

5.) Especially if you go on cruises or if you do very competitive sailing, you might want to carry spare parts for those that have high risk-values. This might include parts of your radio and communication system; parts of the engine, oil, fuel or filters; electronics and energy supply (batteries); canvas, rope and rigging in general; hull repair kits, epoxy glue and assorted pieces of board from wood. Depending on your type of boat, your equipment, your location and the type of sailing that you do, the list of essential spare parts will have to be “custom made”.

6.) Manage your workshop: Most repairs are best done in a dry, warm place. Everything that involves solvents, such as handling paint, lacquers, varnish, as well as many detergents and epoxy resins should be used only in well-ventilated spaces. Some repairs will have to be done at sea, and if you are on a cruise, you might even have to do them seriously offshore.

Go back to your risk-curve and see if you could cope with that. Some cruisers have workshops on their yachts; others just try to match their toolkit with the requirements defined by their boats. Whether or not either way is sensible will once again depend on where and how you sail.

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Electric Maintaince

Battery Care

When the weather gets messy and your yacht needs propeller assistance you want the engine to start. You can either crank start it (when did you last practice that?) or depend on your battery. So some battery care tips are not merely useful but essential for boating safety:

Checking

1. Visual inspection: Check electrolyte level at least once a month. If the battery is fully charged and still charging, water loss may increase. It is advisable that a new regulator be installed to normally prevent over-charging of the battery. Overcharging is indicated if the battery is bubbling vigorously.

2. Hydrometer test: Check the electrolyte level to see that it is above the plates in all cells. If it is below the plates, the test cannot be carried out until water is added and the battery charged to mix the water and residual acid in the battery. It is important to ensure that the plates do not remain exposed to air and allowed to dry and oxidize. The state of charge of each cell can be measured with a hydrometer to determine the specific gravity (S.G.) of the electrolyte (specific gravity is its weight compared to water).

Hydrometer Use

Draw the acid into the hydrometer so that the float is lifted free and not touching the top or bottom. The barrel must be held vertically and the eye must be level with the surface of the liquid. Disregard the curvature of the liquid against the glass (read from bottom of meniscus).

Generally the battery state of charge is as follows:
S.G. (@25°C) Volts State of Charge
1.260 6.32/12.65 100%
1.220 less than 6.22/12.45 75%
1.180 less than 6.10/12.20 50%
1.120 less than 6.00/12.00 Discharged
Cell temperature corrections should be applied if accurate readings are required. 0.004 points should be added or subtracted for each 5°C ± variation from 25°C.

3. Voltage Test: Voltage readings should be taken while the battery is neither charging nor discharging (nothing connected and turned on). Immediately after charging or discharging the battery voltage may not have stabilized. The voltage will settle down in about 30 minutes after charge or discharge is discontinued.

Electrolyte Level

Many batteries have markings on the cases to show the maximum and minimum advisable levels of the electrolyte. The lead plates in the battery must be submerged completely by the electrolyte, but there must also be a certain amount of headroom to allow the battery to gas without causing the electrolyte to spill out of the battery case.

Battery

1. Keep battery clean and dry - dampness lets electric current leak away.

2. Keep vent plugs in place to stop dirt falling into cells.

3. A thin coating of petroleum jelly helps prevent corrosion of terminals and connections.

4. For topping up cells, use either distilled water or clean rain water preferably collected in glass or plastic. Never top up the battery with anything other than distilled water or rainwater. Tip: A dehumidifier produces copious amounts of pure (distilled) water. Ask a friend with a dehumidifier for some of its water.

5. Make sure that the positive and negative plates inside the battery are covered with electrolyte at all times. Do not overfill.

6. Avoid adding water to a battery just prior to taking a S.G. reading as the reading will be misleading. If water is to be added, the battery should be charged for a while to mix it with the electrolyte thoroughly before the reading is taken.

Maintenance Schedule

Item to Check Frequency

1. Check S.G. of electrolyte 1 month
2. Check level of electrolyte. Top up if necessary 1 month
3. After boost charge check cell voltages. These should correspond to each other to within 0.05 volts 1-6 months
4. Check tightness of terminals and remove corrosion if necessary 6 months

Notes

DO NOT top up the battery cell with water when the battery is in a state of discharge. If the level of electrolyte is low, top up only to make sure that the plates are covered and no more. The fluid level rises with the level of charge, so if water is added when the battery is discharged, it may overflow on charging and lose electrolyte.

DO NOT use alligator clips or other sprung jaw methods as sparking often occurs when they are removed or attached, Hydrogen gas is generated by batteries under charge which is very explosive in the presence of air. Sparking can ignite it. The resulting explosion will not only destroy the battery but also injure the person holding the alligator clips with flying debris and battery acid.

DO NOT lift the battery by the lugs or terminals. Batteries need to be adequately supported from underneath.

DO NOT overcharge your battery to the point of heating the cells up. This will cause terminal damage. It is acceptable to charge to the point of the electrolyte bubbling. You may need to add water if the electrolyte level goes down.

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The Sales Agreement

Selling your boat can be a relaxed, positive experience, but don’t rely upon a handshake and a “gentlemen’s agreement” when it comes to finalizing the deal.

First, write a sales agreement, outlining the terms of the sale and the obligations of the buyer and seller. Refer to “Sales Agreement” at for more details.

Ask for cashiers or certified checks for both the deposit and the final payment. Stick to an agreed-upon closing date.

Be prepared to renegotiate the sales price when it comes to items that need repair or when the boat has a less-than-satisfactory marine survey.

If you agree to make repairs prior to the sale, for your own protection, spell out your obligation in terms of exactly what is to be done and how much you will spend. Written estimates are helpful.

Do you have personal items on the boat — the ship’s clock that’s been in your family for generations, for example — that you don’t plan to include? Attach to the sales agreement a list of all the accessories that convey and have both parties sign it.

Unless you can afford the loss, don’t offer to finance the boat! The risk involved is not worth the often small amount of interest you stand to gain. And, if you have a boat loan outstanding or hypothec, the lender may not permit this arrangement.

A Yacht Broker can help close the sale of your yacht. Between the initial sales agreement and closing, problems may arise. For example, unexpected repairs are required or a query in the title is discovered. The paperwork can be overwhelming for some sellers. A yacht broker is the best person to help you resolve these issues and finally sell your yacht.

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The Seller's Obligations

A serious buyer will want to have your Gulet inspected by a marine surveyor and possibly have the engine looked over by a marine mechanic. This will involve haul-outs and sea trials.

These expenses are normally borne by the buyer and any “destructive testing” — for example, scraping bottom paint to look for osmotic blisters — must be repaired by the buyer.

Ordinarily, there is no obligation on the seller’s part to volunteer information the buyer doesn’t ask for, but this doesn’t give the seller carte blanche to withhold information about a known defect or condition that renders the boat/yacht “Gulet” unsafe.

Remember, there is a fine line between passive failure to disclose information and active concealment. If an accident occurs later, previous repair records or complaints to the builder may come back to haunt  you.
This is also true for liens and other debt encumbrances that might cloud the transfer ownership.

Selling your boat/yacht  in “as is” condition may be protection against nitpicking later on, but it may not protect you if a serious problem arises.

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