Getting Sorted - Stage 1

Despite the stress of actually getting her here, I can't describe the joy of being able to look out of my window and see Sentina sitting in my yard. I have to pinch myself when I think about having my very own Contessa 26. I see her everyday. Since she's sitting right next to the car and bike, I pause and admire her curves every time I go out or get home. And every day I dream about being able to go sailing in her.

And she seems to have brought me a bit of good luck too. My work drought broke as soon as I got her here, finally securing a job shortly after she arrived. Its not exactly brain surgery and the pay is crap, but it's local, pays the bills and keeps me pretty busy. An abundance of overtime means that I only really get one day each week to be able to work on the boat (weather and commitments permitting), which really only turns out to be an afternoon per week, since I generally spend the mornings recovering and relaxing with the family. Still, its something, and I'm happy to say that I've been putting even that small amount of time to good use so far.

The first priority has been to get all of the foul water out of her. There was no opportunity to do this before she was transported, so it had been sloshing around inside her cabin all the way here. The stench when I opened her up was overpowering. I had to put a respirator on before I could climb down onto the bunks inside.

Because the water was obviously toxic, I didn't want to just dump it onto the ground. So I collected as many containers as I could and began hand-bailing the water into them. This was a pretty horrible and slow process, but eventually the water level got down to, and then below the floor boards. A few weeks later, and I could finally see the bottom of the bilge. I cleaned up a bit of the oily sludge from the cabin sole, and at last I could actually stand inside the cabin.

Of course there was also the matter of all the accumulated garbage inside the cabin. I spent quite a while removing this rubbish, salvaging anything that I thought would be remotely useable. However, most of it was a mass of oil/grease/mould soaked crap.

It wasn't all muck and gloom though. I managed to salvage a lot of useful paperwork (including items from the original sale to the very first owners) and manuals. There were old charts with position fixes marked, revealing some of her previous adventures. I also found the ship's compass and a big, classical old hand bearing compass (both surely antiques by now). I'm hoping that I can eventually get these last two items professionally restored, and put back aboard some day.

With the interior now cleared enough to be able to move around in, I turned my attention to above decks. The boat had a distinctly ratty, derelict appearance, and I wanted her to look a bit more loved. I went around and removed the lifelines and stanchions, as well as some deck hard wear. I also removed the anchor and about 25 meters of chain. At least she looks more presentable now.

I purchased a cheap pressure cleaner from Aldi, and then proceeded to blast Sentina's hull. The cleaner did a great job, removing the bits and barnacles that the boat yard had missed earlier. I was even able to get a few of the osmosis blisters to pop.

Next, I explored the dubious wonders of the lockers. Starting in the cockpit and working my way forward, I removed another conglomerated mass of wet, greasy 'God-knows-whats'. I was glad to have gotten that bit done, because there was a lot of sitting water in those lockers as well. The underneath sides of the bunk boards in the cabin were covered in a wet, clear, glutinous, phlegmy goo. No wonder the poor old girl is so water logged.

Sentina's cockpit floor is at/below the water line, so it drains into the bilge. That meant that I had to bail her out again every time it rained, which annoyed  me. With a predicted period of heavy and prolonged rain forecast, I bought a heavy duty tarpaulin and, using the boom as a ridge pole, secured it across the cockpit. I was glad I did this, because we really did cop a lot of rain afterwards. I enjoyed watching the water pour off that tarp during the week, but there was still some water sitting in the bilge when I got back aboard a couple of weeks later. I'll have to find where its still getting in.

Oh, and I also got all of the sails together and checked them out. Its a rag-tag collection of seemingly cheap, second-hand sails. All buggered, of course. I may be able to salvage a spinnaker or two, but it looks like Sentina will be getting a new suit of sails made one day (somehow).