An improvement plan for the next season

Ofelia seems to be in a reasonably good shape, but in addition to the normal maintenance work, it needs some improvements. The guideline for safety will be the “Finnish boat inspection requirements for the boats on coastal waters”, i.e. class 2 (B). At least the following things need to be addressed:

• A manual bilge pump
• A new S-drive hull seal. The seal seems to be ok, but the skipper would sleep better when knowing the exact age of it.
• The cockpit emptying hoses and maybe the valves need to be renewed.
• The septic system needs a complete repair. The present system is illegal in Finland. In general, Sweden seems to be ahead of Finland in environmental protection, but in this case, Sweden is far behind, which is also visible in used boats.
• A working speed sensor and sonar system is needed. At present, only the sea water temperature measurement works. It is, however, unimportant as the water is always cold.
• The engine fuel system needs a new water separator, as the present might be leaking air into the fuel when throttling.
• A decent chart plotter would be nice. The boat has now a Garmin GPSMap 526, where the world ends around east of Hanko, about 23° E. Fortunately, there are still compatible charts available, should this device serve yet another year. Luckily my beard is also grey enough to consider a chart plotter only as a nice, additional accessory to the navigation, not a necessity.
• A wind meter would be fun, too.
• The stove needs to be gimbaled. If I only knew the brand of the stove!
• The heater needs to be repaired or replaced. Also the started installation of the warm air tubes needs to be finished.
• The VHF and the radio should be moved into a better place.
• An AIS wouldn’t harm.
• The crew needs charging plugs for their phones and tablets. Now the chart table looks like spaghetti at times.
• Some kind of a shore power system would be useful.
• The routes of the halyards in the mast need to be checked. One spinnaker halyard is somehow tangled and the topping lift needs to be replaced.
• New halyard locks needed, as well as the traveler cleats.
• The kick strap needs to be replaced.

Even this list is under construction! I will probably add links to the relevant posts in the future. Some of the work is absolutely necessary, some of it may be postponed to the future. I have already started the necessary desk studies, and the improvement work starts as soon as it will be warm enough to work in the boat without gloves in hands.

A Techimpex?