Sailing Vessel Northern Comfort Technical Details can be found here.
Ep19 End of Season 1 Haul-Out and Inspection
It’s an end of the 2019 season, October 28th was my haul-out date and even though I was able to get a last few sails in, it is also time to get some projects underway that I had been planning.
1st, I want to go green as possible after reading the regulations on gas and will be converting the boat to electric. This involves taking the engine out. As it’s cramped in the engine compartment behind the cabin stairs, it will not be an easy task to get the engine out.
I also may review the cabin sole and floors as some preliminary inspection showed some rotten boards that I would want to remove, so there will be more updates on projects in Season 2.
As Northern Comfort is lifted out, it will also be a great time to inspect her repairs that I made before launch this year to ensure that she is in good condition and that the repairs held up. I am also wondering how good a job the anti-foul paint ended up. Thanks for the support, please like and subscribe to my channel. I could use all the support you can give us on this journey!
If you want to join our crew and support us, we now have a Patreon page where we are releasing more in-depth information, offering early releases. As most people, we are working from a budget and could use some help with our video production and travelling on our own terms.
Ep18 Genoa Roller Furling Repair (Furlex 200s) Oct 18 2019 Windstorm
October 18th (2019) we had a very strong windstorm at night, with over 50 knot winds. At about 2AM, my genoa got caught by the wind and started to unfurl slightly. It started shaking violently and I was thinking it would damage something on the mast by the shaking.
What I discovered was that the Furlex rope anchor snapped. The Genoa sheets started to get so tangled it was impossible with the shaking to pull it in, or let it out.
Ep17 Installing Amazon 12v 5000W Diesel Cabin Heater
Picked up a diesel cabin heater off of Amazon and installed it. Once running, I was pretty amazed at the amount of heat it generated. In the fall air, which was about 5 to 8 degrees Celsius (41 to 46 Fahrenheit) at night, it was able to warm the cabin up to about 20 degrees Cel (60 F). This made sleeping pretty comfortable.
This video is the installation from start to finish of the cabin heater and the adjustments made to accommodate the heater.
Ep16 End of Season 1 Projects
A number of projects as we come into September, up in Canada it’s starting to get cold.
I couldn’t clean the fridge properly due to fiberglass and age, and was worried about mold so I decided to rip the cupboards apart and making more space.
A new countertop made with epoxy was installed. After learning about the challenges with propane, it seems that electric cooking is a much better option, and I installed an electric induction cooktop. Trimmed it up with some nice stainless steel.
Ep15 Mast Climb Fail x2
The mast lights are temperamental on the boat, specifically the anchor light and mid-mast navigation light. My first attempt to climb was with tower climbing petzl ascender, kong descender and it worked ok but was very strenuous as it uses one leg. I got half way up and changed the flag pully on the spreader but didn’t have the strength to climb up the whole mast.
This attempt in this video worked, but was still pretty strenuous. I enlisted help from my brother who winched me up using the main halyard, and also used the spinnaker halyard as a backup safety line. He had a good work out ;0
Ep14 Lake Ontario First Solo Sail
Ep13 Preparing for 1st Solo Lake Ontario Sail
Getting ready to sail from Hamilton to Toronto, then off to Port Whitby. We had no anchor. Well there was an anchor but it was inside the bow cavity and no way to get it on deck as the chain-hole wasn’t cut. Had to finish that by cutting a hole in the deck and installing a stainless steel covered chain pipe.
Also gave the propane stove a good cleaning, but never ended up hooking it up as I didn’t have the right equipment for safety compliance (decided to go electric).
Ep12 Final Preparations, Delivery and Launch!
It’s amazing that after purchasing Northern Comfort June 16th that we are already going into the water, with a working engine and a sparkling new painted hull!
This video has some final preparation and delivery by transport to the marina. We then stepped the mast with the Harbour West crew and watched the 80 tonne crane / boat travel lift scoop up Northern Comfort with ease and lowered her into the harbour.
Ep11 Finishing the Hull Stripes
Mixing Fire Engine Red and Sea Green from Interlux Brightside, made a nice liquid brown which we used to re-apply the stripes and waterline. The old paintjob had brown on the top and bottom, but I wanted a bit more white than brown as the predominant colour.
Ep10 Prepping for Paint, Primary Colour Interlux Brightside White
We managed to do this over 2 days, 2 coats one day and then painted at the end of the day for the last coat.
Ep9 Painting Anti-foul Timelapse, Anode change and Intro to Next Steps
We applied Interlux Micron CSC Antifoul paint, (painting anti-foul) as the boat is in the Great Lakes (Lake Ontario) it’s not a salt water anti-foul. We used the shark white version which held up well for the first season, but the colour changes quite a bit from application over time. The colour of the Interlux MicronCSC Shark White started out more of a almost purplish white and faded to a light grey creamy white by the time we took the boat out of the water. The team at the Harbourwest Marina easily washed off the algae growth so it worked quite well at fending off the growth.
Ep8 Keel & Skeg Blister Repair & Clamps and More Clamps
This video is covering the first stages of the lower outside hull repairs. The keel damage is repaired (footage of repairs mysteriously vanished) with new epoxy, and multiple coats of Interlux 2000E for protection.
On the skeg, a lone blister was found and removed with the Dremel tool. I used Epoxy with West Systems filler 403 to create a peanut butter like paste, and also chopped stands of fiberglass into the mixture. We also clamped down some pipes with extra stainless steel clamps, as code stipulates that points joining must have 2 clamps. Exhaust and fuel intake had to be clamped by the champ!
Ep7 Continuing the Boom Repair, Primary Coats of Interlux 2000E
Completing the Boom repair, this is part 2, applying Interlux 2000E epoxy primer and top coats, finishing up the restoration of the boom.
Interlux Primer 2000E
https://interlux.com/en/us/boat-paint/primer/interprotect-2000e
Ep6 Bilge Hull Repair – There’s a hole in my boat!
Previous owner ground through the hull into the bilge from the exterior, keel area. When they repaired it, they used a bondo like material which contained talcum powder. Talcum powder absorbs water and expands so not the best choice.
Had to grind out the area a bit larger, then fill in with epoxy/fiberglass.
Ep5 Engine Teardown
Bought the boat with a dead engine. It wasn’t seized, but would not fire up. After testing, all 4 cylinders had no compression. I have not seen that before and was scratching my head. Had to tear head off engine.
It was an Atomic 4 gas engine, recently refurbished by Moyer Marine so it didn’t make sense that something major was wrong.
This video is showing what I found, and the oil changes, and subsequent exhaust repair as well once I got it running.
Ep4 Delivery from Grand Bend, to Hamilton
Delivery from Grand Bend, to Hamilton Transport provided by James Van Tuyl, Van Tuyl Marine Transport. They did a great job, very careful and charged what they said they charged. Video of us clearing out the cradle and getting NC ready for delivery!
Ep3 Boom Repair – stripping, getting 1st two Interlux 2000E coats
While waiting for Northern Comfort to be delivered July 3rd, I was able to dismantle the boom, all rigging and blocks, and give it a good inspection. You can tell I was eager to get Northern Comfort into the water!
This video is my DIY approach to stripping the paint down to bare aluminum, and starting to get a fresh set of epoxy primer on before shutting down for Canada Day weekend! I learned that the stripper worked better than sanding and adding in the pressure washer, although made a mess, was the best job for a final sand to prep for paint.
Ep.2 Will the engine start?
What is wrong with it? Did some initial compression tests, video log for second day. Northern Comfort is 3 hours from me, so it’s a trip to get there and do some review. I am anxious to get it back at my shop so I have more tools readily available.
I’m getting acquainted with Northern Comfort, and trying to make a list of how things get put together, how to hook up the batteries, trying to get the engine started to make some guesses as to what’s wrong with it.
Ep1. First day, bought a sailboat vlog – OMG!
Sailboat is a 35 foot 1975 Hughes Northstar 1500
Engine dead
Antifouling needed, some fiberglass repair needed
Some other repairs I’m sure I’ll find more.
This video is my picking up the boat cushions and sails and my first walk around the boat. I am going to make a series of DIY videos here on YouTube, and film the journey from Purchase, to test runs, to DIY refit and ultimately sail to the sunny south. It is my goal to be able to circumnavigate and these first steps are taking me closer to that goal. I appreciate all your help along the way, comments and some guidance would be appreciated. Please like my video and subscribe to my channel! More details can be found at https://www.sailons.com/northerncomfort/
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