The winter refit snag list: what the Cork shakedown taught me

My recent trip from Wexford to Cork was a proof of concept for sailing S.V. Arrested solo. I wanted to find out what works and what doesn’t, how she behaves in different conditions at sea, and what she’s like to live on.

What she got right

The good news first: Arrested passed the test, and she’ll make a fine home for the voyage.

• Surprisingly roomy. For a 30-footer there’s a remarkable amount of space below, and she’s comfortable to live aboard.
• Confident in a sea. She handles lumpy conditions well and gives you real confidence when the weather picks up.
• Plenty of deck space. There’s a huge amount of room on deck for working the boat, stowing gear, or just sitting back with a guitar.
• Cheaper to keep. At only 9 metres long, she saves a significant amount on marina and boatyard bills, which are usually charged by the metre. That adds up over a voyage with dozens of ports.

Of course, a shakedown is also about finding what needs fixing. The result is my winter refit snag list. It’s in no particular order of importance, and the aim is to tackle most of it before I set sail next April.

The winter snag list

1. Cooker: Service the cooker and check all the gas pipes, the drain and fittings.
2. Diesel heater: Fit the new skin fitting for the heater exhaust, and re-route the exhaust pipe from the heater to the skin fitting without eating into the port lazarette. Run new hot-air ducting from the heater through to the main cabin outlets, and remove the cabling and control box from the old gas heater.
3. Nav station: Fit a new WiFi unit so the AIS transponder can send targets to Navionics on the iPad.
4. Engine and drive: Service the engine and gearbox, track down the leak in the “dripless” shaft coupling, and service the feathering prop.
5. Rudder: Take it off the boat, strip it back to the mahogany and encapsulate it in epoxy, then check the bushes and refit.
6. Tiller: Take off all the fittings, sand back to bare wood and refinish.
7. Port and starboard lazarettes: Fit a removable floor and some partitions to make the space far more usable for storage.
8. Mast: Replace the radio antenna, swap the masthead, running and deck lights for LEDs, and check the standing and running rigging.
9. Interior: Sand and refinish all the mahogany cabinetry.
10. Heads: A new lavatory seat.
11. Fresh water: Fit a non-return valve between the taps in the heads and the galley.
12. Spray hood: Take it off and re-stitch where the stitching has come away.
13. Hull: Above the waterline: sand down, epoxy primer, paint her yellow and replace the black stripe. Below the waterline: sand down, epoxy primer, and antifoul just before launch.
14. Keel: Strip back to the iron, rustproof, epoxy primer and antifoul.
15. Solar: Replace the solar panel and controller.
16. Autopilot: Repair or replace.
17. Wind vane steering: Fit a self-steering system. A new Hebridean, or a second-hand Hydrovane? If you have a wind vane lying around that you’d like to donate, please get in touch!
18. Safety survey: While she’s out of the water, I’ll ask the surveyor who advised me when I bought her to give her a once-over and review this list. So there may be more to come!

Watch the shakedown trip

Here’s the short video of the shakedown trip from Wexford to Cork. You can also watch it on YouTube. Please subscribe to Rock and Rollers Sailing, as I’ll be posting regularly as the refit gets under way.