Breaking Radio Silence

So, I have not posted anything for some time. This is basically because I have been too bloody busy.

In any case here's a round-up of what has happened over the last couple of months:

• Kamalii has been CLEANED. Amazing when you get a clean-Nazi like Sharon on the case how things transform. What we thought was tired old varnish was just covered in a layer of gunge, paint that we thought was stuffed now sparkles and gleams. Of course, having a family of five + guest on board means keeping it clean is another story...
• We have cleaned, sanded and polyurethand the cabin sole. Looks fantastic, except the tin of urethane used on the last few coats of the upper saloon turned out to be mis-labelled and was matt instead of gloss, so still need to sand and redo that.
• The engine room has been given much love by my Dad, Rob. It too now gleams. Fuel filters etc have been done, and we will now be giving the engine a full service - tappets, injectors, etc.  
• We fixed the mystery 24V to 12V leak and source of stray current - as suspected it was the bilge pump float switch in the engine room. Zinc fizzing has ceased.
• Much plumbing work has been done (seems that never ends); replaced the engine room bilge pump which failed on the way down, fitted a new through-hull and re-plumbed the aft bilge pump, fixed leaking valves on the water tank take-offs, etc.
• Finished the nav station; now nicely varnished with full nav computer display mounted etc.
• Washed all the squabs - it took WEEKS to wring all the water out! Won't do that again, and currently looking at replacing a lot of the foam.
• Got the mainsail all fixed up, with the batten pockets and closures done properly, and new reefing cringles fitted. The work done by Doyles in Newport Beach was an abortion - I got screwed on that job.
• Have re-coated the mizzen and booms with Uroxsys. A great product but a shit to use. Simon provided his climbing services for the mizzen mast, now we just have to build up some courage to tackle the main mast.
• We have started the big job - sanding and scraping back the old topside paint and varnish.

Jonathan has been staying with us on board, which has been great. He looks close to landing a nice gig on a boat travelling from Germany to the Caribbean, so fingers crossed for him, but it will be a sad day when he heads off.

I will endeavour to post more often now and put some pictures up of the work as it progresses.