Owner's Comments
I bought "Jupiter" in 2019 as I was looking for a boat that would give me confidence to cruise (solo) the south coast of England. I had taken a Nordic Folkboat to Dartmouth & back. Returning well clear of, but due south of Portland Bill, a wave over the top of the 5hp outboard was a little unnerving.
The Sadler 29 replaced the Folkboat and we’ve looked after each other without incident. We’ve passed Portland Bill quite a few times.
She has been great because of her seaworthiness. I’ve left Salcombe for home when other boats have turned back. I have twice been down to the Helford in her. On the second occasion she got me home in two days, with a Rest Day in between at Dartmouth. We’ve been around the Isle of Wight and explored Chichester Harbour. When the tides are right, Newtown River or Lulworth Cove have been destinations for lunch at Slack Water.
I have surprised myself in putting her up for sale after only six years. That was never the intention and I do feel a little defeated over it. However, life has brought me two wonderful grandsons and the purchase of a Grandpa Pad close to them has of course significantly eaten into my sailing time.
I have striven to keep "Jupiter" in top notch condition, I hope you find the notes below to be of interest and perhaps, useful.
November 2019
New cable gland fitted at base of mast
Rebuilt (in teak) the cover for cable terminal box underneath foot of mast.
Warm & soapy water – washed off top & front of engine & heads bowl
December 2019
White vinyl Companion Way cover re-sewn by Bee Sails Repairs (£15)
Overhaul of SailDrive (December 2019)
Steel ring clamp for rubber diaphragm
Top side: Rust cleaned down, about 1/3 of original paint flaked off. Rustins metal primer. Then 3 coats of InterProtect epoxy.
Bottom: (mating face against rubber) in far better condition. Hardly any original paint removed.
Few places given Rustins Metal Primer, then two coats Interprotect epoxy.
Mating faces of Aluminium plate: both sides cleaned down to bare metal. 3 coats of Etching Primer (for Aluminium)
then two coats InterProtect epoxy thinned a little. Care not to build up paint beyond thickness of gasket.
Similar treatment to mating face of top of the S/D Leg. Only a little original paint removed, but whole circumference given two coats InterProtect epoxy.
Renewed the Gear Shift Selector Oil Seal
After re-assembly with new diaphragm:
Applied thin silicon sealant to joint between leg and the disc plate (some 6 or 7mm away from the diaphragm) later covered with two coats InterProtect.
Two coats of InterProtect epoxy to whole under-water surface to a depth of 40mm down from the diaphragm (but not touching the diaphragm). This was primarily to seal in the S/S bolts and washers to Aluminium face plate, where there has been previous corrosion. Care not to get any paint inside the Allen key sockets of bolt heads.
Two coats of Trilux33 to whole under-water surface.
New ‘O’ ring seal fitted to oil drain plug.
SailDrive fitted back into Jupiter on 5th January 2020.
07-01-2020 2.75litre of Volvo VDS-3 15W40 Diesel engine oil added to SailDrive. Volvo Penta Guide says oil capacity is 2.6 lt, but it took more to get oil up to dip-stick level.
Adjusted StBd side front engine mount (lifted) to bring the SailDrive leg back into vertical line with keel and skeg. (Port side both reluctant to loosen and inaccessible, so left alone. StBd side loosened and threads oiled for both top and bottom nuts (requiring 24mm spanner). Both front mount plates cleaned up and Waxoyl applied.
08-01-2020 Fitted New water hose from cock on top of SailDrive to engine.
Fitted new exhaust hose; engine to water-trap. It was a struggle to get it on the engine exhaust elbow.
10-01-2020 Perfect dry sunny morning to glue the ‘kipper’ to hull (seal? around the SailDrive leg. The two coats of glue to all matting faces took about half the tin of Hypabond. Next time have a 2nd pair of hands to help keep the kipper stretched out when offering it up to the hull to avoid ripples and kinks.
ENGINE
some clean up and re-painting for rust prevention.
14 Dec. Restored the tested thermostat to its housing, LM grease on all matting faces.
23 Dec. New Zinc anode placed inside engine.
LM grease only (no PTFE tape) to tapered thread of the bung.
Sea-Water pump: new gasket with LM grease both faces, new M4 brass screws and washers.
14 May 2020 Brand new impeller and gasket to water pump. This time used the glycerine supplied to lubricate inside faces of pump.
23 May 2020 After ‘engine wouldn’t stop’ problem; rebuilt connection of Bouden Cable (outer) to the engine mounting. It’s properly secure now!
26 May 2020 Rebuilt exhaust hose to Watertrap. Found the new (stiff) hose (fitted when saildrive returned to boat) from engine to Watertrap had kinked badly and de-laminated inside creating significant restriction to gas flow.
Watertrap moved back about 4” and new hose (more flexible) fitted. Had to adjust shape of wooden sound board to accommodate.
EXHAUST HOSE at Hyphose: MDEO-45mm stiff hose
MDE-45mm much better flexibility
30 Aug 2020 Took a little slack out of alternator drive belt. (13 & 16mm ring spanners req’d)
Door to Heads & Forepeak stripped and sanded (Saloon side only) re-sealed with Ronseal Ultra Tough Polyurethane Matt Varnish (Internal) (3-coats) January 2020
Engine’s Anti-Syphon valve dismantled, cleaned and checked. Thought it was in good clean condition inside. A little ‘furring up’ of the 2.5mm? dia hole that rises from the union of the hose fittings.
February 2020
New rubber seal for the diesel filler cap.
13 Feb. Stripped the Lewmar No.16 (Coach house roof, St’Brd side). All good inside. Wiped out some of the stiff white grease and applied LM liberally. Easy job.
14 Feb. scraped the varnish off the saloon side of bulkhead to Heads
Checking the calibration of Garmin 172C with boat in PYC Yard.
Chart Plotter sent position: 50 42.718 N and 1 57.552 W to the iCOM radio.
At home, my judgement of boat’s position from chart is: 50 42.75 N and 1 57.55 W all is well
21 Feb. Battery No.1 charging is taking a long time. Checked the fluid level in each of the six cells – all OK and found to be above the plates.
25 Feb. Eberspacher heating: removed and cleaned the Glow-plug (thought it looked quite clean as I took it out. (heater not working was later found to be due to low battery charge).
28 Feb. Both batteries comprising No.2 taken home and put on charge. Both required less than 12hrs to get to ‘full charge’.
HULL CLEANING BELOW WATERLINE
14 July 2020 Cleaned by diver
INSTRUMENTS
DEPTH
Perhaps it was early June 2020 when the Depth reading became erratic. Sometimes a power off/on would reset it. Instrument Head taken to A&T in Lymington. They tested it and confirmed nothing wrong. They agreed the ‘toggle’ between units (feet or metres) was troublesome, but it wasn’t worth opening the unit for that. Minimum labour charge & carriage to Plymouth: £110.
Re-installed to boat and it works. The hull cleaning by diver has removed the cause. Lesson learned
SPEED LOG Paddle Wheel Cleaned
20 March 2020 Inserted clean after boat launched
11 July 2020 First removal of the season as noted it was slow to come into action. Yes it was clogged with weed, but still able to rotate. (Not shrimps, as I found with Trombone)
05 Sept 2020 Removed and cleaned as I felt it was under-reading on last time out.
March 2020
06 March. New light bulb fitted in Deck Flood Lamp.
Renewed all four rubber hose (2” long) connectors in the diesel fuel supply line to EberSpacher.
Boom: removed spindles and greased all plain block bearing sheaves at each end of boom.
Removed cleaned and greased the vertical Gooseneck pin. (It’s ‘stock’ badly worn).
Foot of mast: For both Port & St’Brd sides, removed the spindles, cleaned and greased for all six sheaves. Duralit applied to holes in aluminium casting of mast foot that support the S/S spindles.
16 March. Anti-foul applied. Sea Jet Samurai. Shark Grey (very light)
17 March boat launched!
20 March: New AQUA FILTER fitted (£29 from Peter in Quay West Marine)
August 2020
Mast Ring Slider: Fitted two new plastic inserts. SELDON Part No. 530-705 (2 off)
Made new rounded ‘door tread’ for the companion way to replace the sharp edged aluminium that has been damaging my shins.
WINTER 2020 – 2021 Maintenance
Haul-out 10th Nov 2020
Seacocks
All 3 Blakes Seacocks stripped, cleaned and degreased with Blakes Seacock Grease.
Corrosion worse in the large 1.5” seacock, but friend advised, leave in service, his were worse.
Note on Blakes Seacocks: Bolts for the top ‘adjusting’ plates are 3/8BSW requiring 5/16W spanner.
INSA ‘ball’ type seacock below galley: managed to get some seacock grease to both sides through the underside of hull, with it slightly off then fully open position.
Jabsco Toilet was taken out to give good access to the large seacock. Thorough clean.
Removed end plug and lub’d its seal with Vaseline.
New ¾” white hose to inlet seacock.
SailDrive
Ran a little oil out of SailDrive leg (about a tablespoon). Good condition – it was clear.
One coat Trilux33 antifoul.
Propeller
Pleased with how the prop has cleaned up. Some limescale/barnacle build-up to be removed.
Blades polished with T-Cut.
Careful cleaning of hub grub screw (3mm Allen Key) area to prevent dirt contamination when grease nibble is inserted. S/S blades cleaned with fine kitchen sourer.
Darglow grease pumped in – this displaced a little seawater.
Smeared LM Grease all over the forged S/S blades & brass hub
Antifoul. Tuesday 24 Nov, mild and dry, wind moderate+
SeaJet Samurai ‘shark grey’. One coat all over, 2nd coat to a band 6” down from the waterline.
Used Mini Emulsion Roller Sleeves (4.25”) and matching paint tray – worked well.
Applied directly to jet-washed hull, i.e. without any further cleaning after Yard’s jet-washing.
Last winter’s ‘shark-grey’ was almost white. This new was a pink/grey.
Used about 85% of 2.5litre tin. Keep some for when hull is lifted off the four prop-pads.
Depth Sender Unit – tested that I could remove it. Threads, tube and seals well smeared with Vaseline. Bottom face scraped clean and one thin coat of antifoul applied.
Connecting box above will need to be removed if Sender needs to come out.
Rudder removed and pintles greased. Was pleased to find some evidence of grease in the bottom one. Other two were dry. Rudder moved so much more freely after.
Wood faced bulkhead between Saloon & Head
Internal Matt Polyurethane varnish – 2nd coat applied 23rd March 2021.
Window, re-sealed
Port-side, middle window removed, sealant all cleaned off (white spirit). Re-sealed.
Attempted to get same sealant into all vertical joints of the six windows, where each ‘U’ shaped half of the anodised aluminium frames meet.
Jib Car System
Designed and fitted a rope & block system to adjust position of Jib Cars from the cockpit.
BATTERIES
The No.2 Battery Bank: Both ‘Explorer XP24MF’ (88Ah) have failed this winter. Residual volts showing 10.3v, but I could not get my Smart Charger to bring either to life. Instead it gave up after a few minutes and showed “Bad Battery” on each, individually charging. Batteries are dated July 2011.
28 March 2021: Fitted two new NUMAX DC24MF (80Ah) supplied by Tayna Batteries. £166.76 delivered 06 April 2021 Improved the ‘up-side-down’ security of all batteries.
ENGINE OIL CHANGE At ‘Engine Hours Log’ = 95.4 hrs
28 March 2021 Engine Oil and filter change. Volvo Penta filter
Oil: Mobil Delvac MX SAE 15W-40 – used approx. 2.25litre.
This got the level on dip-stick to a little over ‘half-way’. (oil filter would still be unused and empty)
WINCHES
02 April 2021 All four Lewmar winches stripped & cleaned.
All roller ball bearings washed in paraffin and re-greased with Castrol LM
All bearing pins of toothed wheels removed, LM added and quickly put back. i.e. the cogs were not removed and cleaned, but in most cases a little more LM added.
Coach-house roof (Port side): one of the top pals was jammed with corrosion. Cleaned up and working again.
(TRY TO KEEP RAIN WATER OUT OF THE WINCHES, esp’ the Jib Sheet winches)
Mainsail
Wax polish to sliders as sail replaced to boat – this made a notable difference
Gooseneck – greased wearing faces – keep an eye on it.
05 June 2021 Mods to securing bottom batten.
Lifejackets
June 2021 three lifejackets to Seasafe for service
HULL CLEANING in 2021
06 June 2021 Fairly thorough go at St’Brd side with my long-handle brush
09 June 2021 repeated for Port side
Mid-August 2021 Both Port & St’brd sides using long-handle brush and scrapper to get filamentous weed off at the water line.
19 Aug 2021 Removed speed log spinner and cleaned
SEAWATER PUMP OVERHAUL
26 July 2021 Engine’s seawater pump rebuilt. It’s water leak had suddenly become much worse from its shaft seal.
Shaft had a groove worn by the seal/silt in water. Golden Arrow Marine advised shaft to be replaced. I fitted: New shaft on to which I pressed two new bearings. Two new seals (one each for seawater & engine oil) for the shaft. New rubber bushes in the copper pipe connecting ‘sockets’. New gasket (lick of Vaseline each face) under the front plate.
Cost of parts: £100.
JABSCO Heads Pump overhaul
25 Sept 2021 Service Kit No. 29045-3000 from Peter at Quay West for £35. Replaced all rubber wearing / sealing parts in the Heads pump, inc. the Joker valve in the discharge elbow and the Base Valve Gasket. As instructions, petroleum jelly to the main pump piston O-ring and seal at top of piston rod.
WINTER 2021 – 2022 Maintenance
13 Nov 2021 Relocated the junction box for Speed Log Sender so that the Depth Transducer can now be removed if ever the need arises. Junction box well sealed and front cover sealed with petroleum jelly.
26 Nov 2021 Depth Transducer removed, cleaned up, plenty of petroleum jelly and refitted.
13 Nov 2021 Removed, cleaned up and resealed the front St’brd window frame.
15 Nov 2021 Bottom 3ft of Mainsail scrubbed both sides with mild bleach & Flash solution.
16 Nov 2021 Whale Manual Bilge Pump: Renewed the front rubber gaiter. Original was perished (sun damage) and rain washed black streaks on to cockpit side wall.
Anti-foul. Sunday 20 Nov 2021, mild, overcast, no/minimal wind - ideal conditions!
SeaJet Samurai ‘shark grey’. One coat all over, 2nd coat to a band 6” down from the waterline.
Used Mini Emulsion Roller sponge sleeve (4.25”) - no fibres coming off like last year.
The Yards’s jet washing of the hull was good, but before anti-foul applied I had scrubbed and abraded the top 3” above waterline.
A 5hr job using about 75 – 80%of the 2.5litre tin.
A few areas towards the bottom of keel (both sides) req’d opening back to cast steel and treating; a few coats of Primocon.
SailDrive Leg
19 Nov 2021 Drained the oil (it’s now done two seasons)
22 Nov 2021 New O-ring seal to Drain Plug. Showed the ‘removed oil’ to Service Tech’ at Golden Arrow Marine –he said it was fine, no need to change the shaft seals. Volvo Penta Marine Diesel Engine Oil has special additives to suppress/reduce(?) the impact of any water ingress. I decided to buy and use it in the SailDrive Leg.
ZINC RING KIT – behind the propeller: VOLVO PENTA Part No.876286
New ring weighs 565gram - FITTED
Ring taken off the boat weighs 416grams – so it could do more service life….
26 Nov 2021 New oil to SailDrive Leg. Volvo Penta Engine Oil VDS-3 15W-40
It took 3 litres to get near the top of the dip stick.
Propeller Barnacles & limescale deposit cleaned off within a few hours of boat coming out of water ( a lot easier than letting it dry out for several days)
26 Nov 2021 Grease pumped in – surprised how much it took and the act of pumping in forced out some sea water.
After Grubscrew replaced, I sealed its hole with molten candle wax. (soldering iron)
Seacocks Galley sink – worked in some grease from outside the hull.
The three Blakes seacock in Heads all stripped down, cleaned and re-greased
Above Deck 19 March 2022 Greased all sheaves each end of boom (took their bearing pins out to do this).
01 April 2022 Gooseneck dismantled (pin with ‘Rams Horns’ removed) all cleaned and greased. This was done by supporting the weight of the boom (with Mainsail) at both ends. Also tying the rear of boom back to pushpit and preventing lateral movement of its front end. Relatively easy task.
Batteries 22 March 2022 Both Battery banks No.1 & No.2 fully charged to ‘Good Green’ status on the charger.
2022 Sailing Season
AIS Project commissioned on 01 April 2022
HULL CLEANING
18 April 2022 Cleaned both St’Brd & Port sides from the pontoon with long brush. Only soft, easily removed growth found on both sides. (first time the Port side has been seen/cleaned since Jupiter went back in the water before Christmas.
06 June 2022 Haul-out and jet wash. Keygan did a thorough job with water pressure low (??)
I couldn’t see much evidence of milky colour in the run off water.
Propeller blade had limescale covering, required a blade to scrape it off and some clear jelly-like growths
25 June 2022 Re-made the splice on anchor rope where it connects with chain.
29 June 2022 Gaz cylinder replaced
05 July 2022 Sea Water Pump – needed to replace a failed (head fell off / corrosion) brass cover plate screw.
Replaced all brass screws with new S/S. New paper gasket, soaked it in glycerine.
Next change of impeller, I think it would be worth renewing the cover plate.
Sept 2022 Made an oak thwart for the Avon Inflatable.
26 Sept 2022 TILLER PILOT Repair. The joint between motor drive shaft and first pinion had failed. SuperGlued (it acted very fast – couldn’t push the pinion all the way home.)
Other gluing of plastic mouldings too.
28 Sept 2022 Whale – V Pump at Heads basin overhauled – news seals.
ForceFour part No.830026. £12.95
New Gaz control valve/regulator fitted. ForceFour No.590041. £10 95
Avon Redcrest Inflatable rinsed clean of salt and repacked.
2023 Sailing Season
Pre-Season Maintenance
01 & 02 Jan 2023 Batteries charged. Both No.1 & No.2 showed ‘Green’ (Good) at end.
23 April 2023 Battery No.1 charged. I returned after max 5hrs and charger was showing ‘Green’.
26 April 2023 Propeller removed so I could ‘tighten’ the screws securing the ring anode behind the prop.
Bad/adverse sacrificial corrosion of the anode adj to its S/S securing screws. Re-bedded with Plastic ‘screw cups’
Propeller pumped with grease and some water displaced.
27 April The three Blakes stop-cocks all stripped down, wiped clean, re-greased & re-set.
28 April The galley stop-cock: offered grease up through hole in the hole with cock both closed and open.
SAILDRIVE LEG: Drained the oil – it looked OK. Refilled with 3.1litre of Volvo Diesel Engine oil. I think it would be safe to skip this oil change on next haul-out service.
Seawater cock at top of SailDrive given a few quarter turns to free it up.
Entire surface to be antifouled flatted off with wet abrasive pad.
Primacon coat No.2 to areas on keel where resin skin is lost.
29 April Primacon coat No.3 to areas above.
Anti-fouling done. Used about 75% of a 2.5 litre tin. 3 to 3.5hrs to complete.
Window, re-sealed
06 August Port-side, large rear galley window removed, sealant all cleaned off (white spirit). Re-sealed without any of the previous little s/s washers that had been used as spacers.
2024 Sailing Season
Pre-Season Maintenance
06 March Batteries charged. Both No.1 & No.2 showed ‘Green’ (Good) at end.
ENGINE OIL CHANGE At ‘Engine Hours Log’ = 281 hrs on 13 March 2024
Previous oil change was March 2021 at Log = 94.5hrs.
Therefore engine has run 186hrs since last change.
From letting test drips settle into paper, I judged it wasn’t very black.
Volvo Penta filter. Oil: Mobil Delvac MX SAE 15W-40 – used approx. 2.25litre.
15-18 March 2024
Seacocks – all three Blakes were stripped cleaned and re-greased.
Worked some green grease into the galley seacock from underneath the boat
Engine Seawater Pump – fitted new impellor. Well lubricated with the supplied glycerine.
Darglow Propeller – not too difficult to scrape off the limescale build up. Pumped green grease into it. Sealed grub screw against limescale / barnacles etc with molten candle wax.
(3mm Allen Key for the grub screw. 7mm spanner for the grease nipple)
Sail Drive Leg. Drained a little oil out. It looked in good clear condition. Decided not to change the oil this time.
11 Sept 2024 Washed salt off AVON Tender & parts. Dried & re-packed.
09 Feb 2025 ‘Domestic’ Double Battery Bank charged. ‘Green’ Full & OK illuminated on charger.
11 March 2025 HAUL-OUT for Maintenance
Above Waterline: Washed entire white hull with solution of Flash detergent.
Anti-fouling: This time I did not rub over the hull with abrasive block. Only abraded the waterline few 2-3 inches. Used ProDec Low Tack Masking Tape. It was on for only 5hrs.
One coat of Seajet Samurai Shark Grey, double coat at waterline 2-3inches. Whole used about 2litres. Stanley fabric
100mm roller from In-Excess was grerat! Used only one!
From Masking up to finish, about 4hrs.
SailDrive Leg: One coat of Trilux 33
Propeller: scraped off the limescale build up. Pumped green grease into it. Sealed grub screw against limescale / barnacles etc with molten candle wax.
Stop Cocks: All three Blakes were striped, cleaned & re-greased.
Galley Stop Cock had some grease worked into it from outside the hull.
Keel: is suffering a bit along the bottom, blisters appearing. Some remedial work done.
Forward, St’Brd Window frame removed and resealed. Probably the last use of the ARBO Mastic, it was reluctant to come out of the tube.
Rudder pintles: worked in some LM grease but I could see evidence of previous greasing still good.
16 March 2025 - Lifted out the ‘Bath Tub’ for inspection
Decided Not to change the Saildrive oil as the oil on the dip stick looked perfect– boat has had such little use, last two seasons.
Worked some grease into the ‘Engine Off’ pull lever.
Turned the cooling water inlet stop cock closed/open a few times to free it up a bit.