This summer has been a summer of metal fabrications for Mariadz with mast pushpits, solar panels and extensions to the pushpit.  All of this work has been done by East Coast Stainless Ltd who have been excellent throughout, adding input into the design process and then building the quality stainless work.

There were a few minor pieces of work that we wanted done and a couple of these were only possible because of the extension of the pushpit.  The safety aspect of the extension is evident but the additional space means that we can mount additional items on the pushpit such as our LotusGrill Barbecue.  We think the lotus is an excellent BBQ for a cruising boat because it uses so little fuel, compared to a normal BBQ.  You use a large cup of fuel and some lighting gel which is generally enough for cooking for two.  Even if you have to refill when doing a whole chicken the amount of fuel used is negligible.  Like all BBQs though there is a problem with grease spitting which gets onto the lovely teak deck! To reduce this we decided to have a BBQ mount on the pushpit which can be deployed on the outside.  This will mean that some of the grease that comes from the food will go overboard instead of onto our teak and it also puts the grill at a good height for cooking.  The design of the frame means that the grill slots into a round aperture which is braced on three sides so that the whole grill is held on the top bar and the bottom bar of the pushpit.  This work is now completed, at the end of October, so not ideal BBQ weather but you know Maria will want to use it straight away 🙂 The frame can be easily removed and folds flat for storage or it can be left attached to the top bar and folds flat.

The second item for the pushpit was a storage system for the Fortress FX-55 anchor that we have purchased to complement the 40kg Stainless Rocna anchor on the bow.   The plan is to use this as a kedge anchor when required but also as a second anchor from the bow when tandem anchoring may be useful.  The design of this was loosely based on a similar setup used by Discovery yachts on their 55s, which use the same anchor.  The anchor should be available quickly after attaching a small length of chain and the anchor rode that is stored in the locker on deck. However, the East Coast Stainless boys took some time to make sure it was designed right and we are very happy with the results. To summarise the bar of the anchor is secured in a rounded part of the base which is attached to the toe rail.  A box like structure at the top is used to hold the shaft of the anchor and the top of the blades.  Hopefully the pictures below explain, although the mirror like quality of the stainless doesn’t help…… the shirt is in place as we wait for the rubber to be fitted which will lock in the top of the anchor.

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The third item was to add some simple “D-rings” to the leading edge of the solar frame.  This gives us anchor points for a washing line for instance and also a point we can attach an aft deck bimini although we will need to be careful to understand how much force we are putting through these since the year can’t be the primary load points for a shade.

Finally, we had noticed when cooking that the wood behind the cooker gets quite greasy.  We do a lot of cooking and I’m sure some of Maria’s recipes will be along shortly…. We already had a small splash panel that we had designed but this wasn’t doing enough and so we have protected the whole of the panel, up to the extractor fan, with an easily wiped clean stainless panel.

I am expecting this to be the last of the stainless work that we need for our travels, having already replaced our anchor, although Maria has already started talking about replacement boarding ladders, ours apparently went swimming a number of years before we took ownership.  To be fair we may need something like this for when we are bows to the dock – it is quite a jump up to the bow in these situations and of course one would want a ladder that matched the shiny, stainless anchor! That will be for another day but we are getting there.