Well we’re back on board. The flight from Gatwick was over an hour leaving due to thunderstorms over Athens, so the plane sat on the tarmac and waited. But at least the Easyjet cabin staff did offer free water, and very unusually these days the Captain invited passengers to the flight deck for photos. (we didn’t bother). Our taxi dropped us at the Boatclub later than planned at 11pm.
All was well on the boat, the cover had protected the stern from the worse of bird poo and resin from the overhanging pine tree. So Friday morning, on with the endless list of jobs. Change the timing belt, fit a fuel polishing filter and pump, clean out the deisel bug, antifoul the hull, steralise the water tanks, fit the sails, clean things, finish sewing the cockpit cushions………
Outside the boat, things were not so good, with temperatures during the day little more than 15° with accompanying F5/6 winds, and being woken at 0807 most mornings with low flying aircraft. Apparently the Red Arrows base themselves a few miles away and practice for an hour or so 2 or 3 times a day.
Despite the cold we got most of the tasks done, and we did get a drop in the wind one evening when we got back from a Taverna, so we did manage to fit the sails by torch light at 10pm.
The most dirtiest job by far was sucking out the deisel bug from the main tank, through a filter to the reserve tank. Despite it not being too bad, with probably less than 0.5mm of black sludge in the narrow sump of the tank, it was sufficient to block some of the passage ways in the filter, which then required the oil extractor to unblock the filter, which also got blocked. A day and a half later and lots of swearing the thin layer of sludge had gone from the main tank.
Changing the timing belt failed at the first step. 4 studs holding the water pump pulley in place failed to budge. It will have to wait until the summer. Had a chat with Flan, Ann’s niece’s husband in Oz, who is a mechanic and he gave some helpful advice.
Launch was originally scheduled for Friday 2 May, however owing to the strong winds this was moved to the following day. The forecast is looking good.
All was well on the boat, the cover had protected the stern from the worse of bird poo and resin from the overhanging pine tree. So Friday morning, on with the endless list of jobs. Change the timing belt, fit a fuel polishing filter and pump, clean out the deisel bug, antifoul the hull, steralise the water tanks, fit the sails, clean things, finish sewing the cockpit cushions………
Outside the boat, things were not so good, with temperatures during the day little more than 15° with accompanying F5/6 winds, and being woken at 0807 most mornings with low flying aircraft. Apparently the Red Arrows base themselves a few miles away and practice for an hour or so 2 or 3 times a day.
Despite the cold we got most of the tasks done, and we did get a drop in the wind one evening when we got back from a Taverna, so we did manage to fit the sails by torch light at 10pm.
The most dirtiest job by far was sucking out the deisel bug from the main tank, through a filter to the reserve tank. Despite it not being too bad, with probably less than 0.5mm of black sludge in the narrow sump of the tank, it was sufficient to block some of the passage ways in the filter, which then required the oil extractor to unblock the filter, which also got blocked. A day and a half later and lots of swearing the thin layer of sludge had gone from the main tank.
Changing the timing belt failed at the first step. 4 studs holding the water pump pulley in place failed to budge. It will have to wait until the summer. Had a chat with Flan, Ann’s niece’s husband in Oz, who is a mechanic and he gave some helpful advice.
Launch was originally scheduled for Friday 2 May, however owing to the strong winds this was moved to the following day. The forecast is looking good.
