With daytime temperatures in the mid 30s and nighttime temperatures not far short of that, we were pleased to get back in the water. The first challenge however was mooring up at Cleopatra’s marina for a couple of hours to await delivery of the serviced outboard. I blame Jacana’s prop walk combined with the only bit of tide in the whole of Greece, but reversing onto the pontoon designated space proved a bit problematic. (this is usually a good spectator sport from the comfort of a mooring) so the Marino came to help with his rib. As he approached Jacana I remembered I had forgotten to do something important, so I quickly went down below, and when he asked Ann what was the problem, her response was ‘he’s down below squeezing his gland’.* A statement that appeared to be lost in translation it seems. Anyway an hour later, we had the outboard and motored the mile across the channel for a couple of nights in Preveza marina.
Here we completed connecting the cabling from the solar panels to the panel controller to the house batteries. What could be the problem, with only 4 wires to fit. Firstly the house batteries are located deep under the stern berths, so whatever you do you are reaching across the boat, in about 40° trying not to drop tools or screws. First problem, the system is not working! I finally realised I had removed an in line fuse when I disconnected the old system 10 months earlier. Second problem, once I had fitted the fuse, there was a noticeable voltage drop from the solar controller to the batteries, and the connecting power leads, were getting hot! So disconnected everything, which is not as easy as it seems, as I played safe by covering the panels each time, bought some thicker cables and battery connectors and finally the panels are delivering 15 or so amps to the domestic batteries.
At Preveza we stocked up with food and beer via the largest supermarket which fortunately provides free delivery to the marina gates (they also gave us a bottle of wine as a thank you), put on the sails and generally got Jacana ready to sail.
Although the marina at Preveza is a good stopping point, at over €50 per night, not including Electricity or water, its not the place to stay for long, so on Thursday we headed for the Southern Ionian Sea.
* To remove air from the main shaft, water lubricated bearing, you squeeze the rubber sealing gland.
