Salcombe to Plymouth

As the weather forecasts were deteriorating (rain of all things and some blowy days too) we decided to hole up in Plymouth for a while. Stuck in Salcombe in wet windy weather is not great. As an example, to do any proper food shopping you have to take the RIB up the estuary to Kingsbridge at high water. Salcombe has plenty of boutique clothes shops and expensive restaurants but food isn't too easy to buy raw!

Our normal / preferred stopping off spot is Mayflower Marina but as they had a yacht race going on, there was no space for us. Feeling unloved, we did find a spot in the Plymouth Yacht Haven. Nice folks and facilities, just on the wrong side of the water for easy access to the city / shops etc.

So, we waited for enough water over the (in)famous Salcombe Bar  (have a look at Wikipedia entry) and headed off in an annoying light rain.

The trip is simple enough, just a few rocks at either end to avoid and plenty of pot markers of various sizes and visibility. A little 3 hour run around the coast:

The odd wriggle in the route was to avoid pots and a yacht that was on a very similar course at a very similar speed. Our overtaking speed was about 0.1 knots so it took a while to draw clear.

We were directed to a berth, backed into it and just after we got the boat "wrapped up", the rain started a little more seriously. Perfect timing.

Maintenance news:

Tomorrow had arrived. It was time to tackle the bilge pump switch... Nicely hidden in the depths of the main keel bilge area. The problem was that it still switched on the bilge pump perfectly well but didn't turn it off again. However, when you killed the power to the pump and switch and then more or less instantly reapplied it, the pump did not restart. That suggested that either the sensor for the "low" level in the switch had failed or that the water was not draining out of the bottom of the switch fast enough when the pump was running to trigger the low level "off" quickly enough. Our switch was not as squeaky clean as this image for some strange reason:

Blocked up drain holes seemed the most likely so the switch was retrieved from its deep dark murky lair. Sure enough, the drain holes looked very sludgy after 10 years of use / abuse. Wire, brake cleaner and warm soapy detergent laced water later it seemed to be fine when tested in a jug. The stuff that came out of it was horrid. Black gunge that is mainly tiny bits of old stern gland packing that have worked their way out into the bilge over time. PTFE  impregnated and very black and sticky so lovely stuff.  Better than having to buy a new one at $165 plus taxes and shipping to the UK though. These switches are simple and pretty robust it seems.