If it is December then it has to be winter sun in Lanzagrotty

Regular blog readers (you really need to find something more mind improving to do you know!) will fully expect that December involves a trip to Lanzarote / Lanzagrotty for some winter sun. We hate to disappoint so the annual pilgrimage was duly completed thanks to a very full TUI 737 and the rather quiet Bournemouth airport. Tina came along with us (glutton for punishment) and we met up with John and Irene who had arrived a few days earlier and were well into the being pampered / enjoying the warmth and sun routine that seems to overcome you when at the Rubicon Palace hotel.

This year we had to admire the Houdini skills of one cat - surely there are comfier places to stretch out in:

We were impressed with how one family of kittens went for the shared bodily warmth thing on a chillier day:

Tina and the crew did the expected posing at Lagomar, the Omar Sharif / Cesar Manrique house:

shortly before a rather arrogant German magazine photographic crew asked if they could use the room (not booked for them at all) then almost booted us out.

The food in the hotel is universally pretty good but somehow this cheese looked a little bit strange:

Tina was brave enough to try it and survived, relatively undamaged. However, the cheese colour was nothing like as off-putting as the car and boat that we admired at Marina Rubicon:

Cannot imagine either selling well on the used market. 

As usual, a good couple of weeks away enjoying sun, warmth, good company and the chance to do no cooking or boat maintenance or pretty much anything we didn't want to really. We didn't miss the UK much:

gales and stuff up to force 11 were forecast. 4 hours in the cramped and busy little TUI 737 with people trying to sell us scratch cards seemed a price well worth paying to escape all that stuff.

Escaping maintenance and getting culture

All work and no play makes....

Yes, it was time for a little escape. Where to - well not very far up the road really. We headed to a rather nice riverside B and B that we have used before - look at Aberllynfi House website.  On the way we stopped for lunch and a catch-up with Michael and Frances who own Coracle, a Nordhavn 40. The B and B is close to Hay-on-Wye which has the reputation of being the used book capital of the country. We've mentioned it before. It also has a winter festival and our timing was good to go and get immersed in something cultural rather than diesel.

A talk by Max Hastings on the Dambusters raid with an honest appraisal of the approval, planning execution and mixed results / lost opportunities was fascinating and totally sold out:

Another example of how the famous post war film and the reality of the operation diverged a little!

Whilst in the area we had a very good (sunny too!) day in Ludlow. Never been there before and it was one of those rare gems. A proper little town with many local shops, very few empty, a bustling market and many old buildings that had not been wrecked by new facades. OK, car parking spoils it a bit:

Plenty of places like this one to admire made up for the traffic:

We will return sometime - be afraid Ludlow...

The fuel supply tank......

This post is a very boring continuation of the prior comments about a fuel weep. It is very boring indeed. A regular sleeping pill job. Go and watch TV unless you are a sadist then read on to enjoy the pain a little fuel weep caused us....

Well, after the heating had used up a fair bit of the remaining fuel in the supply tank, we ran the genset to do some washing and with the return diverted into a storage tank the sight glass became empty. Time to attack the weeping fitting, it could not be put off any longer.

The fitting is a big (M24 size) thing that screws into the tank. It is the gravity fuel supply line fed from the storage tanks via a manifold. As it is effectively a 24mm hole in the bottom of the supply tank, there is a valve fitted onto it with an emergency pull to turn off cable:

You can see the staining from the fitting where our nice red diesel had been weeping out (only tiny quantities though, just enough to dampen an absorbent pad underneath in a month!)

Draining the remaining fuel out was a hoot. The drain pipe has, naturally, to be in the sump at the bottom of the tank. That means you struggle to get a large container under it or enough "head of fuel" to use a pipe fitted to it to drain into a drum - cannot get one low enough. So, 40 litres of remaining fuel came out 350ml at a time via a little jug. Oh yes, amusing indeed, great way to spend an hour or so, in the company of the nice diesel aroma.

The fitting came apart and spun out of the tank relatively easily. There was lots of old sealant to clean out from the valve assembly:

You can just see the end of the little wire brush that helped in the above picture.

Then the real fun started. Dry assembling the parts revealed that the threads allowed the fitting to snug up against the tank about a quarter of a turn short of upright for the valve mechanism. No option but to fit it 3/4 of a turn loose! No wonder it was heavily sealed with some stuff that was failing. Some little Chinese guy in the factory really should not have been allowed to get away with that as you could feel the valve moving in the threads when fitted. Wonderful.

Options? Well, funnily enough, M24 washers are not something we have in stock, either plain or Dowty style. We could use those to try to fill the 3/4 turn gap so the valve doesnt have to just "hang" on the threads. The big hole in the tank meant no diesel for the genset , main engine or more importantly as it is the late autumn, the heating system!

We could wait to get some washers and live with electric heating from the shorepower (difficult and expensive). Alternatively we could fit the valve with lots of gloop again and get some washers to allow the valve to be better supported against the tank flange later on. Or we could fit the valve in the "quarter turn off upright" position with some normal pipe sealant as a temporary thing. That would mean the supply pipe would have to stay disconnected (wrong angle) and we would rely on the valve to stay properly sealed when turned off to prevent leakage. Also the emergency pull could not be connected but as there would be no feed pipe that isn't too significant!

The forecast was getting chillier and as we had some trips away planned, the best option was lots of gloop. So, we have a valve refitted with plenty of "Leak Lock" that will have to be spun out again when we can tinker around with washers to try and get it to snug up to the tank properly. Hardly a satisfying outcome from several hours of work and the heady aroma of diesel. Oh, the other drawback was that if things had been easier with no big gaps to fill, we could have used normal pipe sealant, which could be used pretty much straight away. Leak Lock needs to cure so no diesel heating that evening......

Duly rebuilt - paper towel and absorbent mat in place ready for the big switch on,  just in case:

Such is life, one step forward, one sideways. We don't have the weep from the tank anymore, only the Captain is weeping at the thought of doing it all again The good news is that the gloop worked and we have heating again.

So, we now know that you are a closet sadist.

Catching up on maintenance - always amusing

As we had been pretty busy since our arrival, the usual round of winter maintenance had been firmly on the back burner. So, we had to get going with it, unfortunately.

First on the list was trying to trace / stop an annoying little leak into the pilothouse headlining. We were pretty sure that it was as a result of the navigation equipment update earlier this year. All the cables run down into the pilothouse relying upon drip loops that the installers have to put in place and a healthy wodge of silicone around them. Very poor design indeed. To compound things, it is VERY hard to access properly too. You can see some of the cabling in this picture:

The drip loops and access into the pilothouse are hidden behind the exhaust.

So, we added yet more silicone, then a dose of the famous "Capt Tolley's creeping crack cure" on top of it once it had set in case any tiny gaps still existed. Since then we've had plenty of torrential "Welsh sunshine" and things have stayed dry. Fingers are crossed......

Also on the list was the stiff steering on the little RIB. We mentioned it before and whilst in Tarbert we cleared out old grease from the steering tube on the outboard itself and re-lubricated it. That helped but it was not right. So, the captain duly removed the steering cable once more and found that the cable itself was very very stiff. Time for a new one it seemed, so fun was had unwrapping the cable from the other pipes and wires, detaching it from the steering wheel assembly:

which of course has to be done blind as this is hidden away in the centre console and at an angle that prevents you from seeing anything unless you use a camera, as above.

The Teleflex cable type code was not in the best of condition:

and a direct replacement took a bit of tracking down. That bit was easy though, compared to refitting the new cable into the steering wheel and doing up the fastenings by feel whilst trying to hold the unit in place too. Grim job, laying over the tube with an arm at full stretch into the jockey console of the RIB but at least it is done and the steering is lighter than it has been for quite a while.

The next fun job is the weep from the fitting on the bottom of the diesel supply tank. The first step is using up the fuel in there so only a little remains to be drained off. Appropriate sealant and tools to clean up the threads have been procured. The heating is busy using the diesel. Another job awaits us....

Canine and culinary diversions

After the pleasures of the HUGE Nordhavn trip, things became a little more sedate for a while. Well, until our forecabin was invaded again by Anne who brought along Izzy the goddog for a long weekend. They soon settled in it seemed:

and before you ask, that dazed expression was present well in advance of any gin consumption.

Anne and the crew went off for (yet another) spa day whilst the captain walked, threw sticks for and generally entertained / was entertained by Izzy. Two very good lunches were enjoyed at the Pilot (mentioned in here before, well worth a visit for a great value lunch - see website) one with Steve the ex-waterbus man who had kept an eye on the boat whilst we were away canal cruising.

Izzy kind of enjoyed herself admiring everyone's food in the pub:

and a trip to Barrybados and the beach made her very happy but rather vocal:

So much so, that Anne was tempted to leave her in the clutches of a King Kong-alike:

As Anne departed, so did we, driving to Cornwall to see Norman, Julie and their new abode. Very nice it is too! A couple of West Country days were thoroughly enjoyed with plenty of attention for their Labradors:

and a surprise opportunity for puppy cuddles with the adorable Jackson - 9 weeks old and belonging to the proprietor of Relish, the rather good coffee shop in Wadebridge:

We were allowed to borrow him, amuse him and in Norman's case, have a little intimate relationship:

Julie then duly wound him up with some play and was, quite correctly then handed the over-excited pup to calm down:

Indie, our godpup (only she is now 3 years old) tried the "I am mega cute too" look:

Whilst in the area, we had the pleasure of attending the charity lunch at St Petrocs - a bistro with rooms operated by the vaguely famous Rick Stein. The charity lunches are wonderful value for such good food and all in a great cause too. Sometimes helping good causes is such hard work..... We are very glad that we did though.

Going BIG - Nordhavn 55 time

Some of you might recall how in Guernsey a larger Nordhavn owner referred to our 47 as "the small Nordhavn over there". This initiated the SNOC. The Small Nordhavn Owners Club, with a small but most elite membership. Colin (the ex BA captain, ex Lightning fighter pilot with a hint of cross dressing in his past) and Martin (Cathay Pacific training captain and proper chap) both own N47s and are founder members.

With all this in mind, the captain and crew went big. We were invited by Alex and Gisele (the Dutch / Belgian couple who you've met in here before) for a trip out on their newly purchased Nordhavn 55. They are big boats. Vast in comparison to our "small Nordhavn" indeed.

This was their first trip out since Alex with two experienced Nordhavn skippers delivered the boat from Scotland to the Hamble river.  We were honoured as the owners of the smallest Nordhavn ever to be invited onto their huge craft.

The weather was so so kind. Sunny, gentle winds and the right tide times for a little trip to Lymington and back:

Alex deftly extricated the HUGE Nordhavn from her berth and headed down the Solent. He looked quite the part too:

and remarkably relaxed. We were most impressed with how quiet and smooth the boat was - quieter than the very lovely N63 "Due North" indeed.  Coffee and carrot cake were, of course, provided by Gisele and the crew, seen here in the HUGE saloon:

Yes, the word huge seems to be popping up regularly.

Arrival in Berthon was also stress free, Alex backed into a finger berth as though he had been doing it all his life on HUGE Nordhavns. After an excellent Sunday roast in a local pub we headed back with the sun gently setting astern of us. Late season boat trips just don't get any better really (especially as we did it without burning any of our diesel!) So you can appreciate how the 55 looks:

#Nordhavnenvy - until it comes to the cleaning and polishing that is.

Pottering around - Cardiff bay and the tiny canals

The boat needed a run out to warm up all the oily bits before she was given another few days rest so the usual mad route around the bay ensued:

That rather confused track allowed us to warm up the main and wing engines and have a nice wide open throttle run for the big Lugger too. There were a couple of yachts out as well, we must have confused them quite a lot with our apparently drunken wanderings, speed changes etc etc.

Having given the boat a run, we then deserted her. For, shock horror, another boat! Only this one was tin, painted, 65 feet long, very slim and on the Shropshire union canal. If you want more info, peek at Poppy web page.  We had two extra crew with us, Izzy the famous little furry hound who often appears in this blog and Tina, a slightly less furry person who has also popped up here in the past. 65 foot of tin with no keel handles rather differently to our Nordhavn. For a start it likes going sideways much more readily. Being in 3 feet of water is also strange when we like significantly more than that under our keel. As for the narrow cuttings where two boats struggle to pass each other - that is a bit like squeezing into the berth that the pretty hopeless folks at Hamble Point give you when they confuse metres and feet in your beam measurement.

As you can see, Izzy took her job of watchdog as we pottered along at under 3mph most seriously:

whilst Tina found that she was just a touch too short to see over the cabin roof whilst helming:

However, she does look entirely focussed on the job and suitable tooled for bad weather, of which there was very little indeed. Meanwhile the regular crew was a little concerned about hitting her head going through a tunnel:

whereas Tina was much braver:

and quite blase about the whole adventure. They managed all the lock winding, Izzy walking and cuddles that were needed most effectively. During one soggy afternoon, we opted for a superb pub lunch in Market Drayton and the opportunity to watch some of the Rugby World Cup. Izzy seemed transfixed by the sight of so many hunky men:

All went well until we had #walkingbootgate. Whilst wandering into Wheaton Aston Tina found that the sole of her boot had come loose and that it was gently flapping around as she walked. This was an excellent excuse for the 3 crew to hide in the nearby pub whilst the captain raided the local Spar shop for a repair kit consisting of string and superglue. We were lucky that they had those items, not exactly a huge place.

Gluing up the sole of Tina's boot in the pub and cutting some lengths of string in case they were needed to help tie things together on the way back to the boat seemed to cause much fun:

and Izzy promptly laid her head on the newly glued boot once it was refitted to Tina's foot. We think we have a glue sniffer for a  goddog. 

or just a very tired one.

No matter what / why, it was a most relaxing week afloat. Go and look at the Norbury Wharf website and book yourself a few days on the lovely Shropshire union. 

The sad but busy end to the cruising season

Once you arrive in your winter spot, there seems to be plenty to do to take your mind off the "what, no more proper sea voyages" feeling. In our case that meant removing the bimini cover, flybridge seating, anchor snubber and tiedowns, treating the covers that remain outside during the winter with Boracol, ditto for the teak, laying up the little Tohatsu outboard, washing off the salt from the trip, polishing the hull etc etc. One of the less enjoyable "etc" jobs was digging out the window washing pole and cleaning the accumulated grot off the domes. The captain has to stand downwind and almost directly under them for some of the job which means a good soaking. Luckily the weather was kind!

Some statistics for you:

This summer, we have clocked up another 323 hours on our main engine. The boat has also just passed the 25,000 nautical miles travelled mark. The genset had a relatively quiet year - only 92 hours run. Too much time in marinas.  We are not sure how much fuel we burned on passages as we didn't reset the murphy gauge info before we headed off.  Right now we still have just under half tanks left from our Guernsey fill up. Not bad at all considering how much travelling around in Scotland that we did with our visitors.

Our major piece of maintenance was the replacement of the two inverters - not planned stuff! Apart from that and a pesky thermostat cover job on the genset, things were not too taxing. The new Furuno navigation gear and FLIR have been a great success. Expensive but a great success. The other major repair work was to the captain's cracked tooth. Way more complex and also eye-wateringly expensive.

Since arriving in our winter home, we have been a bit busy. A trip to Hythe (now known as Toddlerville) was busy. Back afloat, the propane regulator and pigtails that connect to the cylinders got replaced:

only to discover that the "Seaflow" unit supplied by the usually excellent marine parts folks ASAP supplies came with a leaflet saying "not for use in motorhomes or boats". So, another regulator is coming. Most unimpressed with the branding (SEAflow that cannot go to Sea?) and the lack of information about that on their website.

Anyway, the regulator was well past the normal replacement date as were the pigtails. It needed doing for safety. The pipework through the boat to the hob will be a challenge next winter.

We also took some time off to walk the 2 Ps - Pip and Poppy. We managed to tire them out rather well:

but Pip managed to rouse himself enough to deliver a thank you lick:

Nice to be appreciated .

Neyland, Dale, Bron and to Penarth

One little job that got completed was to wire a standard plug socket directly to the incoming shorepower, not via the inverters. That way, using a plug in device recommended by Andrew (the non Welsh speaking Welshman whom you have met many times in this blog) we will get SMS alerts if we are away and the shorepower fails. For the non boating folks, if shorepower fails, the inverters happily take over and keep the fridge / freezer running using battery power and converting it to 240v mains stuff with wiggly amps not nice straight ones. Not at all nice for the batteries if that continues for several days! So, a socket was fitted with a suitable in-line fuse to the shorepower system just after the current inrush limiting device:

into which we will plug this guy:




who will send us a nice little SMS message if the shorepower goes pop. Reassuring.

Whilst in Neyland we raided the Co-op - there is no other choice - and did a little bit of boat cleaning which had been neglected.  We also waited for some nice weather to head for Penarth and our winter home again. The good stuff was forecast for Saturday / Sunday and so the plan looked like heading to Dale on Friday, anchoring off for the night and leaving early on Saturday morning to arrive at the Cardiff barrage lock around high water. You really have to take the tide with you for the last part of the trip as it runs very hard the further up the Bristol Channel you go!

Steve the ex Cardiff waterbus man wanted to hitch a ride with us from Neyland to Dale. So, we headed off in glorious sunshine with Steve looking very intent at the helm:

We are not sure if the rugged jaw look was a happy one, a stressed one or a "get me out of here" one. Bron the spaniel was much easier to read:

The "I like my cuddles" face....

The ocean voyage is shown below, any strange wobbles in the route are due to incoming commercial traffic, outgoing pleasure boats or Steve steering:

At Dale, we anchored and then took the RIB ashore for a very pleasant if huge dinner at the most welcoming Dale Yacht Club.  Returning at sunset we were treated to a blood orange moon appearing behind the lights of the refinery. Actually it was much more impressive than it sounds!

After a disturbed night, thanks to various arriving and departing ships kicking up quite a wash, we made an early departure to fit with the tide times. Sunrise:

The start of the trip was a bit lumpy thanks to the recent easterly winds which were slow to change direction. However, things smoothed off nicely and the sun was out, as were the friendly Welsh Dolphins who came to play several times:

As usual we had to go outside and cheer on their efforts enjoying them and the great weather.

The tide turned and our speed over the ground increased steadily and nicely as you can see:

For non boating folks, SOG is speed over the ground. STW is speed through the water. For non Nordhavn folks, 10.1 knots is our equivalent of flying in a full displacement 47 foot boat.

Here is the route (well, all bar the first bit that Marinetraffic didn't seem to want to capture):

We were approaching Cardiff as the sun was busy setting:

and our usual two lookouts were in place but once again, mute. Useless couple.

Annoyingly, we were around 5 minutes too late for the lock in time at Cardiff barrage (on 15 and 45 mins) so we pottered around before approaching the barrage for the 8:15pm lock:

You can see the kit for lifting the bridges across the locks against the orange sky. It felt like arriving home somehow despite a little outboard powered fishing boat that was in the lock with us who had a stereo system almost as powerful as their engine and a dire taste in music. Leaving the lock, we headed happily into Penarth Marina:

The Custom House restaurant, a lovely old building, is on the left and you can see the open lock into the marina towards the right of the picture.

After around 14 hours underway we happily berthed on our hammerhead, doing some dredging and weed cutting at the same time!

Maintenance news:

Well, in Neyland the captain spotted that one of the fittings on the bottom of the fuel supply tank had a weep. Sorting it out will mean draining the tank and we might as well remake all of the connections at the same time - they are all factory original and done with the same sealant so.... A fun job coming up. Luckily the weep is not dramatic, just enough to leave a trace on the fitting. So, a nice absorbent pad now lives underneath it to stop any fuel stain getting into the bilge.

The big Lugger ran quite happily again as did the other kit on board so no more spanner stuff to report.