Preparing for some cruising (when the gales finally abate!)

After the relentless rain and wind and grey miserable weather this winter, there has to be a break soon. Please! So, in preparation we finally got busy. The list was huge and had to be trimmed a lot with some planned upgrades just postponed as although the sniffles were getting better, we were not back to full power yet.

The fuel supply tank fitting was first on the list. If you have a good memory / are incredibly sad you might recall the annoying first go when we discovered that the fitting ended up 3/4 of a turn from tight in the tank to get the valve in the right position.... So annoying. Thanks some so called engineer who thought that was OK to assemble. Hence when removed the first time, it was refitted and sealed with gloop (Leak Lock) just as the factory cowboy did.

This time the plan was to refit it with washer(s) to pack it out and allow the thing to be properly secure and not relying on the gloop.  It meant draining about 35 litres of fuel out, 350ml at a time into a jug. A real fun job but as the captain's sense of smell was still non functioning it wasn't as bad as the first time.

The valve was refitted, this time using normal Wurth pipe sealant on the threads and all was well:

Just a little "Leak Lock" overspill from the first rebuild to clean up. Hardly a priority.

Once completed, the annual fuel filter swap ritual could be completed. All 9 of them. The worst is the big Webasto boiler as it has a real old school CAV 296 filter like this one:

which is messier to swap than any of the others owing to where it is, the wiring around it and the need to dig out the O rings that stay in the top casing after you take it to pieces. Memories came back of a pair of old Ford Sabre engines in a Broom motor cruiser that we owned which had two of these on each engine. There you had to hang upside down to replace them and it was always amusing. The one positive about the old technology CAV device is that the filter elements are as cheap as chips.

The genset had the normal 6 monthly oil and filter swap and then some fresh water pump fun ensued. The "backup" Marco UP12/E pump refused to fire up so we were using the original Jabsco unit. The little lights on the Marco pump suggested that it was either drawing too much current or the input voltage was too low. Checked the latter - it was fine.

After removing the pump from the plumbing and wiring the captain started to take it apart to see what was happening. Very quickly he got a bath in rusty water from inside the motor housing. Problem found. It seems that water leaking past the shaft and into the motor assembly is not uncommon with these pumps. The motor innards were toast so a new one was ordered from an Italian supplier who had one in stock for around £70 less than Timage, the UK supplier wanted. Madness. Knowing how difficult it might be to get one ordered from the factory with the Italian Coronavirus problems, we were happy to find a stock unit. Just need to disinfect the box when it arrives perhaps?

There is a bare spot in the cupboard where the second pump is normally mounted for now:

Refitting the flybridge seats and covers on a sunny (albeit chilly) day made us think that there might just be an end to the wind and rain sometime soon. Then we had another gale and torrential rain. Back to normal happened so quickly and cruelly.