Penarth to Dale / Neyland

Finally, an OK forecast for the trip west. Preparing the boat for a proper sea voyage felt strange after so many months "layoff". Just over 9 to be precise! We managed not to forget anything too critical and nosed our way out of Penarth marina ready for the 4pm lock out at the Cardiff bay barrage:

As you can see the passenger trip boats that normally ply around the bay are still not working - the Welsh lockdown rules being way tighter than the English, Norn Iron and Scottish ones. Out in the bay, we were treated to two lockfulls of boats coming inbound with two of the bridges lifted:

Heading out was much more civilised, one other little motorboat joined us. The trip is a simple enough one, taking just over 13 hours:

staying well offshore as we approach Milford to avoid some shallow areas that get bumpy and confused in the tides. The start of the run was fine, wind and waves on the nose as usual for a westbound Bristol Channel trip. Very few commercial ships about, all pretty quiet. It was an overnight job so the FLIR got some good use again and we had fun watching dolpins jumping and playing in our bow wave on the screen. Like an old black and white TV willife film really. We missed Mr Attenborough's commentary though.

Later on, as we cleared the shelter of the English coast and the wind swung around to the SE and freshened it got bumpier with the residual swell coming from the west and the wind induced waves from the SE on top of them. It was messy and for a while the stabiliers were very busy, going from full deflection one way to the same in the opposite direction. That is VERY rare. The mix of pitching in the oncoming swell and the waves on the stern quarter made an "interesting" ride during the last leg to Milford Haven entrance. The crew did not find it that interesting, trying to sleep in the saloon with lots of noises coming from the cupbards as things moved around. 

As planned, we arrived just off Milford at daybreak and headed to the anchorage off Dale. It was busy and there was no space to tuck in behind the land to get shelter from the SE'ly wind and the waves it was creating. We anchored futher out but as the boat is pretty heavy, the motion was not at all unplesant. Breakfast and a sleep were in order

The original plan was to anchor up until around midnight then head off to Whitehaven where they would lift us out for the well overdue underwater maintenance fun. We checked the forecast to see that it had worsened, looked at the confused seas outside the harbour (visible from the anchorage) and thought better of it. The next weather window would be three days away and spending them anchored off Dale where it would only get bumpier was not ideal so we called the nice folks at Neyland. The lady who answered asked for the boat details, heard the name and said "that is my favourite boat".  We must visit here too often - anyway, they found us the last big enough slot!

Near high water we retrieved the anchor and took a lot of kelp and mud and stones with us. This is on arrival in Neyland after pulling off the weed and letting most of the mud fall off on the journey there:

We were spotted upon arrival and two of the dockmasters came to help with the lines - nice of them. Then one confessed that they saw us and came to help because he wanted another look at the boat. We seem to be becoming slightly infamous here. Later on, after washing the salt off (there was lots of it) and whilst topping up the water tank, a bertholder came to enquire about using the hose and said "trust me to decide to top up my tank when the biggest boat in the marina is doing the same". We start to feel large and important here. That will all change when we get to bigger harbours.....

Just to close the loop on the recent Furuno updates - the new version of the software on the equipment worked perfectly. Maybe saying that is brave but so far so good. For anyone contemplating an upgrade to v7.1 - on their TZT2 system this information might be useful. For non boating / non Furuno equipment owning people, sorry to have wasted your time. Nothing else on the maintenance front to report.

Preparing for the winter (or summer in Scotland?)

Our main heating system is a big Webasto 12 KW diesel boiler that supplies hot water to the air handlers throughout the boat. As you can imagine, it gets lots of use each winter and on those less than temperate days during the rest of the year.

Back in 2013 it had a new exhaust silencer and pipework fitted and the combination of many hours of use, salty air and whatever else finally proved too much for the pipe itself. We noticed some exhaust gas in the lazarette where the boiler is mounted and sure enough, when it was checked the pipe leading from the silencer to the hull fitting was toast. A little bit of moving it around and it failed totally:

So, another fun job beckoned. The hull fitting is behind a sealed in hatch in the gas cylinder locker so after digging the sealant out and persuading the hatch to come out, the rather corroded clamps holding the flexible hose on could be removed and the old run of pipework taken out:

Fitting the new stuff was a two stage affair as the swan neck that runs up inside the transom to help keep water out had no securing clamps fitted at all. Most unimpressed with the work done by Osmotec a few years ago. The swan neck was relying on the tension in the pipe caused by the 180 degree bend to hold it off the GRP. Luckily, it had done so. We ordered some straps and fed the new pipework into place only to discover that the nice Osmotec folks had really made life complicated. The exhaust skin fitting on the hull was a 38mm diameter. The new silencer they fitted was 40mm. Guess which fitting we had measured when ordering up the new exhuast pipe? Oh yes - because the silencer exhaust clamp was corroded and so it had been treated to some penetrating fluid and left for a day whilst the skin fitting end came off quite happily.

To add insult to injury, the new pipe had already been secured onto the hull fitting and a swan neck made and clipped / tied in place. We had to do it that way to know where to cut the pipe so it was the right length. Then we found it would not fit onto the silencer. So, it all came out again and some more 40mm pipe was ordered. Not amused at all. Moral of the exercise - measure both ends just in case some guy did something strange in the past....??

The new larger hose duly arrived and was refitted in the same way as the first one, with more skin loss working inside the little gap through the side of the gas locker - here is the "naked" skin fitting readyto be plumbed up again:

and the errant silencer, with the heater in the background, ready for some new hose too:

After more bad words, contortions and general fun the pipe and lagging were in place and clipped up, the heater fired up and an impressive smoke display was enjoyed as the new insulation burnt off and started to turn a little more brown. The good thing was that there were no leaks from the exhaust.

Recently it seems like each job has been a "two touch" thing - needing some extra parts or finding snags on the way that you would just not expect. It must be our turn for things to get simpler!

Furuno updates

On board, we have a PC that runs the Time Zero navigation software, a little Furuno TZT2 MFD (multi-function device) on the flybridge and a TZT2 black box setup in the pilothouse.

After we updated the PC software version, the neat integration with the Furuno kit for sharing routes, waypoints and goto data was broken - some major software changes in the app that were waiting for a Furuno update. The nice guys at Furuno UK gave us early access to it. This was a bit more serious than normal as it involved updating both the operating system (based on Android) on the devices as well as the Furuno software.

The black box that runs the pilothouse screens was done first and it gave lots of scary messages that basically meant "if you turn the power off now this might never ever work again".  It also produced pages of stuff like this whilst updating the operating system that looked more like old mainframe output:

No matter - it worked and the integration with the PC software was restored together with a bunch of nice new features in the Furuno system.

Updating the MFD on our flybridge was less fun - normally that can be done wirelessly but as an operating system upgrade was needed, we had to plug in a little SD card. The SD card slot is on the back of the unit - the little hatch thingy at the top of the device in this borrowed picture:

Ours is built into a navpod with no access to anything bar the screen so we had to dismantle the pod, extricate the unit and then feed it the update via an SD card and then a USB stick. A nuisance but again it worked perfectly. So, for anyone with the Furuno TZT2 kit, we can report that the version 7.1 upgrade is OK to do. Is it stable? Well, the next trip will tell us that!

Dogs and dentists

Izzy the goddog seemed to be having far too much fun and attention on board. We took the boat for another little run out to sea expecting that a 7am lock out from the bay would be quiet(ish). We were so wrong. A swarm of little fishing boats, several yachts and one other motor boat wanted to escape. The rather hopeless barrage control folks told everyone on the radio that it would be "lock 1". If they had looked out of the window they would have realised that no way were we all going to fit in.

Finally they twigged and we got pole position in lock 3, as befitting a salty seadog like Izzy who enjoyed sniffing the sea air and getting lots of attention:

The run was mainly to check that everything was working OK and that the newly repacked wing engine stuffing box was not going to overheat. When we got back, we had one tired dog on our hands:

We could not depart from Penarth as the captain had to revisit the dentist to check that all had gone well with the placement of the implant. So, we had another little drive to Hythe and dropped the goddog back with her owners. Izzy seeemd to enjoy her ride on the back seat, suitably clipped in of course with her toy squirrel handy too:

The idea was that after the dentist's OK, we would be ready to head off as soon as the weather allowed. Who knows when that might be!

Dripping, or not - a total joy

On one of our little jaunts, we found that the wing engine stuffing box was getting too warm. The lack of activity during lockown clearly did not agree with it as it was refusing to drip gently. For the non boaters, the stuffing box is an old low technology thing that stops water pouring into the boat from where the propeller shaft is fitted. It has packing material in it that almost seals against the shaft, allowing just a little water through to keep things cool. Or in our case, it didn't.

Now, if this had been our main engine, the job would have been simple. Here is the main engine stuffing box:

with the staining from the wearing packing and muddy brown Bristol Channel beneath it.

You remove the nuts holding the follower in place, slide it forward, dig out the old three rings of packing using a neat screw in tool that lets you drag them out with some brute force, then fit three pre-cut new ones in place. Refit the follower, adjust after a run to get the right number of "drips per second" and all is well.

Only the wing engine has a V drive arrangement where the shaft runs back under the engine itself and the stuffing box is pretty well hidden under there too:

Getting to the nuts on the inboard side of the thing is mission almost impossible. You can't get down that side of the engine, you can't even see them so you need an arrangement like this:

with loads of extension pieces and a very deep 19mm socket. That just reaches the nuts  and lets you work underneath the gearbox to release them. Here is the view looking aft from the gearbox that a phone camera can get - not as easy for humans:

Once all the nuts are off, you try to push the follower up the shaft for access. Oh no, after just more than the thickness of a piece of new packing, it hits the sump of the engine above:

Now you really have fun. The screw in thingy cannot get a good angle as there is so little space. You end up using it, right angled picks, bad language and anything else to hand to dig out the old packing. The third ring, buried deep in the fitting is particularly amusing. Eventually, this is the result:

Some old slightly chewed up packing.

The new rings were fitted in place, nuts replaced by feel and a quick bay trip to test it all out followed:

Luckily it dripped nicely, stayed cool enough and so the wing engine is now ready for service if, heaven forbid, we need it in anger sometime. A little readjustment when we got back and we are good to go.

On the topic of dripping, the tap fitted to the aft cockpit sink was horribly corroded (chrome thing in nice salt air) and was dripping into the locker below when used. It did look rather sad:

So, we procured a rather nice stainless steel replacement which our boat neighbour Russel (a gas fitter who has all the kit) said he would fit for us together with new isolating valves  (the originals had a stupid plastic screw setup and the chases of the screws were already trashed)

and better pipework. New valves took 2 minutes thanks to pushfit pipes. The tap was trickier as the new one hand a much larger collar on the nut that secures it under the worktop - too big as it fouled the side of the cabinet. Nothing is ever simple it seems. So, a large washer was ordered as a base for the tap in preparation for moving the hole around 15 mm inwards. That tap might need to wait for the winter to be fitted.....

Canine and narcotic diversions

After the fun (??) of having a tooth yanked out, life looked up with an outdoors and socially distanced meeting with Anne. Izzy the dog was not as good at the whole distancing concept, rushing around to collect cuddles from everyone:

She seemed rather keen to have a boating holiday as this little video we received after meeting up will show:

How could we refuse such an appeal? We had a few things to to first, before the dognap. One was a trip to Southampton General hospital to take Mrs Toddler for her pacemaker checkup. We were more than a little amazed to see this owl coming down the path inside the sprawling hospital complex:

The Hawks in the forest folks bring suitable birds along to scare off the seagulls who nest on the hospital roof, make a mess of the aircon units and attack the maintenance guys when they venture up there. Elton the owl seemed pretty good at it.

Then we collected our furry goddog and she came back to the boat with us for a little break. She seemed to need to catch up on her beauty sleep on arrival:

but soon perked up with the thought of the bay and a RIB trip:

although the wind did limit her vision a bit. We must chop some fur off for her before she thinks she is going blind. She also enjoyed a run around the bay in the boat but is not great at helming - too many things distract her:

We had been in WhatsApp conversation with some friends who were reliving their youth and watching Glastonbury re-runs on the TV. We asked if they had hosed down the garden so there was the regulation mud-bath outside and if they were slightly high too. As they are keen gardeners (remember, they posted two radishes to us a while ago) we thought that they might have some mind altering substances in their garden. They assured us that was not the case. Then, the postman kindly delivered this to us:

We thought that such stuff normally came dried and ready for use but it seems not. However, drying them out was not a success - I think they sent us the wrong kind of weed, keeping the best for themselves perhaps.

Little bits of maintenance (for the boat and us)

We had a glorious trip out in the RIB on a beautiful sunny and hot day. A run up the Ely river to drop off some fresh food (courtesy of a Waitrose click and collect error) to Simon and Nikki, then a blast around the bay.

Pottering around the marina later on, the steering on the RIB made a strange noise and then, stopped working. Please tell us this is not a broken cable - the one we replaced as one of those "jobs from hell" not long ago!!!

After getting up some enthusiasm, the RIB jockey seat was emptied out (fuel and battery) and the problem checked by phone camera as it is physically impossible to get your head in there to see the mechanism:

From the picture you can see that the fitting on the cable on the right hand side has pulled out from the casing. It should be anchored in place by the bolt that is still visibly in place and a little piece of bent tin on the other side. Great, it suggested that the "little piece of bent tin" had bent in the wrong way. As you can guess from the comments we are unimpressed with the quality of the steering assembly that was fitted!

It was one of those jobs. Deciding to remove the whole thing to check on the bent tin, we found that our biggest puller was not big enough to span the steering wheel hub properly and let us pull the wheel off. Dilemma time - buy / borrow a bigger puller to dismantle the thing and check it? Or should we refit the cable, try to route it better so that it is not at an angle to the steering assembly and test it. The latter was the chosen option as it could be done there and then - all by feel and with a few bad words of course.

A quick spin around the marina and it worked all OK. Got to try a high speed trip around the bay on the next nice day to put more strain on it, taking the required spanners with us just in case.....

Meanwhile, the marina folks had a "big boy's toy" for a morning:

They are moving some secondhand pontoons (boy, are they secondhand) into position near the closed Pier 64 restaurant to make a floating terrace area. Should be good. If we are lucky, we will not be around to try it out - meaning we might have escaped to sea by then.

On the to do list was a valve clearance check for the genset so on one of the (many) wind and rainy days, that was completed:

It also gave us the opportunity to tighten up the genset drive belt which is not the easiest / most accessible job in the world as the genset is mounted too far back for decent access:

Whilst the air cleaner and rocker cover are off, it is a good time to inspect the underside of the exhaust elbow by camera to check that all is well. The replacement stainless steel version that we fitted several years ago still looks good externally with no signs of leaks around the gasket. The phone camera struggled to focus as it had to be very close!

but we have no plan to remove to to check the inside. The original steel versions corroded through relatively quickly (hot exhaust gases and hot salty water not being good bedfellows). The replacement stainless version on the genset and wing have survived pretty well so far, certainly way longer than the originals. Another opportunity with the camera is to check the well hidden starter motor and thermostat housing / pipework:

Again, no leaks and all looked OK.

What about maintenance for us? Well, the captain was one of the folks randomly selected (yes, he is a bit random) by the government for a Covid-19 antibody trial. After manfully enduring the "little pinch" they said the tool was going to give to his finger (twice - not enough blood first time) he duly completed the test to be told that he had no Covid-19 antibodies:

However, based on that line, he might be pregnant.

The less enjoyable piece of maintenance was when the captain had a cracked tooth yanked out and an implant screwed into the jaw-bone. We feel no desire to go into any great detail about that activity as it might upset some of the more delicate blog readers, except to say that it makes a diesel top up seem quite good value.