New Year, Cornwall and fixing things, rather slowly

After a few very wet or blowy or grey (ie miserable) days, finally some sun peeped out and we decided that the boat needed a warm up. The usual around the bay madness followed and apparently it upsets the phones of some stalkers who are using Marinetraffic to alert them when we leave or arrive at a port. Pottering up and down the bay, we arrive in Cardiff and leave Penarth several times. Must do this trip one night just to give them the 3am ping treatment:

After warming up the main and wing engines we returned and had to lock into the marina. The bay level had been allowed to drop quite a bit. This did not cheer up the crew who had to deploy fenders on the port side, where the floating pontoon is situated in the marina lock. The day failed to improve as after lunch we needed to wash off the bird poo and green gunge that had started accumulating on the decks. Two hours of unadulterated fun. Amazing how very wet weather fails to wash off the poo but promotes green gunge so happily.

We did manage to escape the work bit though, and headed off to Cornwall to catch up with Norman and Julie and the new addition to their family. Meet Stanley the puppy:

Yup, dead cute, still at the nibbling / biting stage and he liked practicing this on the ears / legs / jowls of the two resident labradors, Roxy and Indie. 

You've seen them before but as a memory jogger here is Indie:

in sleepy mode and here is her mum, Roxy:

As you can see from this video, Stanley does like playing /biting and Norman was rather hoping he would suffer for it (you need the sound on to understand why):

Thanks to soggy weather we managed a couple of brief trips to the beach at Rock, plenty of chatting and many card games. The Fitbit step count was appalling apparently. At least it stopped raining for our drive to the south coast of Cornwall  and a rental apartment for the week. This place was a very lucky find  -   The Bolt Hole  and the interior and fittings were as good as the pictures on that website suggest. We amused ourselves by driving along the tiny single track roads to Cawsand where we had a different view of Plymouth Sound to the one we are used to when we arrive by boat:

We have anchored in the bay there before - it is usually a lot busier than in this picture. Funny how the name for this little cottage was picked for a building that had as many bare patches and rust streaks as paint:

The beach at Downderry where the apartment is located was a great place to watch the sun go down. Some horse riders thought so too:

and then the sun really dropped down as we walked towards Seaton:

A memorable evening indeed.

Where else did we get up to? Well, a visit to Polperro was a must do. Mainly because it is 38 years since the last visit. Yes, we are very old indeed. Little change was visible bar in the shop fronts. Still a picture postcard village and little harbour:

with waterfront cottages who have davits outside to launch their dinghy from:

In a moment of madness, we drove to Bodmin and then cycled the Camel trail to Wadebridge, meeting up with Norman and Julie once more. The trip there was pretty much all downhill. Very little effort involved. After a rather large soup and cake lunch, the return was a bit harder but we resisted upping the level of electrical assistance from the Bromptons beyond the lowest setting.  Perhaps having N and J cycling with us added a little competitive element to the trip for the Fitbit addicted crew? Anyway, the carrot cake had to be burned off somehow as the trip was only 7 miles or so each way.

Maintenance news:

That ***** manual bilge pump. After resurfacing the corroded faces which the gaskets had to seal using metal reinforced epoxy, then fairing them off, then treating the corroded parts of the pump with Bonderite (producing a chromate coating), then painting them, then making up a new gasket for the blanking plate, replacing the flap valves (here is one):

the pump was rebuilt with a new diaphragm and re-plumbed in. Only the ***** thing leaked from the outlet valve gasket. When you tighten the fitting it seems to like displacing the narrow part at the bottom of the gasket and letting it leak. The captain was delighted when he tested it and it leaked more than before he started all the work. Bad words about rubbish aluminium not the supposed bronze pumps were used. For quite a long time.

It was all taken to pieces again (involves removing and draining the outlet hoses which is highly amusing) and cleaned up once more. The blue Hylomar gasket sealant used to help fill any remaining imperfections in the pump surface was helping the bottom of the gasket slide as it was tightened but we think it was needed. So, another attempt and this time we also ordered some new reinforced hose to replace the rather stiff elderly exhaust hose that was originally used on the outlet. To add to the fun, some idiot in the factory has used a load of sealant on the original pipe not just the two hose clips which made removal of the stiff wire reinforced hose a "cut it off with a Dremel" job. We would love to get hold of the guy who used black goop on so many hose fittings for no good reason, only with something heavier than a Dermel in our hands.

After our Cornish break, the captain felt brave enough to fit the new hose (plenty of amusement there too) and test the pump. The good news was that it pumped out water and didn't leak any more. It doesn't look much different (bar the new see through bit of outlet hose):

The time spent and bad words expended were significant. It did avoid the wild cost of a new pump though, at least for now. It cost several glasses of wine mind you. The pump will continue to be be carefully monitored.