Neyland - guilty maintenance time

We went a bit mad after arrival here. Not through lack of sleep (nice calm trip, slept well) or through lack of alcohol (still plenty left in our systems from the Scilly Islands we fear). Probably through guilt after many days of pure hedonism. The boat had a monster wash off, waterline scrub, sand removed from the dinghy and washed out etc etc. All very energetic.

The captain also fitted the new Marco waterpump - he needed some extra fittings (elbows and hose tails) and these were waiting in Neyland for us. Here is the beast fitted but before the wiring was tidied up:

A really heavy (great fun holding it out at arms' length to screw it to the bulkhead!) and apparently a solid unit. Let's see. Very quiet in operation too and has a proper bleed screw to help priming it. Impressed.

The plan is to only use it intermittently at first - we want to completely wear out the original Jabsco unit that is just over a year old and to have it replaced under the 3 year warranty. We can then use the posh Marco gear driven pump and have a new Jabsco unit as a backup. From the noises the Jabsco unit is making, death isn't too far away....

The main engine gearbox oil and filter were changed. The ZF filter is pretty expensive but it handles oil at the full pressure inside the box. We've heard of a few people who used a "pattern" (ie rip-off ) part and found that all their gearbox oil got dumped into the bilge whilst underway. Gearbox overhauls do not come cheap so we keep buying the proper filters. Not pretty things though.

Most irritating is the upside down mounting meaning the gearbox casing and engine drip tray get a bath in oil every time you change it. So frustrating but ZF mounting it the right way up would mean a wider gearbox so....

The genset was also treated to fresh oil and a filter as it had run about 140 hours since the last change. The book says 200 but with intermittent use we like earlier changes. The good thing is that the genset never needs topping up between oil changes and the built in pump makes it a very quick job. Of course, the oil filter is mounted at 90 degrees to the block and so you get nice black diesel engine oil spilling out when you change it. Cleaning up takes almost as long as doing the job!

We love the big lugger engine - a proper oil filter mount with the filter the right way up (thanks to John Deere) so no spills and no big clean up after a change.

After all that activity, we thought we deserved some fun. Instead, we invited Steve (the Cardiff waterbus man) and Bronwen the spaniel over for a day.