Getting Smart in Plymouth and the surrounding area

The plan (of sorts) was to hide away in Plymouth during the forecast bad weather. Rain and wind, much more like the normal UK summer offering than we have enjoyed lately. So, we thought about collecting the Defender for a few days and changed our minds when we found that the train fare to and fro would be more than a cheap rental car for a week. Madness. So, we ended up with a real road burner, a Smart forFour:

Not much longer than our RIB, it was the "passion" model. Nope, not the right name for it. With a Renault Twingo underneath the bodywork it elicits little passion for it. Space inside for passion? Oh no. There must be some redeeming features though. The retail price compared to the direct competition? Oh no. Enough torque to drag itself up the hills in Dartmoor? Oh no. The one massive benefit over a 110 Defender was the turning circle.

Still, better than waiting for a bus in the rain and we took advantage of it to go for some nice walks along the local coastline:

We also saw the Mew Stone from a strange angle - we normally view it from the other side when clearing it to enter the harbour:

A wet and windy day was duly dispatched quite well - lunch at the Cornish Arms pub (Rick Stein owns it) with Norman and Julie. A slightly less wet day was spent doing some shopping in Exeter. This is when we found that the Smart Forfour uphill and against a force 8 wind is not too happy, but it could get into the multi-storey carpark easily.

A lovely walk around Noss Mayo on a dry day reminded us why we love the river Yealm area. The walk gives you sea, estuary and woodland views:

and a 4.5 mile workout. The visitors pontoon in mid-river was pretty empty.  The Yealm was a favourite spot with previous boats but we've never taken the Nordhavn into the river as things are tight for space with lots of swinging moorings around. We also expected that the visitor spot would always be busy and we were wrong. It has been added to our "to do" list again. Lovely lovely spot.

Happy times were when we spotted that Copperhouse gin was on an offer and so was Fevertree tonic. Thank you so much Mr Waitrose.

We also managed to walk off some of the post election "oh no there will be another one soon" feelings in Dartmoor. Meldon has a good circular walk, over the dam:

around the old quarry area:

and then back along the old railway viaduct which is now a listed structure and part of a cycle path:

It got listed due to the unusual iron construction - it is actually one bridge that got widened by adding a second alongside it. Have a look at Wikipedia for some more info.

Maintenance news:

It was time to replace the fuel filters for the genset. Thanks to the nice Racor turbine setup and easy access to the on-engine filter, it takes longer to prepare for the job than complete it. Why do most marinas have a nice filter disposal area with proper bins then let them get so overfull?

The exhaust temperature gauge had taken a holiday on the last run and the captain assumed that the sender was in trouble. However, whilst removing the heat resisting insulation and shrink wrap on the connectors, ready to short them out and see if the gauge itself and power feed were OK, a poor connection was found in one of the factory crimps. Probably got disturbed by a clumsy captain when we fitted the new exhaust blanket . The crimped ring was duly replaced with a better solution, let's hope that has fixed it.

The grey water tank had a clean out with Bio Blast:

some stuff suggested by the Simon the surveyor from Penarth to help remove the oily, fatty deposits you get from soap, dishwasher remnants etc. Getting it into the tank and around the walls was fun but it did a great job.

Finally, the brave bit. Removing the paddle wheel sensor for the speed log:

It had stopped working and we were going along at 0 knots through the water (but more than 6 over the ground according to the GPS). You have to remove it from the through hull fitting to clean off whatever has clogged up the device and of course that leaves a hole in the hull until you quickly fit the spare bung. The crew does not like having a hole in the bottom of the boat with water coming in.

Irritatingly, there was just some slime on the paddle wheel, nothing to suggest that it was or had been jammed up. Another "let's see on our next trip" thing.