Catching up on maintenance - always amusing

As we had been pretty busy since our arrival, the usual round of winter maintenance had been firmly on the back burner. So, we had to get going with it, unfortunately.

First on the list was trying to trace / stop an annoying little leak into the pilothouse headlining. We were pretty sure that it was as a result of the navigation equipment update earlier this year. All the cables run down into the pilothouse relying upon drip loops that the installers have to put in place and a healthy wodge of silicone around them. Very poor design indeed. To compound things, it is VERY hard to access properly too. You can see some of the cabling in this picture:

The drip loops and access into the pilothouse are hidden behind the exhaust.

So, we added yet more silicone, then a dose of the famous "Capt Tolley's creeping crack cure" on top of it once it had set in case any tiny gaps still existed. Since then we've had plenty of torrential "Welsh sunshine" and things have stayed dry. Fingers are crossed......

Also on the list was the stiff steering on the little RIB. We mentioned it before and whilst in Tarbert we cleared out old grease from the steering tube on the outboard itself and re-lubricated it. That helped but it was not right. So, the captain duly removed the steering cable once more and found that the cable itself was very very stiff. Time for a new one it seemed, so fun was had unwrapping the cable from the other pipes and wires, detaching it from the steering wheel assembly:

which of course has to be done blind as this is hidden away in the centre console and at an angle that prevents you from seeing anything unless you use a camera, as above.

The Teleflex cable type code was not in the best of condition:

and a direct replacement took a bit of tracking down. That bit was easy though, compared to refitting the new cable into the steering wheel and doing up the fastenings by feel whilst trying to hold the unit in place too. Grim job, laying over the tube with an arm at full stretch into the jockey console of the RIB but at least it is done and the steering is lighter than it has been for quite a while.

The next fun job is the weep from the fitting on the bottom of the diesel supply tank. The first step is using up the fuel in there so only a little remains to be drained off. Appropriate sealant and tools to clean up the threads have been procured. The heating is busy using the diesel. Another job awaits us....