Back in Penarth

Since the crew was still having some back issues, we began our winter sojourn in a most subdued way. Little walks, trips to the local osteopath, walks to Tesco (wild excitement) and not much more. The poor neglected boat had a big wash off and we removed the bimini cover ready for the windy weather to find the top of it had turned a patchy white colour. Thank you so much seagulls. 

We recovered the Defender from the summer storage spot which involved getting 4 trains and they, amazingly, were all on time. Pretty empty too - we can see how funding the railway will be getting more expensive now.

We enjoyed a couple of visitations involving some four-legged folks you have met before. Steve (the ex-waterbus man) and Bron came for coffee although it looks as though Bron was hoping for more than a bowl of water:

However, she settled for a tummy rub quite happily:

Simon (the recent crew member) and Nikki arrived with copious amounts of cake and their Fox Red Labrador pup Moxie who seemed to settle into Nordhavn life quite well:

and then decided, like Bron, that a lay down whilst keeping an eye open to spot anyone heading to the galley was a good idea:

The treatment for the crew's back continues and slowly things improve. It has taken way longer than when she had issues before - maybe this one was more serious, maybe it is just age..... However the prognosis is that it will be fine, with patience. 

Maintenance news:

The genset has been busy doing washing / tumbling , dishwashing and bread cooking so it was treated to an oil and filter change. The heating system had a new fuel filter as a pre winter use treat. The saloon window surrounds got some varnish and the old, failed port side engine room extractor fan was exhumed from the hiding place deep in a side locker:

and the wiring was temporarily put into a block connector to isolate it. The gold coloured bracket that used to hold the fan in place is no use with the later version of it, the motor body is shorter. So, it was off to see the rather nice Chris at the stainless fabrication shop again to get another mounting bracket made up. The decision was also taken to move the fan a little closer to the front of the locker to make future access easier. It was either that or the captain had to grow his arms to be another 6 cm or so longer. Although moving the fan meant extending the trunking and the power supply wiring, it still seemed like the simpler option.

The new fan has to be slightly dismembered to fit a tube onto the inlet ready to couple up the trunking so it draws air through the trunking from the engine room, not from this locker:

so what should be a simple swap out becomes way more complicated and time consuming, This is work in progress until we get the new bracket and a joiner for the outlet trunking to extend it. Normal stuff for any boat job really.

Just to add to the little winter work list, the CO alarm went off after giving the big Webasto heater a run and then shutting it down. It looks like the temporary shortening of the failed exhaust hose that we did during the summer must have left a little split somewhere. That will get swapped out after a trip back to the house where we have some spare exhaust hose and insulating wrap in store.

There is always some amusement - at least we have started to tackle some of the to do things.