New Year was a very quiet time for us. A planned visitor could not make it so we celebrated alone and gave up well before midnight. Age and a lack of interest kind of overtook us. Maybe the fizz and food too.
However, we made up for it with a proper social whirl in the following week, managing lunch out more often than lunch on board. All very civilised and enjoyable, unlike the DISGUSTING weather. No chance to wash off the outside of the poor boat or give the RIB a run. It was rain gear, warm hats and gloves most days. Apart from being sociable and catching up with folks that we hadn't seen in ages (eg Andrew and Linda, the owners of the N43 Zephyros) the fast improving crew's back allowed her to take on more of the catering duties and freed up the captain to get busy in the engine room for a while.
Maintenance News:
The wing engine exhaust elbow that had developed a pinhole leak was removed:
and as the exhaust hose was the original, it was taken off the silencer too:
Once again the guy in the factory who spreads black goo on all the hoses when fitting them caused lots of frustration. We so want to meet him in a dark alley one day. The new elbow was fitted:
and some new exhaust hose WITHOUT sealant too:
By the way, the pinhole leak in the original elbow was really tiny and came without the usual large area of black staining on the underside of the casting:
so we will give the identical genset elbow a more careful check in future.
The temperature switch in the elbow was found to be sick when it was removed. One of the wires leading to it was broken off so it could not have worked as a warning. The vibration and weight of the wiring hanging on the little connector seem to have taken their toll. Fixing it is not going to be easy. Maybe a tricky soldering job and then encapsulating the repaired wiring in high temperature epoxy to hold it in place? That is being pondered upon.
Meanwhile, as the coolant was partially drained down for the elbow swap, the wing engine was treated to fresh coolant and a new water pump impeller before it was fired up for a test run. A lot of attention for the little backup engine but if we ever need it in anger, we will be happy to have done the work.
We've also treated it to a new sea water strainer which looks much more "meaty" and purposeful than the factory original which had some temporary repair work last summer. The replacement sits in a box awaiting fitting - which will involve changing the pipework and hoses as it is significantly larger than the original. More info once we start on that job.
