I needed to service the engine and change the mounts which had been a problem on last year's journey. One of the threads had stripped and I found the bolt and shims in the bilge. Gaffer tape held the bolt and shims in place for a further 600NM and is still doing the job now! I change the primary fuel filters, the CAV one, regular like as they are cheap as chips. It also shows if there is a potential problem with the fuel. The engine filter only gets changed once every five years, assuming the primary is ok that is. Before the primary there is an agglomerator/sedimentor which collects any water or muck before it gets to the primary. It has a glass bowl and if you shine a torch through it you can check on the cleanliness of the fuel.
Top right with the yellow top is the primary and next to it is the sedimentor. The position of the sea water inlet filter (green pipes on the right) has been changed so that it can be seen at all times from the helm position in the wheelhouse. The anti syphon pipework has also been moved so that it can be seen and monitored from the inside helm too. I have had another failure of the temperature sensor on the engine so now I just feel the pipes and check the clear strainer top instead of waiting for an alarm that may or may not work.
Keeping the beer cold at anchor was a bit of a headache. I managed to find a pair of Flexcell 27W solar panels on ebay. I thought I had a good deal when I saw the retail price.
They are shade tolerant and should keep up with the fridge compressor and maybe a bit more, we shall see.
So Tutak was rather pleased to be fired up for a wee shakedown before victualling and hauling ass up north. I dropped the new enlarged Delta over the front and laid to it for the night while I made and attempt at tidying up from last year. I had an issue with snatching a couple of years ago and have since started using a chain hook and a nice springy nylon line to mitigate. I have also acquired an Angel or Chum, a weight one slides down the chain in an attempt to dampen the pull. I reckon it will be a bit fussy to deploy, especially when the boat is jumping around.
I took the opportunity to move the stainless anchor swivel by putting it inbetween a two foot long 3/8" chain leader and the chain proper. There have been tales of failure of these types of connectors when connected directly to the anchor. A good sideways pull can distort them enough for the fitting to come apart. Fitting a leader takes away any chance of this happening, I hope anyway.
I can confirm that the anchor holds well. The old Delta never dragged but I confess I did manage to distort it a tad by jousting with a harbour wall! After this I thought perhaps I should get another one so I went a size up. Whether this is a good idea or not depends on the size of hernia. It certainly dug in well, very, very well indeed. I went up to a 16kg, it does look big on a 25 footer!
The old laptop was starting to sound like a vintage tractor, imminent drive failure and plenty of blue screens. I managed to salvage nearly all the data and loaded it onto a cheapish HP running Windows 8. I hate W8, my beloved has it on her machine. I find it most awful, however the new computer is a touch-screen and for me that has made all the difference. I now find W8 most intuitive and the boot time is so fast compared to the 4 minute plus I am used to. Anyway the reason for spouting on about this is that I have got a chart package and software on it from
http://www.visitmyharbour.com
Plug in a USB GPS and Tutak has as second plotter which is independent of Standard Horizon. I placed a lot of faith, particularly in the fog, on that plotter and if it went bad on me I could have been in a pickle. The AIS also plugs in as well.
I got a wee connector that allows me to use the ship's VHF antenna with the hand held should the need arise. This is because the main set has packed up and has been packed off to the menders. It was perfect in every way apart from the fact that it would not receive.
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