Bilge Soup

I spent an hour today cleaning a foul soup of diesel, engine oil, and rusty water out of the bilges. Between the diesel that went into the bilges at the end of last year, and the oil and diesel that went on on the way to Tollesbury I've ended up with about 10 litres of oily liquid in what used to be a water carrier. Luckily our local re-cyling centre in Stortford takes waste oil, so hopefully I can get rid of it there. Otherwise I don't know what I'll do with it!

I only had a couple of hours available, so spent the rest of the time bending on the mainsail. It's now shackled to the throat halyard, tied on to the gaff with robands, and lashed down to the boom. I tied it up and put the cover on after that, but had to warn Julian it was not ready to be hoisted. He knew that though; the gaff span is not fixed in place yet!

There's still a lot to do if we want to head out on Sunday. Fingers crossed we'll get it done!

A busy weekend

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday on Robinetta, while Julian came along on Sunday. Barry the engineer also turned up on both days, to remove and replace the leaking fuel line and make sure that the engine cut off pull leaver would work. He also showed us how to isolate the diesel tanks, so we can finally stop the fuel running from one tank into another and overflowing when we're heeled!

I did a lot of little bits of essential cleaning and tidying up. We now have a storage locker each, for clothes and other personal items (essential for keeping our small cabin tidy), and the tools and spare shackles/blocks that we don't need to hand are in plastic toolboxes under the benches. All the food is in the galley area; taking out the oven gave us a lot more space! There is somewhere to hang the toilet toll and a dirty laundry bag, and I installed a "privacy curtain" between the cabin and the heads.
 
Everything not absolutely essential in our small boat needs two purposes to justify being there. Julian was talking about a second hanging wardrobe space for keeping shirts un-crumpled, but there's no place to put one. I've ended up taking a suit protection hanger on board, the sort where you put the clothes on a hanger inside a cloth cover that can be folded up. When privacy is wanted this can be hung on a hook between cabin and heads, where it fills the space almost completely. At other times it can be folded up and hung out of the way on the rail that supports the cabin roof. Only time will tell if this gets annoying!
 
The bilges are still oily, so I've bought a Maxi-Boom bilge oil absorber and left it under the floorboard in the hope that it will stop us polluting when we pump. I will wash the bilges properly before we leave!

On Sunday Julian finished re-running the electrics near the heads, and got the running lights working. He also sent me up the mast twice to re-run the peak and throat halyards. We have the roller reefing line in place too, so we'll be a sailing boat as soon as I get the main bent on. We want a longer piece of rope for the peak hardener, but that's a minor job.

Next weekend is our intended departure date. Julian needs Saturday for wiring the autopilot to the chart plotter, so we've decided to leave Tollesbury on the first tide on Sunday, and head to Brightlingsea for a shake down sail. We need to buy a new lamp glass and know we can get it at French Marine, plus its well within our comfort zone for a nice gentle start to the adventure. Being within the shelter of the Blackwater we'll go unless its blowing a force 8 on the nose!

More engine problems

Barry ran up the engine having replaced the leaking oil pipe, and the good news is that the engine did not get damaged by its short run with insufficient oil. Hurrah!

The bad news it that when he was checking the oil system for leaks under load, shining a very strong torch round the engine compartment, he saw a fine jet of diesel spraying out of a pipe just behind the fuel lift pump. It looks as though this, not the fuel pump, was the cause of our diesel leak at the end of last year. The pipe had been rubbing on the engine block and worn through in a position that is incredibly difficult to see. Fuel that sprayed out but fell against the engine ran down so that it looked at through it were dripping out of the pump. It seems that we now have a working spare (second hand) fuel pump in case the new one goes wrong....

I've asked Barry to replace the pipe for us, and I'm feeling less annoyed that I did not have time to wash the bilges out on Wednesday!

Oily bilges and varnish layers

I've been to visit Robinetta in her temporary base at Tollesbury today and yesterday in order to get on with the varnishing. I sanded the Epifanes off the grab rails where it was flaking, and re-coated them with the same stuff. It's been on there with only the most basic care since the spring of 2008, so I feel confident it lasts. I've also used it on the foredeck cap rails. Two coats isn't really enough, so I'll try to get more on if the weather allows.

I've put two coats of International Original Varnish on the rubbing strip on top of the cabin sides, and on the main hatch. It's the stuff that Paul Drake asked me to  get for the mast, and he did the previous coats on those areas. It also ended up being used as a varnish coat on top of the Varnol on the cockpit sides after I brushed out some drips and just kept going. Julian put a new layer of Varnol on them before we left West Mersea, so they were in good condition, but we will run out of Varnol soon. Paul came by while I was doing this, and doesn't think it will cause problems!

The cockpit got a second coat of Woodskin (one more and it will be done), and then I mopped the diesel oil out of the bilges. Not a fun job, and I still need to clean them properly, but at least Robinetta won't be polluting the marina so much when she pumps out!

The new oil pipe was fitted yesterday, and Barry gave me the old one to have a look at. He is going to refill the oil and test run the engine tomorrow. Fingers crossed it did not get damaged!

First night aboard

We slept on Robinetta for the first time since last summer Easter Saturday. The long trip is starting to feel close. We spoke with Barry Watt who Paul Drake got to look at her and he explained the problem we had with the engine coming over from Mersea. Apparently Yanmar diesels have a mild steel oil pipe running below the raw water pump at the front of the engine. When the pump leaks, sea water falls on the mild steel pipe. A recipe for corrosion. So that was our oil leak. Barry will replace it with a cupro-nickel pipe.

We fitted the new spirit cooker, which works really nicely, and wired in the new tiller pilot. I moved all the electric cables away from the area where the stove will go if we get around to fitting it.

We are still sorting out the halyards.

Gaff

The gaff I made for the new sails worked OK but seemed to bend far too much in strong winds and had lost some glue. I put lots more glue in the gaps and glued a piece along the top. According to John Leather's Gaff Rig Handbook this was common practice. Alison did a fine job of varnishing the whole thing.

The other problem we had was that the spar end never fitted the saddle that well. Moray took the lugs off and re-welded them on outside the saddle lugs. and re-galvanised the spar end. Hopefully this will also help the twisting problem we had.

Tollesbury

Ben and I got Lady Grace out to Robinetta this morning while Alison and Ben's partner Emma took the car around to Tollesbury. The weather was lovely but the wind was a little cold and westerly.



We tightened up the shrouds and fore stay and set the stay sail. Ben fitted the chart plotter and ensign and we sorted the floor boards which Alison couldn't get flat. I had to take the chocks out of the mast ring and move the mast around to make room for the floor boards. We need to reset the chocks and fit a new boot.

We did the engine checks and ran the engine for about 10 minutes before heading off.

The journey to Tollesbury was without incident. As we got near to the D pontoon I heard a funny noise from the engine which soon turned into a solid overheating whistle. We were near enough to drift to the pontoon where Alison took our lines while I tried to cut the engine. The stop knob was completely stuck and the cable fitting pulled out of the cockpit side. Ben managed to jam it with his foot and pull hard enough to free it and stop the engine.

After a fine carvery lunch we went back for a look and Alison found a bit more water in the bilges but when she ran the pump engine oil started pouring into the bilges. We will get the engineer at Tollesbury to have a look.