Mags Reports:21st September - October 2nd 2007 Almerimar Marina

21st September - October 2nd 2007 Almerimar Marina



Earlier this week we sent Eric, a South African rigger (wonder if that's relevant) up the mast to check on the wind speed instruments as they weren't working (Steve couldn't go because you need someone to handle the ropes and winches and I don't have the strength, will or experience yet and, actually, neither does Steve, to be up the mast that is!). He found that the thing up there that measures wind speed had rusted up. Anyway the bearing that has rusted up must cost 50p but the choice was send it back to UK for repair or buy a replacement masthead unit for £350 plus postage. The trouble with a repair is they often don't work and Steve reckoned 2 hours labour plus 50p parts plus postage both ways plus insurance was going to come to 400 euros anyway....so....for £400 you can buy the latest super whizzy posh stuff with warranty, so we decide to buy new. We already had faults with the depth sounder .... same issues applied so we got one of those with an integral water temp gauge and speedo - and guess what? The holes in the hull are a different size by 3mm. SO - we had to pay to have the boat hauled out so we can drill bigger holes as they are below the water line. Sooooo, we had the boat hauled out………

You still there?

....and as we were having problems with some engine vibration at higher speeds, we had them take a look at a bearing just in front of the propeller ...

don't weaken you have time to do slow cooked lamb with this series of events .... where was I? Oh yeah this bearing.

Well, we had been told by an engineer when the boat was last out of the water (August) that the bearing was fine and had a couple of years in it at least, so finding that it failed 8 weeks later really pissed us off. It may sound like we need a new boat but we very nearly have one!

So knowing that things were a bit rusty down there we paid an engineer to change the bearing but he couldn't because a rope cutter also fitted just behind the prop and was rusted on solid. “No probs “he said, “I will just undo the prop shaft from behind the gearbox and do it that way“. So he undid the coupling in about 2 mins and then spent 2 hours trying to get the flange off the prop, big hammer, WD 40, blow torches the lot - nuffin worked! So he said "right guv, gonna have to cut this orf"

Don’t weaken ..…

So he got out his angle grinder and cut the flange in half - still wouldn't come off - so in the end he had to cut it into 3 pieces, then very reluctantly it gave into the gentle persuasion being applied by the 2lb lump hammer. Then he pulled out the prop shaft and said, “We don't stock flanges here“. “Bugger“ Steve said , “no sweat” he said “I will order one today for you, they will send out tomorrow, we will get it Tuesday, then we will send it to be machined because it will be metric and you are in inches“. “Bugger” Steve said, “don't be like that” he said, “but you told me it was a 2 hour job and now I am stuck in this bloody yard for 6 days” Steve said. Anyway, he updates me, who is not best pleased at: a) not having a pot to piss in (it is considered bad form to let your marine toilet drain all over the yard) and b) that I have to climb up and down a rickety ladder at the stern of the boat (its about a 3metre climb to the deck!)

Still alive?

OK I will attempt to finish this for posterity. So to soften the blow I persuade Steve to go out and rig a pipe from the bog to a bucket (as he does not want to use the holding tank until he’s checked it out) so I don't have to negotiate the ladder (often) in the middle of the night (and I don‘t want a bucket ob board). Also, he tied the ladder onto the boat to make it safer and only slightly less scary! Then we went out to visit some Canadians and drink wine and complain for the night, come back and go to bed.

At around 8 the following morning there is a MASSIVE thunderstorm and when it is finished I NEED to get off the boat and go for a sh.......ower. I ask Steve if he will accompany me to the ladder as it is wet and I'm afraid of slipping and falling.

As I am getting off the boat, feet on the ladder and hands on the stern rail ................... aaaaaaargh! Steve reproaches me for being such a wuss. “For Gods sake, just hold on and stop whinging” but reaches over to help a very shocked Mags and .......aaaaaargh! Not to put to fine a point on it we have both received a big electric shock. I was only scared of falling through slipping - I never thought of falling through electrocution! I wonder at this point if he has rigged this specially for me.

So Steve gets his meter out and find that the rigging, engine, keel, and rails are all live at 170volts. We suspect the shore supply from the yard is wired up backwards, but it seems it's not! So in conclusion this boat ain’t working very well. We have been electrocuted and we are stuck here for 6 days - but it's still better than the alternative!

Steve then set about checking all possibilities with the help of his trusty colleagues (nerds) from the on-line boating forum!

I was reading Ellen MacArthur’s epic adventures so was too busy sailing around the world to care!

For those still alive ……

UPDATE! It seems that the yards cable is at fault, so Steve (MY HERO) fixed it. Safe at last. We cannot use a bucket on the hard - we have to use the holding tank. Sorry Steve. We both have to compromise - I’m sure it will be OK.

Next Day:

Phwaw, what’s that niff?

“Mags, there’s piss in the engine compartment!”

“Don’t be ridiculous”

“I’m telling you it’s piss. I thought it was sea water and tasted it to see”

“You dirty bugger! Anyway, how do you know what piss tastes like?”

You guessed it. The holding tank was leaking, and not just our 12 hour old contribution!!!

What can I say. The table had to be unscrewed, every floor had to come up, the bed had to come up, the stern locker had to be emptied (that is where the tank is conveniently located - 1metre down under a board in ½m of space). The bilges were swimming in it, it was in the engine compartment, the whole place stank! LOVLAY!!

Once again Steve is a hero, he got into that space and got that smelly creature out…… and it had several massive holes in it ……. Not new or unused I think! (that is what we were told but Steve did not believe him. Sometimes it pays to be cynical!)

I did my bit removing the offending stinking liquid (no solids thank God) which took 3 days of cleaning, rinsing, disinfecting, cleaning, rinsing, disinfecting. YUK!

Are you still there?

Any road up, we now await a new tank BUT we are back in the water - BLISS!

Once back on the water, Eric, the rigger, spent a total of seven hours up the mast ‘cos the cable was stuck and not getting through the mast. He also had to drill and fit new saddles near the top of the mast for the halyards to pass over. Inside, Steve and I had the ceilings down, part of the floor up and two walls out for 2 days trying to feed the wires from the mast and from the instruments in the hull, through the cable runs on the inside of the boat - this involved a lot of ‘lizard’ wire, Vaseline and second sight. Interesting living with your home upside down around you.

We then moved onto dismantling the cockpit, but most of he electronics are all now installed and ready to be integrated.

2nd Oct

Well, I say installed! Steve has just short circuited the shore supply! SHIT - That has to be another story.

Looks like we are in Hotel California for some time yet!

Wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The electrician had everything sorted in short time so Steve sensibly asks him to help with the remaining work. “Are you sure all this stuff integrates Steve?” said Marco the electrician, “Some of it is ancient”. “Yes” confirms Steve, “I am VERY sure, it says so in the manual (bloody hell, he read the manual! No, that’s not fair).

Another 4 hours pass and all is completed - nearly! Marco leaves having eaten his words and the instruments are integrated. Steve has now nearly completed installing all the new units. God - he’s WONDERFUL! We also have VHF radio now - so we’d better get a certificate and get trained to use it.

You may think this would dampen our spirits, but it hasn’t. Call us masochistic if you must, but it is very interesting in a mad, nautical sort of way. Anyway, we now Know most square inches of the boat from bilges to battons, from stem to stern in fact!

Well done for sticking with it if you got this far.

I wonder if we will leave here soon?