Below are a few fairly random diary entries from May, June and July 2006 which I think illustrate the sporadic nature of progress. At the end of June I finished teaching at Oban High School but then spent two weeks on the Clyde running my first two RYA courses as a Cruising Instructor, which was great but of course meant that no work was done on the boat for the first two weeks of June.
On odd occasions we thought about putting it off for a year, but everyone said no, just go, you will never be ready so just go. My favourite was the post on YBW that said ‘You will never be ready. We have just finished making our series drogue – ten years after we got back from our trip’. So – we are going, taking our own series drogue construction kit with us . . .
May. 9, 2006 – some progress . . .
Fitted the new control panel. Hassle enlarging the hole but I left it a bit messy as no-one will ever see it. Decided to use bolts instead of self-tappers. Instant hassle . . . top bolts come through a curvy reinforcing bit of GRP so cannot get nuts on. Modify holes and fiddle for half an hour . . . success, but did I use enough Sikaflex? (not oozing out messily as per usual). Job done, looks very smart, installed off-centre so I can put the Albin Marin plate back up.
In a fit of enthusiasm now decided to fit the cables to the newly installed Inspector Morse control. The instructions seemed to say something about fitting the cables before pulling the unit through the cutout and screwing it down, but surely not necessary? Necessary. Hour and a half in locker with fuel tank. Instructions incomprehensible diagrams unfathomable. Surely that can’t go through there, it doesn’t fit. File down new bits to make them fit. Impossible to get split pins in. Partially dismantle mechanism from inside locker. Throttle cable finally connected. Gear cable looks easy. Whoops, no it isn’t, not with unit bolted in place. Lever tail away from bulkhead with big screwdriver – just room to get the cable through the grippy bit.
Eureka – it works. Oh, no it doesn’t. No reverse. SWMBO tries several times, reverse not engaging. Incomprehensible, then I ask (from inside the locker) ‘you’re not pressing the red button are you?’ ‘Oh, I thought you had to’ she replies. All now apparently working – assuming forward is forward gear on the gearbox and not some horrible Italian 180 degrees **** about face design feature. Home to no water . . . another mains burst at Clachan Seil. Teaching in the High School tomorrow, but not for much longer.
May 12, 2006 – not doing what I planned . . .
Today (Friday) was meant to be getting the stem head fitting back on, but instead I discovered that the running lights were knackered so messed around rewiring them instead, drank beer and had a barbecue with Silkie and Jerry. Why are they wired with the pulpit in the circuit?
May. 13, 2006 – why can’t I just get on with it?
Took off the old anode and cleaned up the bolts . . . and did some web design and set up someone’s new PC and went to the pub to see some friends who had sailed up the Sound. Too much to do, too little time. I will be so glad once the engine is bolted in.
May. 14, 2006 – Tick tock, tick tock . . .
Down to the yard early today (Sunday) as it was windless and not raining yet and put the two new blades and tail fin on the aerogen as it was calm. (Not really progress, as it had been fine until a couple of weeks ago when it mysteriously self-destructed in a moderate gale – one blade snapped off at the root and the tail fin ripped right along the line of its mounting pole).
Kathy started scraping the port side while I wire brushed the seacocks and tried to decide if they were pinkish or not. Removed all the earth wires. (Have decided I will only earth the engine seacock). Will get Donald’s expert opinion on their condition when he puts the engine in.
Good grief – is that really all I got done? Oh no, fixed the switch for the anchor windlass (never worked, utterly corroded) in place in case I ever do get time to fix it. Also worked out the routing for the siphon break in the water injection bend . . . and of course I should have ordered two metres of hose from Beta, not one.
Tomorrow the long arms of the Pope should ensure the stemhead fitting is finally back where it should be – unless it chucks it down of course. Must also remember to try to see Joe about modifying the Navik arms to fit it on the rear deck . . . hope it will go on round the aerogen tower. Will also ask Joe for a couple of bigger backing plates for the stern cleats. Which reminds me – must get on with making up the series drogue . . . Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh . . . . .
A woman is coing to see about renting the house on Wednesday. I can see us living aboard over Winter in Dunstaffnage . . . . or maybe Ardfern, they’ve got WiFi now.
June 27th – 34 days to departure
Yet another failure to get the fuel system plumbed in. In spite of having got the right part number and ordered it from Caley Marine in Inverness it didn’t fit. Isn’t it extraordinary that so many places will sell you a fuel filter and some fuel hose but none can offer you a way of connecting the two. It looks like we might have finally got what we need from an agricultural engineering place in Oban – fingers crossed, it’s the first job tomorrow. Meanwhile our neighbour Steve has shaped the mahogany block to mount the Navik on; we have decided that our windvane will be called Steve.
Today I also picked up the old genoa from Craobh Haven, where Saturn Sails delivered it (free of charge) for us last week. We have finally got the correct size boltrope fitted after a misunderstanding. Saturn have been very helpful in redoing the job at a discount for us even though it was no fault of theirs. Our new 135% high spec cruising genoa with foam luff is now ready as well, and Jekells have promised us it will be here tomorrow. Oh yes, and we both sent off for our ICCs. The RYA were very flexible in letting us upgrade to family membership while allowing Kathy’s £5 off introductory voucher. Oh yes, and the memory foam for the forepeak arrived today . . . and we bought the first lot of tins from LIDLs – so all in all more progress than I thought now I look back on the day.
June 28th – 33 days to departure
Finally got the fuel filter connections from an agricultural engineer in Oban, but he had to make one of them. They use olives . . . hope they work, so many potentially leaky things . . . Monday July 2nd – 29 days to departure Fuel system is now connected up and the Navik is bolted to the transom. Having acquired 6 litres of XM antifoul cheap we are now finding it impossible to source the correct primer for it anywhere and have had to order it off the web.
The new sail arrived last Friday and was not what we had ordered – what came out of the bag was a standard spec single stiched cruising genoa. Jekells have been very apologetic , and have promised us a Spec 3 cruising sail (triple stitched etc) by July 12th – with a free upgrade to Marblehead fabric as an apology.
Earth and solenoid are still not wired on the Beta as the swindlery at Ardfern sold us bronze solder on terminals when apparently they should have been copper . . . as usual, they try to be helpful but no-one actually knows very much. Was there a golden age when chandlers actually knew about the stuff they were selling you?
Loads more shopping in Oban . . . oil for the engine, ATF fluid (did you know there are two types?) , 10l jerrycan, some (more) expensive bolts . . . and some tins of Grants Haggis, a Fairwinds staple.
EEC medical cards (EHIC) arrived today, as did our new RYA memberships. Progress continues to be erratic and frustrating . . . heatwave here just now, with 60 – 80 basking sharks spotted off the Garvellachs. Hope the antifoul primer arrives while the painting weather lasts.
Thursday July 2nd – 26 days to departure
The engine ran for 30 seconds today . . . then stopped. It was running on fuel still in the lines from the bench test, apparently. I was too stupid to realise that I would have to fill the agglomerator (primary coarse/water filter) first as the fuel pump could not be expected to fill a half pint void . . . We are reasonably optimistic that tomorrow the engine will run once we have properly primed the system. Now we need some painting weather to return. The tacho was not working either, but I suspect that is because of an unconnected earth wire.
(Finished the wiring yesterday . . . Jim Watson got the bronze terminals crimped on at work . . . )
Also cleaned up all the electrical connections in the battery switch, ran the new cables and cable-tied everything then removed / replaced one of the anode bolts and wired an earth from the anode (to the engine only – decided not to wire the seacocks). Ordered a WiFi signal booster which will hopefully enable us to tap into WiFi networks from some distance away. Hopefully the Iridium phone will arrive next week and give us a bit of practice before we leave.
Friday July 8th – 24 days to departure
Well, the new Beta finally ran . . . inveigled Donald Smith on board; he showed me how to slacken the bleed screw on the filter rather than the one on the pump (which is what the manual said). The engine ran perfectly, with Kathy feeding it water from the hose into the raw water filter. No tacho and various lights malfunctioning though.
(Should have been painting, but we were waiting for it to rain. It didn’t)
So – the rest of the day was an electrical nightmare trying to make sense of the panel wiring. Had to fit an earth, which got a display on the tacho hours meter but still no rpm . . . and, now the overtemp light won’t go out. We (apparently) have the wrong sender – have a new one, and try to fit it but the thread is not quite the same as the blanking plug.
WAY out of my depth now, but I cut the blue wire and the overtemp light goes out. Phil at Beta will tell me on Monday if I need to tap out the hole for the new sender. Tacho does not appear to be connected to the ‘w’ output on the alternator, but what do I know? Which is the ‘w’ output? Why is it a ‘w’ output? Wibble?
Sunday July 16th – 16 days to departure
All the painting is done except for touching up the bits we couldn’t reach while in the cradle. Jeff Pack recommends raising the waterline 6 – 9 inches!?! for a long distance cruise, but we have settled for an inch and will see how she floats.
Most of the gear from the loft is now on board. The old sails have been refolded to take up minimal space and we have decided to take most – but not all – of the old rigging with us. Let’s face it, one cap shroud should be enough . . . if we lose both then the mast will be gone anyway.
Have not been able to get hold of Donald but still optimistic he will come and complete the final alignment of the engine and help with the wiring of the fuel gauge. If not John Wilson has said he will come and give us a hand. Am 80% certain the gear change will work back to front, but am ready for it!
Stowing the anchors was the usual nightmare and the 15K CQR is back on its chocks on the foredeck just now as getting it in a locker was simply too much hassle. Need to splice the anchorplait to the chain for its rode – an en-route job, along with making up the series drogue. Must see if I can find somewhere to stow it tomorrow.
Sorry this is boring but we are knackered . . . a more inspirational style will hopefully develop once we achieve escape velocity. Looking at snorkelling fins on Ebay today.
Tuesday July 18th – 14 days to departure
WE ARE LAUNCHED!!
Got down to the yard last night and put a second coat on the touched up bits where the cradle had been – she is looking good.
Launched at 11 o’ clock and motored out to Charlie’s mooring. Forgot to burp the shaft seal – checked it and the shaft was hot, then tried to burp it and no water came out. Half a dozen burps later and water – so at least I know water is getting up the stern tube past the Vega (non-cutlass) stern bearing.
Greased up the rigging screws and preliminarily tightened, them, then mysteriously knackered my back . . . went home for lunch and spent the afternoon lying on the floor with an ice pack on it. A bit of a disaster as I wanted to get the sails on and make sure the new headsail fitted.
Had to get up and go down the pub after tea . . . Ron MacInnes and Speedwell are anchored in the bay. A very pleasant few pints – alcohol is a well known muscle relaxant.
A bit of a bugger , this sudden disability at a critical moment – just goes to show you never know (a Curved Air lyric there . . .) Hopefully I will have a little more mobility tomorrow. I need to do things like crawl into the port cockpit locker (again!) to redo the gear cable connection to the morse control, as (as I had suspected and as Sod’s law of the Sea guaranteed) at the moment backwards is forwards and vice versa.
Mair Ibuprofen vicar . . .
Thursday July 20th – 12 days to departure
Got the sails on today – delighted to find out that the new sail from Jeckells fitted and furled OK. Then is started raining, so we went to Ardfern to the chandlers – big mistake – spent a fortune, a lot of it on stuff that then turned out to be less than ideal for the job for which it had been bought, but ain’t that always the case?
Got back out to the boat at about six and rove the reefing lines, including the new line for the third reef, then failed to make the furling line go nicely round the CQR chocked on the foredeck. Got the sprayhood rigged up. Back home after nine, a bit shattered but back not too bad.
Friday July 21st – 11 days to departure
Spent the morning boxing up books to stash in the attic – it looks as though we have rented the house to the couple from Glasgow who came to see it on Friday, so we will have to go and live on the boat whatever happens.
Friends came into Balvicar at lunchtime on their Barbary Ketch, on the way back to their home port in Loch Feochan. Scones, a lot of nattering and a useful piece of software as a present from Trevor, who also started me thinking of getting a Navtex PC engine again.
Got aboard Fairwinds when Balchis left to catch the tide through Cuan and managed to fix the reverse/forward dichotomy. We then motored up the sound to Hugh and Rose’s pontoon. They have very kindly said we can leave Fairwinds there while we provision her, which will be incredibly useful – there is water and electricity available as well.
Engine ran quite smoothly on the way up the Sound. Donald Smith is coming over sometime next week to check and finalise the alignment, and hopefully help me fix up the temperature gauge and rev counter. Didn’t check the shaft seal to see if it was running hot – will have a feel next time. (It involves taking the cockpit sole up – 8 long screws – but I suppose I should).
Fairwinds looks fantastic on the wee pontoon – what a beautiful setting; makes me think we must be mad to want to go so far away, but then look what we’ve got to come back to. Dinghied back to the boatyard so it’s available for Silkie tomorrow.
Saturday July 22nd – 10 days to departure
Slept for 12 hours last night and woke up feeling much better.
A useful day down at the boat – fixed up the Navik and adjusted it, worked out how to take the paddle out of the water etc. Fitted the dodgers, cut the memory foam for the forepeak berth and put it in the special triangular duvet cover, fixed various small things and stowed most of the permanent equipment, pilot books, charts etc. There really isn’t much more to add apart from food and water.
A pleasant evening up at the Tigh an Truish – met Silkie (anchored in Puilladobhran) and had a meal and a few pints of the amber nectar (Piper’s Gold) Thursday July 27nd – 5 days to departure Too much happening . . . today Donald came to check the alignment of the engine, and seemed to succeed in misaligning it sufficiently for the Volvo shaft seal to start leaking before I went home and got an alignment cone and we started from scratch. After four hours it was back to being reasonably aligned – the flexible coupling should cope with the rest, and the shaft seal stopped dripping as mysteriously as it started. There seems to be a sufficiency of water coming up the stern tube with the engine running, but virtually nothing with the engine stationary, which is reassuring – it means if there is trouble with the shaft seal at any point we should be able to replace it with the boat in the water. If I ever have to align an engine again I will definitely do it myself and save a load of stress and money.
Donald wired up the tacho and temperature gauge and we set the tacho, so we now have a fully functioning instrument panel. Crossed Donald’s palm with far too much silver – still , he will need it to buy drinks during West Highland Week (starts Saturday).
Removed the float switch and tested it – it was working, so rewired it and we now have the bilge pump working on both manual and automatic. Installed the new footpump for the water – the electric pump is still in line so we have electric and manual water systems – either pump is happy to pump through the other one.
The house isn’t being rented until the 7th,so we have a few days leeway if we want to use it – departure may now be Weds or Thurs, but certainly no later . . . we have now done half the jobs we were going to leave to do en-route, just a couple of wee things and we are ready to sail. A few domestic details to sort out with the lease, mail forwarding etc.
Monday July 27nd – 2 days to departure
We are not actually leaving until Wednesday 2nd now – waiting for a couple of last minute things to arrive by post. (Battery and antenna for the Iridium amongst other things). Don’t know how far we’ll get on Wednesday, may even end up spending the night at Craobh . . . we would like to be in Kilmore Quay by next Monday or Tuesday at the latest though, girding our loins for the Biscay crossing and fixing anything that breaks on the way down the Irish Sea. Total sea trials to date since launch consist of a one mile motor up Seil Sound.
Tim and Jenny have been here helping us and giving moral support, and our sons were over at the weekend – which slowed progress down a bit but which was good. The car began making horrible grinding noises on the way to Ardfern yesterday to get a new float switch (after thinking I had fixed the old one then finding it was in fact knackered). Ruth lent me her car, and eventually early evening Silkie and I fixed the bilge pump and as a bonus put the new security bolts on the battery box and (mostly) wired the Navtex aerial.
Got the car fixed today, took last year’s accounts in to our accountant, bought about 4kg of new paperbacks in Ottakers, packed up everything else, managed to get onto the boat for a couple of hours and mostly did stowage . . .
Tomorrow is our last full day in the house. We have just done the inventory for the solicitor and the tenants. Time for bed . . .