Another Week ...

I left the boat in Mallaig for two or three days to collect a starter motor from home, and to do a few other things. I was planning to continue up the canal as soon as I had a working engine.

When I arrived back in Mallaig on Tuesday night I was feeling a bit under the weather, and when I wakened up on Wednesday I had a nasty urinary infection accompanied by a high temperature. I couldn't face doing anything except getting some minimal groceries and getting medical advice. I managed both of these, but mainly spent the day in bed.

By Thursday morning I was feeling a bit better, managed to fit the starter and confirmed that the engine was working. There was still a problem with oil loss, though. I wasn't up to sailing on my own, but my son (A) (who had been going to accompany me up the canal) came to Mallaig.

I have a friend with a mooring in Loch Aline which he had previously said I could use. I checked back with him and he said he was happy for me to put the boat on it for a couple of weeks. I was more than grateful. I really needed to get a proper rest. I was happier leaving the boat in Loch Aline because it was south of Ardnamurchan and into the 'sheltered waters' part of the return trip. Also, it was less expensive than Mallaig and on a swinging mooring rather than on a pontoon.

The oil loss problem was too bad to try the canal, and I needed time to investigate and consider. We left Mallaig on Friday morning at about 7:45 and had enough wind to take us the whole way. We only had to motor for about twenty minutes at each end. Again, there were some slow passages that might previously have had me starting the engine, but always our patience was rewarded.

A went home this morning on the bus, and I stayed for a day to tidy up and investigate the oil leak further. It turned out to be a crack in the crankcase casting near the oil pressure sensor. At first I thought the sensor might be loose, but when I tightened it the casting broke completely.

The drip was certainly enough to explain the loss. I'm a bit surprised I didn't notice it before, but I was previously looking for a leak in a different place. Which seems a bit inexplicable in retrospect ... 

So why did the casting crack? Raasay has both an oil pressure warning light and an oil pressure gauge. They are both driven by the same sensor. The gauge, and the sensor, were almost certainly later modifications, and most 'dual' sensors of this type have a 1/8" NPT thread which is very close to but not identical to the original Yanmar item.

It's so close, in fact, that it can be fitted so long as it isn't tightened home and so long as you are willing to put up with a small oil seepage. If you tighten it up, as I did in Torridon, you will damage the thread or the casting. If the casting cracks without obviously breaking oil will leak out quite badly while the engine is running ... 

A proper repair is going to be a fairly serious business and I'll need to get professional help. I might get up the canal with a careful epoxy job, though ... which will be worth trying, in order to get back to Findhorn.

Tomorrow I'm going home to have a rest from all this for a week ot two and remind myself of life's other problems...

Well.

I got to Kyle of Lochalsh and got oil (courtesy of a friend who delivered it to the shore for me). I topped up the engine.

And the starter motor failed completely. At first, I could hear the Bendix/solenoid doing something, but the motor just whined and didn't turn the engine. Then I just heard the whine - which didn't stop when I released the starter button.

So I started investigating ways of getting a replacement starter motor delivered.

I could get one in 48 hours in Aberdeen, but in Skye and the West it seemed like it would be more like five days. Which I thought I couldn't really afford ...

So I decided to keep sailing for a bit. I knew I couldn't go up the canal without an engine, but I started to think about how I could get myself in the same place as a replacement starter motor in less than five days. I ordered one for delivery to Aberdeen on Friday (a cheap Chinese one - not a heartbreaking investment if I had to find another solution, and a useful spare ...)

So.

Wednesday evening I lifted anchor and sailed over to Kylakin, using the dinghy to manoeuvre. The anchorage in Kyle of Lochalsh was a bit crowded and I was quite near other boats. Off the beach in Kylakin I would have more swinging room. Lifting the anchor with the engine plainly silent was a bit thought-provoking. I'm sure there were a few nervous onlookers.

I visited friends in Skye on Thursday and thought further about options. I decided to leave the boat in Mallaig and take the train home - where I could collect the starter, get caught up with some work, have some meetings from my own workroom on Monday (instead of from the boat), and get a rest ...

The Mallaig to Glasgow train journey is one I've always wanted to try.

So I'm on the train now, Raasay is tied up safely in Mallaig, and I'll be back there about midnight on Tuesday with a replacement starter motor.

The trip from Kylakin to Mallaig:

I lifted anchor on Thursday night and used the slight breeze to control the boat through The Narrows (into the Sound of Sleat), anchoring in Bernera Bay. On Friday morning I headed for Mallaig, but ended up using the dinghy as a tug for about ten miles.

Misfortunes and good sailing ...

21st July 2021, about five miles from Kyle of Lochalsh.

I didn't go to Rona on Monday, I went to Loch Torridon. I motored all the way - a slightly scary thought in retrospect.

I anchored at the top of Upper Loch Torridon, within sight of the village. I'll attach some pictures to this post when I get them uploaded.

On Tuesday morning I wanted to make an early start. It was, again, fairly windless - although a contrary breeze was building from the SW. When I tried to start the engine, nothing happened.

I've had some worries about the starter motor, so I took it out and checked it over (tested it with jump leads etc.). When I put it all back together it seemed to work fine, but for some reason the oil pressure alarm wasn't going off. The oil pressure gauge was reading a bit over two bar (which is normally where it sits), so I assumed it was a problem with the wiring - that I had maybe dislodged something when I was removing the starter motor.

After eliminating a number of possibilities, and running the engine off and on over the course of the morning, I realised that there might actually be an oil problem.

(I had caused myself further confusion before this by removing the oil pressure sender to see whether there might be a blockage of some kind - I found nothing, but when I put it back the gauge started dropping as well as the alarm sounding.)

I looked back through the log to see when I had last topped it up - it was about a week before, in Loch Aline. I had check the dip stick since then, but I hadn't logged it.

Anyhow, I checked it again and found it very low (possibly off the end - the dipstick is hard to access, and often gets smeared with stuff in the tube). I added two litres and started the engine again - again, warning alarm and low oil pressure on the gauge. I checked the dipstick again, and it was still showing nothing.

There is some oil down there because the gauge leaps up when the engine starts, but then drifts down towards zero.

Unfortunately, two litres was all I had on board, so I couldn't experiment further and I couldn't run the engine anymore.

Two other odd things: although the starter motor now seems to work, it occasionally keeps running after the engine starts. Possibly a solenoid problem. I can stop it by switching off the engine battery, but I'm not sure whether this has other bad side effects. It shouldn't bother the alternator, because it has load from the domestic side.

Also, the oil pressure alarm just stopped working at all after a while. It doesn't even come on when the engine is stopped, now.

I sailed from Torridon a little after two and beat down the loch - completely magical sailing, with sun, scenery, smooth water, and 15 knots of wind over the deck. Outside the loch, I bore away down the coast and reached Applecross bay just before (!) the wind died completely. It had already swung to the north, and I was running very gently when it stopped.

After messing around for an hour, I pulled the dinghy alongside and fitted its outboard. At half throttle that gave me two knots or so of slighlty ungainly (jumping in and out of the dinghy ...) motoring. Useful to know.

This morning I'm sailing for Kyle, having established that I can buy engine oil from Marine Supplies on Station Road. I'll anchor by the bridge (there is a small bay on the north side) and pay them a visit by dinghy.

Then I can at least find out how fast the oil is disappearing, and, with luck, where it is going ...

And whether I've just been reading the dip stick a bit carelessly ...

I've only exceeded three knots once since 9am, and it's now nearly one. I should do this more often.

Summer Cruise - July 2021

 Monday 19^th July

Off Rubha Hunish.

I’ve been on the boat since the end of June. I spent a few days – nearly a week – in the Moray firth doing visits and short trips, then a week going down the canal with C and E.

I came out of the canal on Sunday the 11^th and spent a couple of nights at anchor in Loch Aline catching up with work and work-like things.

On Wednesday the I re-joined seafaring proper, and then spent a couple of nights in Canna Harbour. The trip to Canna was ok but not great fun. A rolly sea, grey sky, lots of things falling about that I’d forgotten to secure …

There were some reflected waves, or a local current, between Canna and Rum – the boat did a couple of really violent rolls, and I lost two boathooks over the side. The longs ones, unfortunately. I have one rather stumpy one left.

Another consequence of the rolling was that the overheat alarm came on fifteen minutes after I started the engine to enter the harbour. I had to turn round and head E so that I could drop the main and set the genoa again. I thought I’d sail back towards the harbour and examine the possibility (which would have been non-existent) of entering under sail. I also thought the shelter of Canna (winds mainly from the S) might let me run the engine.

The cutting out is definitely a feature of boat motion. The engine runs for hours without incident when it isn’t rolling.

Also a reintroduction to sailing in the west: I thought Canna Harbour might be quiet, but there were 23 boats in it (including me). Another yachtsman said he thought the record was 32.  I had a hard time finding a place to anchor where I had swinging room. I ended up near the entrance in about 10 m.  I was right about the motion – the engine was fine for the hour or so it took me to drop and lift the anchor three or four times.

If it hadn’t been, I’d have sailed out and gone to Rum harbour.

I stayed two nights in Canna harbour (I arrived quite late in the day) and had a walk ashore. I could have planned this better, as I walked right round to Sanday – which I could have reached in ten minutes by dinghy. It’s amazing how much effort went into ecclesiastical building in these out-of-the-way places. Well, anywhere, actually, as a matter of fact. Just no opportunities to turn the buildings into nightclubs out here. Maybe.

On Friday I went to Carbost, sailing the whole way across with the anchor light on the and the VHF off. I’m still finding my feet. There isn’t much in Carbost apart from the distillery, but there is a really good community shop, which fettled me up for the next few days with milk and bread.

Saturday was an exciting sail (SW 5) to Isay, where I anchored opposite the village and the infamous Macleod house, where Roderick Macleod murdered all the relatives that stood in the way of his grandson inheriting Raasay and Gairloch. The Macleods possibly had a genetic disposition to psychopathy.

On the way out of Loch Harport I discovered that the boat will sail upwind on its own with the helm lashed amidships. I think it needs to be balanced – one reef in the main and four rolls in the genoa, in this case – but it worked very reliably.

Last night (Sunday) I anchored at the Ascrib Islands, another lonely stop. I walked ashore for an hour or so, but found it very difficult – extremely springy turf, large dense clumps of moss (?) and heather. The birds were furious at my invasion.

There is a large house on one island, but it looks disused. It may have been built by Michael Palumbo when he owned the islands. It looks very traditional, but may only date from the 1990s.

This morning, I sailed from there heading for Rona, or maybe further. Well, I didn’t sail I motored. There is no wind.