Summer Cruise ... (1)

So. I don't know whether trying to plan a summer cruise is really a separate entertainment from actually going sailing - there seems to be so little relationship between the two ...

I had been watching the 'Windy' long-range forecasts for a while, and trying to decide whether I should go down the canal and up through the islands, or go north and then up the canal. The first is usually the best plan, but a few days before I left it looked like the forecast was pointing to northerly airstreams as I came out of the canal.

So at the last possible minute, I decided to go North, sort of.

My first thought was to go straight to Wick from Lossiemouth - or perhaps to Sinclairs Bay, which is a good anchorage in westerly or south-westerly weather. I thought Wick, because the wind was light south easterlies on Friday when I planned to leave. Then I saw that the wind was shifting to the west on Sunday, and that I could take the opportunity to spend a day in Portmahomack and visit my sister in Tain.

I finally headed (properly) north on Sunday morning, but there was too much residual easterly swell for Sinclairs Bay to be a good idea, so I did go to Wick. I spent two nights there, mainly because I had some online meetings on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. I'd thought of heading round to Sinclairs bay and anchoring on Monday morning, but I decided that paying for another night was less risky.

The westerlies had arrived by Monday afternoon, though, so I was able to make a good passage from Wick to Deer Sound in Orkney. The wind was light, and I ended up doing a good deal of motoring. 

A bit south of Copinsay, the weather closed in - mist, rain, cold.

I went (I now realise) too far up Deer Sound, anchoring of Suckquoy. It's a bit stony there. I'd have been better off in the main sound where there is more sand, I think.

Strong westerlies were forecast - 20 knots - and I contemplated waiting them out. This was a good idea until the anchor dragged at 3am. At first, I stopped it by letting out more chain - in fact, the whole 40 metres (in a maximum depth of 6). I also have octoplait spliced onto the chain, but I didn't let that out.

Everything was fine then for 12 hours. But as high tide approached and the wind increased (25-30 knots), the anchor dragged again, and it didn't stop this time.

It took me an hour and a half to get it up, watching an approaching lee shore with trepidation. I did a lot of engine-powered anchor dragging to keep off and give me time to lift it. When I finally got it up, it was enmeshed in a huge ball of weed, so it's not surprising it had stopped holding.

I decided not to reset it, but to head round to Kirkwall. I had friends to visit there, and some shopping to do.

I was a bit surprised to find that there was a £5 charge per night for using electricity in the marina. When I came in, the person on watch just said 'Oh, you can plug in there.' without warning me about the cost. I think the most I've ever been charged before was about £2.50 (and may marinas just include in the overnight fee).

I stayed in Kirkwall visiting and touring for most of yesterday (Thursday). My friends took me to the Broch of Gurness. The bay there 'Sands of Evie' looked like perfect shelter, so that's where I spent last night.

I had a strange engine issue coming out of Kirkwall. When I tied up there on Wednesday night, there was a strange 'clunk' when I put it astern to dock. When I started the engine again on Thursday it was hard to start and ran rough for a minute. Then there was a lot of smoke in the cabin - as though I had a cracked exhaust.

I shut everything down and ventilated the smoke. Then I opened up the engine compartment and looked for damage. I couldn't find any, so tried starting the engine again. This time it behaved perfectly, and no smoke.

Then, leaving Kirkwall, there was a clunking from the prop or prop shaft for about a minute or two. That also stopped, and hasn't reappeared.

I spent some time at anchor this morning doing further explorations, and I haven't been able to figure out what happened. Everything is behaving properly.

I took the opportunity to grease the gearshift controls and check the gearbox oil. The controls now work more smoothly, but the gearbox oil level is far too high. This should cause problems with the cone clutch, but unless that was the 'clunk' in Kirkwall, I haven't been aware of anything. It must have been like that for a few years ...

I can't lower it just now because there isn't a drain plug that I can find and I don't have an extractor pump on board.

The only other thing I wonder is whether the engine was in gear when I tried to start it the first time in Kirkwall. This would have made it unhappy, and might have popped the jprop into a strange configuration (causing the noise on the way out). It doesn't explain the smoke, though.

I need to decide whether to explore the north and then sail back round the north coast, or head down to the canal. I don't think I fancy doing the canal with an uncertain engine/gearbox. I have a few days to think (and experiment) before I decide.

Spring Cleaning & Maintenance

 No pictures this time. I've been doing some cleaning, decluttering, and servicing.

Servicing was the diesel - oil, fuel, impeller, anodes. All good now.

Cleaning - really trying to get rid of some of the sand/dust/grime. I made serious progress with it, but am impressed by how hard it it to do. My floorboards need some protections - varnish or wood oil ... I'll see.

Decluttering - Well. It's a lot easier to take things on board than to get them off. I've made a dent, but my car is nearly full of stuff. Mostly 'useful things I might need someday'. Except that some of them have been on board for about ten years. And some are sort of duplicates - how many 'handy pieces' of ply or hardwood do I need?

I found a better place to stow the hose and the hoselock portable shower: In the semi-inaccessible, awkwardly shaped, and permanently damp locker outboard of the sink and under the counter top.

There is, as ever, lots more I could do ...

Dinghy Repair ... not one you'll see in a magazine.

 

This is a not so good patch.

I had a very slow leak in the starboard tube, and had hunted diligently for it. Soapy water etc. I could not find it, and decided to try to seal the tube from the inside using a latex sealant. These usually work well for very small leaks.

As an aside, I'm not that happy with how many times I've had to fix leaks in this dinghy - it was very expensive (Zodiac 2.4 m), and I thought it would be more robust. It hasn't had rough treatment.

Anyhow, I removed the valve body and squirted in a good helping of latex fluid - more than would normally be necessary. Maybe half a litre. After sloshing it around a good deal ('tumbling' the fully inflated dinghy) I noticed a tiny scratch that was bubbling faintly. What I couldn't find with soap was revealed by the sealant ...

I painstakingly prepared the area (cleaned with solvent) and the patch - three thin layers, five minute gaps between the first two, fifteen minutes after the third, and applied it. At first, everything seemed fine.

Then it became clear that the pressure in the tube was driving air into a bubble under the patch. I immediately opened the valve and tried to press out the bubble, but it was too late. The adhesive was setting up well, but the blister looked like it might progress.

I carefully lay the dinghy in a position that made sure the latex was flowing into the leak. Then I had a think. I really needed to get rid of the air bubble, and it wouldn't be persuaded to go back where it came from ...

I decided to puncture the bubble carefully from the outside - near the edge, with a needle, at a very shallow angle. I put two small holes in and got rid of the air. Unfortunately, the adhesive in the centre section wouldn't grip properly now - either because it had set up, or because the latex was lubricating it.

I reinflated the tube and put it in back in the position that let the latex flow towards the puncture. After an hour or so, it was clear that the latex had filled the bubble and was coming out through the pin holes. No more air.

It all now seems to have set up, and the tube is still firm after 24 hours.

This is definitely not a technique I would recommend, but it seems to have worked. We'll see.

Since getting the patch off again would probably do further damage, I don't have much choice.

The mucky finish is from an excess of rubbing and manipulating.

Repairs and modifications...

The nice weather meant I could fix the Aries (again). I had a nasty night at anchor in the Dornoch Firth towards the end of last season, and the violent movement somehow made the gear between the vane mechanism and the pendulum jump. I'm still trying to figure out how this happened - I couldn't 'force' it back.

Anyhow, I pressed the pin out in situ (see earlier post on this method) and got everything working again. This involved a lot of leaning over the stern and reaching out through the pushpit, tying tools to pieces of line in case I dropped them, trying not to swear ... I'm getting a bit stiff and old for these contortions and anxieties. It's good to get it working again though.

I also fitted a separate fuel tank for the Webasto heater:

It used to have a feed from the main fuel tank, but the line was quite long & the pump seemed to be making hard work of it. The heater would flame out or become smoky as a result. It took me a while to figure out what was happening but when I tried running it directly from a fuel can all the problems went away ...

You may wonder at the odd angle. I wanted the filler cap at the top, to avoid slopping fuel into the 'dry locker' (which has become a bit of a 'dirty store'). It all seems to have worked perfectly. Except I now have less excuse for putting '60/40' on my red diesel form. Power generation might count ...

Spring (?) Sail

At the end of January I had a two night trip to Portmahomack. It was cold, but the weather beckoned.

On the way back I had more wind than I (or Windy) anticipated.

After rounding Tarbat Ness I had a very fast reach over to Lossiemouth. Hard on the wind for the first hour, then 50-60 degrees off for the rest, not too much sea running.

I wasn't reefed, but would have put one in if I'd realised it was going to be so breezy. Mostly 17-20 apparent.

When I tied up in Lossiemouth, I had covered 22 nautical miles in three and a half hours - about 6.3 knots through the water

For more than an hour as I was approaching Lossiemouth, my boat speed stayed consistently above 7 knots. The conditions were ideal - a new wind, with little fetch (from the S, SW) meant there wasn't a sea running.