Winter Refit – Replacing the Windows

As soon as we arrived in Brest early in August we had started looking closely at our options for sorting out the leaking windows. The leaks were in no way catastrophic but, for us, it was clear that Blue Velvet was not properly ready for an Atlantic crossing. We had last had the windows refurbished in 2011. Later models of Rustler 42s have a new window frame design in which the seal is less prone to UV damage. We looked at fitting that new design of window in 2011 but there was a 3 month lead time to make them and we realised that we might have to cut larger apertures in the GRP to fit them. So instead we had the old windows removed and sent off to be taken apart and the sealant around the glass replaced. On our passage towards the Azores we had had the same symptoms again; UV degradation of the sealant was allowing water to track around the edge of the glass and drip inside. It seemed sensible this time to properly investigate replacing our windows with the new design which does not have this weakness cropping up after 12-14 years.

Our old design of widow frame with visible bolt heads (and strips of sponge inside the frame to catch the drips!)

Seaglaze are a UK based company that make the windows for Rustler 42s and their team were very helpful. I asked for a quote for a set of the new design of the windows they supply to Rustlers and confirmation of the aperture dimensions. The response prompted a bit of head scratching and a lot of design work. The more recent design had a more substantial aluminium frame that clamps onto the GRP. It had 6mm toughened glass with a 65mm radius at each corner and I thought would be a relatively easy swap for our old design of windows. Unfortunately Seaglaze could no longer supply the 6mm toughened glass. The thicker 8mm glass they would use for future orders would need a heavier weight aluminium frame and 80mm radius corners. When I asked to see the drawings for the 8mm glass windows they supply to Rustlers, they replied that this was a new change and no Rustler 42s had been built yet with the new 8mm windows. Blue Velvet would be the first one and the windows hadn’t been designed yet!

On the left the later clamp frame with 6mm glass and 65mm radius corners. On the right the first design of the
new 8mm glass with wider frame and 80mm radius corners which we felt was too rounded at the ends

The 80mm radius corners meant that we would definitely have to trim the GRP on Blue Velvet to fit the new windows. So during our first days in Brest I made up paper templates with 80mm radius corners, slightly longer than our current apertures, to prove the concept. The Seaglaze design team then produced proper engineering drawings based upon this sizing. Those drawings gave me the full dimensions and profile of the heavier weight aluminium frames the 8mm toughened glass needed and that exposed an issue. With thicker frames and using the existing height of the apertures, the visible glass was going to be much smaller than our current windows to the extent that it would change the look of the boat from the outside. I described them to Nicky as narrow letterboxes of glass with rounded ends rather than the more rectangular windows that you expected to see on a Rustler42 (see Right above).

The only solution was to accept that we would need to open up the apertures to increase the heigh of the frames and therefore the visible glass. With the new design of frames clamping onto the GRP there is a much larger frame on the inside of the boat in comparison with our existing screwed on frames. Balancing the space inside for this larger internal frame and minimising the increase in size of the aperture, I was able to come up with a new size of window that I hoped would look right from the outside of the boat and not compromise the general look of the boat. The Seaglaze design team turned these into another detailed set of engineering drawings. After checking everything carefully, we confirmed the order. Manufacturing time was expected to be 12 weeks and the new windows would come with templates that we could use to help to accurately cut larger apertures in the GRP.

The first window removed

So now moving on to the end of November, we were back in Guernsey and were delighted to take delivery of a large wooden packing case. Inside were our 8 new windows all beautifully packaged up and protected. The male templates in hardboard arrived a few days later. The new windows looked very good; Seaglaze had done their part and it was now up to us to fit them. The first task was to make up female plywood template for each of the 3 sizes of window which we would use to enlarge the apertures.

Seaglaze supplied male template of the aperture and from them we had made up a female plywood
templates for each of the 3 sizes of window

Cutting the large aperture in stages using a router

Knowing the job would be a messy one, we hired a storage unit and took everything that we could off the boat. The first window we tackled was the aft heads one because it had a clear area all around it inside. Using the same technique we had used for the hatches and a new supply of small wooden wedges, the old window came out remarkably easily. Once the surround was cleaned of sealant, we carefully lined up and clamped the plywood template in position so that the ~10mm that needed to be cut away to enlarge the aperture was exposed inside the template.

Nicky and I wore eye and breathing masks and we had a vacuum cleaner nozzle in position inside ready to catch the dust, but even so it was a very messy job. The GRP was neatly cut away using a router which I ran around the edge of the template in short lengths moving the clamps as needed to allow the router access.

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Inside the boat was a bit like a snowstorm and the dust seemed to get everywhere even with the vacuum cleaner running. However, it was worth the mess because the router did produce a very neat and accurate cut. GRP is tough stuff though and it quickly blunted the router bit. Fortunately I had bought half a dozen bits in anticipation of that issue but based upon the first window, I expected to be ordering some more.

Left: Making sure the sealant gets into the corner before applying a much thicker bead around the flange.
Top Right: progressively tightening the clamping screws which were then (Bottom Right) neatly hidden
with some black rubber trim

The templates should ensure that the enlarged aperture was the perfect size but nonetheless it was a relief when the dry fit of the new window was just right. After the surrounds were cleaned with some acetone, we squeezed several rounds of marine sealant onto the flange to ensure that we had a healthy excess that would squeeze out to make a coherent seal. The frame was then clamped with 12 bolts which were progressively tightened to pull everything in. A wipe or 2 with a solvent soaked rag cleaned up the outside whilst a strip of black rubber trim was pressed in to hide the screw heads. There was a much larger aluminium frame inside with the new design but we felt it had a cleaner look. This larger frame would mean a bit of extra work trimming the deck head to fit around it in the forward cabin and heads but if I had got my measurements right it would just be those 2 windows needing that attention.

The first new window fitted

Looking from the outside the window looked very clean and smart without any screw heads visible…

… and when compared to the old window next to it, even with the larger frame and thicker glass, we felt that the size we had ordered maintained the proper look of a Rustler 42. The only issue was that we now needed to fit 7 more windows and 4 of those were extra long… it was time to order some extra router cutting bits!

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Winter Refit – The New Generator (Part 2)

Deciding which new generator to buy took some detailed research which had started as soon as we had arrived back in Guernsey at the beginning of October. Several factors needed to be taken into account. Most importantly the new generator would need to fit into and be strongly secured inside the available room in the machinery space. As a second consideration, the size of the generator would be constrained by what would fit through the narrow doorway into the aft heads. As well as the physical size of the generator, there was also the generating power to consider. Our old generator was 4kVA which ran everything we needed but it was working at its maximum capacity to power the compressor that we use to fill our scuba dive tanks. A 5kVA generator would be able to cope with that power demand much better but was likely to be bigger and heavier than our old generator.

After many hours studying generator speciation data, engineering drawings, and taking lots of careful measurements, we finally settled on the Fischer Panda 5000i Neo PMS. There were other manufacturers models that potentially would have worked but Fischer Panda UK were able to supply and ship the 5000i quickly and all of the exhaust system, header tanks etc already fitted to the boat were Fischer Panda and I knew would be compatible and wouldn’t require a complete redesign of the machinery space layout.

Using the Spinnaker halyard set up Nicky and I were able to 
lift the generator onto Blue Velvet and into the saloon without 
 needing any extra manpower – note that the casing is wider 
than the doorway into the aft heads

The 5000i Neo PMS is a remarkably compact unit which produces a high voltage that is then brought down and regulated to 240 volts 50Hz by a separate inverter unit. Aside from very stable power supply, one immediate huge bonus of this setup is that the generator unit only weighs 67kgs and the inverter unit an additional 9kgs. Much easier weights of equipment to manhandle into the machinery space than our old 100kg generator. From the engineering drawings and careful measurements inside machinery space I was confident that the 2 components would fit and that, even with the cockpit moulding encroaching above, the 2 parts of the soundproofing capsule would be removable for access.

The headache was that the 5000i capsule was cuboid and wider than the doorway into the aft heads. After many more hours poring over the engineering drawings and studying the various photos of the 5000i (several with different ancillaries changed over the years!) I finally hatched a plan as to how we were going to get a 5000i through a doorway seemingly far too narrow to fit it through. Confirming the order was a bit of a leap of faith. With the order placed the Fischer Panda team kicked into gear and a couple of weeks later we had a brand-new generator sat in our hallway at home.

The new generator secured onto the bearers and ready
to be connected up

The first priority was to make up new aluminium bearers which the generator’s flexible feet would be bolted to. A wooden template was made to assist in designing the bearers and spacers so that the new shape of generator could be properly secured. Once cut to the right lengths, the aluminium flat bar was drilled and tapped, and then bolted to the bearers which are part of the hull moulding. The generator’s inverter was also secured to the bulkhead.

A wooden ramp was then built so that, once the generator had been lifted into the heads area, it could be slid up the ramp and into the machinery space. Next came the tricky job of getting the new generator from the saloon and through the narrow doorway into the heads. By temporarily removing the bracket supporting the coolant pump, the iControlled box, and several hoses, the generator was made narrow enough but the sound capsule tray was still too wide. However, by turning the generator on its side the capsule could be hooked around the doorframe 

The finished installation ready for testing

and with the coolant pump bracket removed there was just enough clearance to rotate the generator through the doorway. The plan hatched whilst studying the engineering drawings and photographs had worked which was a huge relief.

The generator was then slid up the ramp into the machinery space and then along 2 wooden beams to move it outboard over the new aluminium bearers. The mounts were then bolted to the bearers to secure the generator.

The next 2 days were spent connecting up the fuel, coolant header tank, exhaust and electrics. A separate electric fuel lift pump also needed to be fitted close to the diesel tank under the saloon sole.

With everything checked and double checked in accordance with the manual, we finally came to the moment of truth and pressed the start button. It was extremely satisfying to hear the new generator fire up first time and settle into very quiet idle speed. The iControlled adjusts the speed of the motor to match the electrical load and we found that the new generator is much quieter than the old one; we are hoping for many years of trouble free service from it.

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Winter Refit – The New Generator (Part 1)

The old generator stripped of parts to reduce its weight and the
 surrounding panels removed to help with access

Our Winter Refit was made up of several large projects; one of which was replacing our generator. During our summer cruise the generator had become increasingly difficult to start. We had gone through a whole series of tests and adjustments to keep it going but then every few days it would turn over but not fire up. The injector seemed okay; it was cleaned but we were expecting to have to fit a new one to properly rule that out. The valve gaps were checked multiple times and bizarrely the generator always seemed to start straight away after those checks. Most worryingly we started to see traces of oil in the cooling seawater ejected from the exhaust and so we stopped running it.

It was clear that the generator was in need of a complete strip down, refurbishment and rebuild. I therefore set about drawing up a list of replacement parts that we would need to order in. Trying to price those parts up highlighted an issue. It would appear that this model of diesel generator motor hadn’t been made in Europe for a few years and with spare parts starting to become scarce, they were surprisingly expensive. Fischer Panda advised me that they don’t supply generators with that diesel motor in them any longer because the engine manufacturing company they had got the motors from had gone bust several years ago. As a result, Fischer Panda had designed a whole new generator to replace the gap in the market.

A major recondition of our existing generator would be possible but it was looking like it would be an expensive and time consuming operation. Additionally, I was concerned that in the future we might have difficulties getting spares; it didn’t seem sensible to invest a lot of time and money into an almost obsolete generator. Instead I started looking in detail at replacement generators available from several manufacturers. A key factor was which ones would fit our machinery space and the tortuous access route into that part of the boat.

The route to our machinery space at the aft starboard corner of Blue Velvet – the old generator
 would need to be carried out through this tunnel and the new generator back in the same way!

Our current generator was a rectangular cuboid shape which just squeezed through the narrow doorway into the aft heads.  It was a heavy lump weighing around 100kgs and manhandling it off the engine beds, through two hatchways and a doorway to get it into the saloon was going to be a challenge.  We would then need to lift it up through the companionway to get it off the boat.

With the machinery space cleared, access was much
better but lifting the generator off the beds and out
 through the hatch would still be difficult

Doors panels and the machinery space flooring were removed to give maximum access.  After disconnecting the generator supply lines I also stripped off every easily removable part of the generator to reduce the weight.

The plan was for one strong character to lie in the back corner of the machinery space and, as a 2 man lift, the generator would be moved off its mounts and then progressively inched out through the hatchways with suitable blocks underneath it. This was the same technique we’d seen used when we had had the original generator replaced with this one.

With everything ready for the lift out, it was time to recruit some extra muscle power. My daughter’s boyfriend Matt was roped in and he also found a friend from the gym who was happy to help. I’m not entirely sure that they knew what they were letting themselves in for!

With 2 muscly characters crammed into the machinery space there wasn’t much room to move and having to lift the generator up and off the beds without any headroom above it was far from easy. However, little by little the generator was manhandled out of the machinery space and into the saloon. Once there we rigged up a rope cradle which was attached to the spinnaker halyard. With another rope and block attached to the backstay we could then use the winches to take the load as we wiggled the generator up through the companionway and out into the cockpit.

The lifting team!  You can also see the spinnaker halyard, block and rope set up we used
to help get the generator up through the companionway and off the boat

A slight bump from a 100kg lump of metal could do a lot of damage so we had padded the doorways as best we could and used lots of protective boards as the generator was progressively moved. Even with those precautions, there was always the concern that we might damage some of Blue Velvet’s beautiful woodwork during the lift out operation. It was, therefore, a great relief when we finally got the old generator up into the cockpit with just a few scratched in the varnish around the aft heads doorway where we had needed to angle the generator to get it through the narrow gap. With smiles all around we were able to use the same spinnaker halyard, rope and block set up to lift the generator off the boat and onto a trolly. A very successful afternoon’s work!

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Winter Refit - New Hatches and Anchor Chain

 Our early August passage from Kinsale towards the Azores was aborted because of leaking windows and a leaking forehatch.  They were certainly not catastrophic leaks but the forehatch leak had been particularly irritating because we had already changed the seal on the forehatch earlier in the year because it had been looking a bit tired and compressed.  The seal change instructions had seemed simple enough, however, getting the new seal to bed down properly into the radiuses at the corners had proved to be much more difficult than expected.  When we had finished, it had all looked good and there had been no leaks during normal sailing conditions, but August’s proper sea trial in F6 confused seas with a lot of water over the deck exposed that the new seal fitting wasn’t really good enough for our planned Atlantic crossing.

Back in Guernsey, a chat with the guys at our local boatyard confirmed that changing the hatch seals was time consuming and very difficult to get right.  As a result, their usual practice was to replace the whole hatch.  Given that one hatch had already looked like its seal needed changing, and recognising that the others were also originals from when Blue Velvet was made, we decided that it would be prudent to take the opportunity to replace all of the hatches with new ones.

Out with the old

Taking advantage of some sunny and dry weather in October weather, we set about removing the forehatch.  Despite our concerns about the bedding sealant, it actually came out relatively easily.  With the bolts and screws removed, we were able to get a chisel under the flange and then progressively work around the hatch cutting the sealant with a knife blade.  Lots of wooden wedges were used to hold the flange up and keep a bit of tension on the bit of the sealant that we were cutting.  It took a bit of time but working very carefully around to avoid damaging the GRP, eventually the hatch popped out and we were able to clean off the old sealant with acetone ready for bedding down the new hatch.

The new hatch bedded down

With a good squeeze of marine sealant all around the flange and then a progressive tightening of the screws and bolts, we were confident that the base of the hatch would be watertight when the sealant had set.  There was clearly a little excess to clean up but a final wipe around with an acetone soaked cloth gave us a neat finish.

The hinge supports were given a bit of a tighten with an Allen key and, with weight from outside, the handles were locked shut.  Once the protective film had been removed the real benefit of fitting new hatches became immediately apparent.  The old hatch had a small amount of sunlight induced crazing but this new hatch was, in comparison, beautiful clear.  One hatch completed…. just 7 more to go!

Aside from the new hatches, the other big delivery we had received this month was a pallet with 100 metres of new anchor chain.  When away cruising we spend a lot of time at anchor and so the galvanising on the chain eventually gets worn away.  The chain is still strong enough to keep the boat secure at anchor but it starts to rust which marks the foredeck and makes it look unsightly.  Our chain was probably good for one more year, especially if we had end for ended it, but in a year’s time we aren’t expecting to be in a location where finding new 10mm DIN 766 metric calibrated chain will be easy.  So 220kg of shiny new chain was lugged down to the marina, each 10 metre point was marked, and then it was loaded into the chain locker.  For anchoring in extreme conditions, we also carry an additional 50 metres of thick stretchy octoplait anchor warp which was spliced to the bitter end of the chain; we hope we never see conditions bad enough that we have to let out 100 metres of chain and the additional 50 metres of warp but it’s there ready if we do.

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Dartmouth Devon UK

The beaches of Herm glowing in the sunshine

The highlight of our 1300hrs departure from Guernsey was being intercepted by JJ, Matt and Simone to wave farewell to us and wish us good luck on our travels.

The beaches of Herm glowing in the sunshine

It was a fantastic send off which had intended to be with a boat on each side of Blue Velvet but, in the finest traditions of seamanship, Simone in the other motorboat found himself distracted taking in tow a sailing vessel that had got a line wrapped around its propeller.  We waved to Simone as he towed the disabled vessel in the opposite direction towards St Peter Port whilst enjoying being escorted up the Little Russel by JJ and Matt.  It was a grand farewell from Guernsey.

Tuesday morning in Dartmouth on the midstream pontoon

We actually needed to get to Falmouth to have our new pulpit fitted but the weather was not playing ball.  The westerly wind might not have been good for Falmouth but it was ideal for a passage towards Dartmouth; perfect for seeing our friends Nici and Strevs who live there.

So, we set off close hauled on starboard tack and 11 hours later, at just after midnight, we completed a 73 mile passage to Dartmouth and tied up on one of the mid-stream pontoons by the Upper Ferry across the River Dart.

(Top) The Britannia Royal Naval College and Upper Ferry and (below L & R) the Dartmouth Steam Railway
 train running down the Kingswear side of the estuary close to our mooring 

The morning brought delightful views of the River Dart with the Britannia Royal Naval College overlooking us on the high ground above the Upper Ferry, the Dartmouth Steam Railway train running down the Kingswear side of the river close to our mooring, and the picturesque estuary laid out before us.  But it was a prompt start for us because we had arranged to meet Nici and Strevs for breakfast at a café in the town before spending the morning at their house catching up on the latest news.

Looking upriver from above Warfleet Creek

We hatched a plan for an afternoon walk, followed by drinks and then dinner out before heading our separate ways for a few hours, which allowed us to catch up on a little ‘post passage admin’ on BV.

Kingswear

A couple of hours later, mid-afternoon, we met up again with Nici and Strevs (and Saffy their dog) and set off on a leg-stretch out to Dartmouth Castle at the southern entrance to the river.

(Top) Looking across to Kingswear from Warfleet Creek and (below) the
Britannia Royal Naval College and Royal Dart Yacht Club 

(L) Looking up-river and (R) across to Kingswear Castle

It’s a lovely walk with great views up-river and across to Kingswear and the tea-room at the castle does great ice-creams too!

Looking out from Shoals seafood restaurant over the Shoalstone Seawater Bathing Pool

After evening drinks up at Nici and Strev’s house, Nici drove us out to Berry Head just to the east of Brixham for a lovely seafood dinner at Shoals restaurant which overlooks Tor Bay.  A perfect evening with friends, with perfect weather to enjoy the views.  It would have been nice to dally longer in Dartmouth but overnight the wind was expected to veer to the north and we needed to take advantage of the brief period of favourable wind if we were to get west to Falmouth. The tide meant it would be an 0700hrs departure, so Dartmouth turned out to be a lovely, but brief, 36 hour stop-over.

Dartmouth, Devon, UK

St Peter Port Guernsey

A lot has happened in the first half of 2024.  Whilst spending February in the shed at Boatworks, Blue Velvet had new skin fittings, the scratches on her topsides patched up, the bent stanchions and bases all sorted, a new genoa Furlex, the staysail Furlex refurbished, replacement guardrails, the mast wiring replaced, the chainplate bolts replaced, and a complete new set of standing rigging.  The outstanding work required was a refurbishment of the backstay tensioner, which needed a new bearing and seal, plus a new pulpit.  The latter was a bit of a drama as the one sent from the UK in January had poor quality welding and legs of different lengths.  It was rejected as a proper fix but we still needed to get BV to the UK so the guys at Boatworks managed to work it into position and bolted it down with one bolt on each leg to allow us to sail to Hayling Island for the next phase of the storm damage repairs; the respray.

The mast being re-stepped before relaunch

The respray was going to happen at the Hayling Yacht Company on Hayling Island on the south coast of the UK, just east of Portsmouth.  Typically for March the weather forecast was not looking good for a Channel crossing and we had the added complication that the Hayling Yacht Company is based up a small drying creek so arrival times were critical. Slightly later than we would have hoped, we departed Guernsey on 10 March with no wind for a motor up to Alderney in the hope of catching a weather window the next day for a Channel crossing.  The 0930am start had us sailing hard on the wind but by late afternoon the wind had backed to the west and we were able to get across to Portsmouth arriving at 11pm. Portsmouth was a bonus as it allowed us to meet up the next day with a good friend, Richard Farrington, and also to pick up a new genoa car (to match our discontinued models) which I had tracked down as old stock held by a supplier in Gosport.  It also meant that we could depart Gosport on Wed 13 March and time our arrival at Hayling Yacht Company to fit in with the tidal constraints of the drying creek.

BV sat high and dry at low water with her keel dug into the mud

It was quite windy on the Wednesday, so we took the opportunity to drop the genoa whilst we were en-route to Hayling Island, rather than wait until we were in the marina with the risk of the sail catching on surrounding boats and/or piles. Having felt our way into the marina towards the top of the tide, and hauled the keel through the mud into or berth, we spent our first ever night with BV in a mud mooring. As the tide went out, BV’s keel settled into the soft mud so that she was high and dry well before low water.  The following day we crept around the shallows to position her off the slipway so that she could be hauled out.

BV being hauled out at the Hayling Yacht Company on Hayling Island

After the haul out we spent a night on board and the next day watched as the mast was craned off.  At that point it was time for us to be picked up by our friends Jonathan and Anne Lloyd who very kindly hosted us for the night and even dropped us off at the ferry port first thing in the morning for our return to Guernsey.

BV in the spray bay

A proper respray is not a quick process.  BV needed to be put into the spray bay, and then after hours of careful preparation work and masking up, multiple layers of Awlcraft 2000 were sprayed on and left to fully harden.  It wasn’t until mid-May that it was time to get the ferry back to Portsmouth to pick her up.

New Coppercoat on the waterline

Anne very kindly picked us up from the ferry port and dropped us off at the boatyard, and a week later she and Jonathan hosted us overnight, which was a delightful break from hard work at the yard.  Deliberately arriving a few days before the launch date, which was constrained by the tide, we knew that we would have a busy few days ahead of us.  Before we launched, we wanted to gently sand the Coppercoat antifouling to expose fresh copper and reactivate it.  We had been told that we would have to do that inside the spray bay where there were properly filtered extractor fans.  However, our expected one day of work before BV was ready for the mast to be put back on turned out to be a few days longer.  The surface prep work for the respray had necessitated sanding away some of the Coppercoat along the waterline.  So, as well as reactivating the Coppercoat, we also found ourselves with the extra task of repainting Coppercoat along the waterline and then leaving it for a few days until it had hardened enough to be sanded ready for relaunch. 

BV being inched out of the spray bay

With the Coppercoat work complete, BV could be removed from the spray bay.  Easy enough to say, not so easy in practice!  BV was a very exact fit for the spray bay and the tractor/trailer driver and manoeuvring team needed to be absolutely on the ball to work her out of the bay, with just centimetres of clearance at times.  Once she was out (and we’d stopped holding our breath!), she was ready for the mast to be re-stepped.

And with the mast re-stepped, she was ready to be launched at the top of the tide on Friday 24 May.  But, as soon as she was back in the water, we needed to skedaddle from the Hayling Yacht Company slipway quickly before the tide dropped too much for us to get out of the creek. Once we were out of the creek we were able to relax a little and, while Nicky motored us along gently, I checked the rig tensions which you can only do when the hull is in the water.  Our backstay tensioner was still in Guernsey because the bearing needed for its refurbishment still hadn’t arrived from Italy, so instead our rigger had given us a huge bottlescrew and Dyneema strop as a jury-rigged replacement to get us back to Guernsey. So we were never looking for perfect rig tension, just something in the right ball park to allow us to sail safely back home.

We split the passage home to Guernsey over a few days.  Our first passage was a short one: Hayling Island to Shepherds Wharf in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.  Here we met up Tim and Ann Walters, some Guernsey friends who fairly recently moved to the Isle of Wight, and had a lovely evening catching up with them and admiring their new home.

We weren’t the only yacht taking advantage of the good wind to set off from the Solent

We left Cowes the following morning and had good sail across the Channel arriving in Alderney just before midnight.

Braye Harbour, Alderney

Aside from letting us to spend the Bank Holiday weekend in Alderney, our stop off also allowed us to pick up our new outboard motor from Mainbrayce Chandlery.  Our previous outboard motor had been damaged in the November storm and Mainbrayce had recently had their new stock delivered including our 9.8Hp Tohatsu to replace the one that had been damaged.

Alderney

Returning to Guernsey on Monday 27 May, the plan was to fit our refurbished backstay tensioner, do the final packing of BV and then set off on our next sailing adventure at the beginning of June.  However, we found out that the bearing had still not arrived from Italy.  All indications were that it had been lost in the post.  After an extensive internet search, I found one supplier in the UK that had just one of the required bearings in stock.  However, at £125 each it wasn’t something that I wanted to order on a whim when potentially we had 2 arriving from Italy “any day”.

The new bowsprit – wooden template (top left) and final version in position (bottom left and right)

As we were stuck in Guernsey waiting for the bearings to arrive, “any day now”, 2 tasks bubbled up as priorities.  The first was a new bowsprit.  Getting that welded was suddenly possible as our Guernsey supplier had got the right thickness stainless stell tubing in stock.  I made a wooden mock-up of the locating plate, tested the fitting with that and then the stainless steel version was made and welded onto the tubing along with an eye fitting and end plate.  To finish the job off, I shaped the heel of the tube to fit over the end of the anchor point on our foredeck.

The generator with the cylinder head and ancillaries removed

The other major job that I needed to tackle was sorting out an oil leak on our generator.  Two seals needed to be replaced but to do that the whole cylinder head needed to be removed, along with a lot of ancillary attachments.  It was a job that I had been putting off for far too long but with the delays I had no excuse not to get on with it.  The generator looked quite bare with the head off but despite my concerns about the size of the job, everything went back together seamlessly with new seals and gaskets to replace the old ones.  Better still, once the tappets had all been set up again, the generator fired up and ran perfectly and with no oil leak!

However, having been distracted for a further week, the bearings from Italy still hadn’t turned up. We decided that order was most likely lost and so ordered the last one in stock from the UK supplier.  In typical comedy style, on 13 June the bearing from the UK supplier and the 2 bearings form Italy all arrived in the same postal delivery.  The 2 bearings had been posted in Italy on 16 April and didn’t arrive in Guernsey until almost exactly 2 months later!!

Needless to say, our rigger, Mark Terry at INOX, who had been equally frustrated by the delays was a star.  The backstay tensioner was rebuilt, fitted and the rig tensions all set up properly within a couple of days.  That allowed us to set to with stocking up the fridge and rations lockers plus the last few clothes and other gubbins that we needed to squeeze on board.

BV all packed up and ready to go

With everything set and the weather forecast checked, we announced our departure time as 1300hrs on Sunday 16 June.  The time was fixed as the earliest we could get out of the QEII marina, and the day was set by the packing being finished and the weather being favourable. As an added bonus, it was also our 23^rdwedding anniversary so a further reason to celebrate.

Having announced our departure we had some leaving drinks on board the preceding evening and it was clear that some of our Guernsey friends JJ, Simone and Matt were plotting a departure surprise for us; we’d have to wait until 1300hrs to see what they had planned.

St Peter Port, Guernsey