Storm Bound

The strong gales blowing into the English Channel have kept us in Guernsey. That has been a bonus as we have been able to spend more time with family. But in the short lulls between squalls and rain showers we have wondered if we are being too cautious and should have set off by now. Fortunately the excellent local weather forecasts broadcast on Marine VHF by Jersey Coastguard include actual wind reports from the area. Hearing about 50 knot winds at Cap de la Hague, which we would pass close to on the way north, persuaded us that we have made the right decision to stay in the shelter of Victoria Marina in St Peter Port.

Servicing one of the genoa winches

We have taken the opportunity to spend two days servicing all of the winches. The photos are of one of the large genoa winches in pieces. Each of those took an hour and a half to strip apart, degrease with paraffin and reassemble with new grease and oil. With so many small parts, including small springs that can ping off, we were very pleased when all seven winches were serviced and back together without the loss of any components. Our cockpit tent, once again, came into its own in providing a sheltered work area.

The offending shaft seal

We finished off the routine winter service of the engine by changing the impeller in the seawater pump. Whilst doing that we discovered a slight leak from the pump's drive shaft area. The pump housing has spaces in it so that water can escape if the seals go. When this has happened in the past I was advised that it was not economic to change the seals, "just change the whole pump". It was certainly an easy solution but left a large hole in the wallet. Two days before New Year, however, was not a good time to order in a complete new pump. I was also concerned that any mistakes or damage from stripping the pump down could cause us to miss a weather window.

Geoff Tucker, the local Beta Engines agent, came to our rescue and, whilst his wife did a quick bit of shopping, he spent 45 minutes striping down the pump and replacing the leaky seal. He even showed me every step and talked through the considerations so that we would be able to do it ourselves during our travels. Great service on a Saturday morning and a far better (and more economic) solution than changing the whole pump - the Finance Director is very pleased!

Turk's Head knot

Much more interesting than leaky pumps was the results of Nicky's decorative ropework on the steering wheel. We had to cut off the old, rather tatty, Turk's Head which marked the wheel's centre point when we re-sewed the leather cover earlier in the month. Nicky's new Turk's Head knot is much smarter and completes the refurbishment work on the wheel.

There is still lots to do but the list of jobs finally seems to actually be getting shorter. Just as well with just three months to go before we set off!

Fortunately being storm bound is not all maintenance work though; the lunches can be very good!

Guernsey for Christmas

After three days of gales and squalls, on 21 December the weather finally settled down with a few hours of light south easterly winds and blue skies. Later in the day the wind was forecast to come from the west (the direction we would go on leaving Cherbourg) and would then back to the southwest around about the time we would need to turn southwest to reach Guernsey. Itching to get going, we were kept in Cherbourg waiting for the tide to turn. The Alderney Race was the barrier and, to avoid very unpleasant conditions and strong adverse tides there, Nicky had calculated that we should not leave Cherbourg until 1300hrs. We had until midnight to get to Guernsey before the next gale was due to hit the Channel Islands area.

We slipped on time and found the wind to be exactly as forecast; directly on the nose for the whole of our passage. Disappointingly after all of the excess wind in the gales there was now not enough wind to get BV sailing properly either. Reluctantly we accepted that if we tacked backwards and forwards in the light wind we would not make it to Guernsey before the gale hit, so the engine stayed on for the whole passage. We tied up to the waiting pontoon in St Peter Port at 2040hrs and, as we toasted our arrival, the heavens opened. We smiled realising that not only had we made it to Guernsey in time for Christmas but also that we had beaten the bad weather. Next time, hopefully, we'll do it under sail in order to properly earn our arrival tipple.

Fighting for a spare berth in St Peter Port's Victoria Marina

Since it was neaps, high water was at about midday.  We spent the morning refuelling as soon as there was enough water at the fuel berth and then waiting for there to be just enough water over the marina sill to get in there before showering and changing in time for a planned lunch in the Guernsey Yacht Club with Nicky's father and his partner.

Despite the tide constraints we managed to arrive spot on time. As we relaxed in the bar we mused that, on the one hand, we would not need to worry about tides delaying our departures or ruling our timings when we are cruising in the Mediterranean but that, on the other hand, light wind passages under motor would be a very real possibility. The oft stated cruising folklaw is that in the Mediterranean there is either too much wind or what there is is directly on the nose. With our escape plan we have traded the benefits of normal employed life for time. If we have got that right then we hope that we will not feel the same time pressure to get to destinations that prompted the cynical assessment of the sailing weather in the Mediterranean. Roll on next year so that we can find out!

For now though it was time to enjoy time with the family and the normal excesses of Christmas. Nicky's father even ensured that we had enough Christmas decorations to set the scene in BV.

Winter Madness?

With the normal succession of Atlantic depressions which sweep in from the west, sailing in the English Channel during winter is regarded by many as bordering upon madness, especially if you have any sort of deadlines to meet. Other than trying to get to Guernsey to be with family for Christmas, for once we had no 'getting back to work' deadline or essential appointments that would restrict us. We had also just picked up our mainsail from the sailmaker so after bending it on we wanted to get back out on the water sailing. BV had been in port too long!

Cherbourg's Visitors' Pontoon

On Tuesday 18 December there was a small weather window between depressions so at 0600 we set off to cross the Channel. The forecast had a strong south easterly wind which would hit us towards the end of our passage so we aimed to tactically position ourselves up-wind and up-tide of Cherbourg's entrance when that was due. We had enough time to cross to Cherbourg before the weather turned grim again.

The strong south easterly did not materialise so we ended up sailing a little further than we needed to but it was a good crossing. Strangely the visitors' section of the marina was empty apart from French sailing school yachts practising mooring and a couple of live-aboard yachts.

There was also a huge brand new Swiss flagged catamaran with a busy team of technicians finishing off commissioning her. The purple 'bling lights' all of the way up the leading edge her mast and matching floodlights for her boarding steps certainly make her stand out at night when in port; not an additon we intend for BV.

Consolations

Shortly after arriving our weather window closed firmly with the wind blowing very strongly directly from the direction of Guernsey for the next 3 days. We bravely decided to stay in Cherbourg and take advantage of the good wine, cheeses and seafood. Excellent consolations to make up for being held up in port.




It was not all R&R though. A recent delivery of sacrificial anodes for the fridge and the engine plus a handful of screws and the pieces of varnished teak ensured we were never short of a job or two. Changing the fridge anodes ended up being more troublesome than expected with some debris from the old anodes blocking the cooling pipes; we had to pull the water cooling circuit apart and flush it all through to get things working properly again.

We also used the time to fit the spice rack/shelf in the forward galley locker and screw the new teak kitchen roll holder into position. All successes from our labours the previous week. However, the one topic not to be mentioned in conversation at the moment is the wooden cabin doors. We have refitted them to check that they fit properly after being trimmed and having the drip rail fitted, it's just that the quick couple of extra coats of varnish to tidy them up have not come up well enough. We now have a New Year's task of stripping the old varnish right back on the inside of the doors and starting the varnishing again. Definitely frustrating but worth doing properly for both cosmetic and practical reasons.

Teak Week

A couple of years ago Nicky announced that she really didn't like the plastic kitchen roll holder in the galley area so we have been on the lookout for a replacement ever since. Sadly it has been a fruitless search. We did find one that might have worked with a bit of modification but it turned out to be too large and prevented the fridge lid from being opened up.

With only three and a half months to go we wanted to find a neat solution so that we can have everything on BV as perfect as possible for when we set off.

The kitchen roll holder therefore fell in with another couple of other jobs that would necessitate a trip to the teak supplier we use based in Poole.

Starting to look good after just a couple of coats of varnish

So, armed with some nice new strips of teak it was time to retreat into my 'man cave' and be creative.

After a few hours with sawing, drilling and sanding noises coming from the garage I proudly emerged with a new teak kitchen roll holder. Making the expanding bar to hold the roll was an interesting game but it will allow the holder to be mounted vertically where the existing plastic one sits.  It just needs a few more coats of varnish to finish it off which will hopefully be done in time to fit it next week when we visit BV.

The other pieces of teak were for making a spice rack and a drip rail for the door to the forward heads.

When showering in the forward heads the way the outward opening door fits in the frame allows a little shower water to get under the door and onto the floor of the forecabin. A minor irritation which necessitates mopping up the water after every shower. When we were last on BV we removed the door for the forward heads (We now have three of the four cabin doors at home) so we were able to cut, shape and fit a drip rail which we hope will divert the shower water back into the heads area.

Drip rail to keep the shower water inside the forward heads

Nicky's varnishing shop

The spice rack will be a shelf at the back of one of the three lower lockers above the cooker. It's the only one of those lockers not to have a small shelf at the back so it was easy to copy the design of the other shelves. Once in place it will allow us to use the dead space at the top of the back of the locker and therefore free up storage space elsewhere.

With lots of pieces of teak needing varnishing Nicky's varnishing area in the kitchen is starting to look a little crowded. The spare bedrooms in the house are also full of cabin doors all in various stages of being finished.

The loading plan

When not applying layers of varnish Nicky has also been busy preparing the loading plan. There are so many little nooks and hidden stowage spaces on BV that we know we will quickly lose track of what we have onboard. We can also envisage knowing that we have a vital spare part onboard to fix something but just not know quickly enough where it is. Nicky has therefore started to number and name every locker and compartment on diagrams of the inside of the yacht. We'll be able to tie these in with the lists we have started to make of everything we have onboard. It will all be ready for when we complete the final loading early next year; we just need to be disciplined and keep it updated when we take things on and off BV.

A Free Puzzle with Every Rustler

I've commented before about how good Rustler Yachts are at ensuring that everything on their yachts can be removed for servicing or replacing. The only tricky bit sometimes is working out what cunning solution their cabinet makers have designed in.

As part of our work in the galley area we decided that we wanted to replace the rather old and stained melamine mugs we have with nice new ones. Unfortunately all of the new mugs we can find are just a couple of millimetres larger in diameter and so don't fit the the holes in the cup and glasses holder in the galley locker. We needed to remove the holder so that some of the holes could be enlarged.

Unfortunately whichever way we turned the cup and glasses holder it would not come out of the locker.  That was even after we had removed some small blocks in the tracks so the locker doors could slide as far out of the way as possible.

An interesting puzzle.

After some careful inspection we worked out that, after removing two screws, the left hand side of the locker frame neatly slid out leaving just enough space to remove the cup and glasses holder.





Once it was slid back into place you wouldn't guess how easily this piece of the frame could be removed; it's fantastic craftsmanship. We'll just have to be very careful when we varnish that we don't inadvertently stick any pieces of the cabinets together.

Ready for sanding and re-varnishing

With the holder removed it was easy to enlarge the holes a couple of millimetres using a flap wheel and then cut some notches for the handles of the mugs so that they will sit properly. With that all done the holder is now ready for sanding and re-varnishing.

Barry Tidies Up

Broken die - cue major headache!

All was not well on day one of our visit to BV this week. The troublesome seized footblock was the main task to tackle. Just a thread to cut in the hole that we'd drilled last week and then we'd be ready to put in a bolt. With the bolt gripping the stuck shaft and, using a jury rigged puller, just a few turns of a nut and our 'headache' would be cured.

Perhaps because I was thinking through how easy it would be to rebuild the footblock when I had drawn out the stuck shaft, or perhaps because I had work-hardened the stainless steel when I had drilled the hole, either way the initial promising progress cutting the thread came to a sickening halt with a small crack as the die snapped. Not good news as dies are made from extremely hard steel so there would be no hope of drilling out the stuck fragment. The headache had become a migraine!

Then came another distraction. The generator, which had been quietly chugging away charging the batteries and heating a tank of water, started kicking out white smoke and then automatically shut down; the first time it has ever done that.

The symptoms were fairly characteristic of a lack of cooling water and so we checked the seawater inlet for blockages. Once we had confirmed that was clear we pulled apart the waterpump and found the source of our problem; the rubber impeller had shed two flaps. Another first for us. In 10 years of yacht ownership we had changed numerous rubber impellers, always replacing what looked like perfectly serviceable ones so I was starting to get sceptical about the requirement for annual changes. This was the first time we had actually had an impeller fail but after this experience I guess we'll keep up the annual change routine.

Back to the footblock problem. Plan B had failed. Plan C was to revert to Plan A and try to remove the whole footblock (but using potentially destructive force) and Plan D was to cut the footblock into little pieces and remove it that way. Either way forward seriously risked damaging the boat. Perhaps time for a second opinion.

Fortunately, I had just made contact with the shipwright who we have asked to remove the cabin windows for us in January so that we can re-bed the glass and resolve the leaking window. That is another task that will involve more brute force and potential destruction than we are comfortable with, so Barry Tidy the shipwright seemed the perfect chap to consult. Maybe he would have some tricks up his sleeve to remove our troublesome footblock.

Much sucking of teeth indicated that there were no magic tricks. This was confirmed when Barry deployed a large hammer and chisel; admittedly a much larger hammer and chisel than we had used. Fifteen minutes later our fears were confirmed when Barry announced that he would definitely damage the gelcoat and probably badly.

Having accepted the potential consequences and given the go ahead we cringed below as the thwacks of his hammer reverberated around the hull. In what seemed an age, the only interruptions were a request for a hacksaw blade and a long thin kitchen knife. And then, suddenly, silence.

"It's your lucky day" Barry called out. The footblock had popped off the adhesive bed of Sikaflex and with only minor damage to the gelcoat.

We checked our watches; despite seeming much longer, it had only taken Barry half an hour to free up the block. Great work which augurs well for the windows project he will tackle in January.

Much relieved we tidied up the base and, with a small amount of additional work, we now have a fully functional starboard footblock for the genoa sheet. Headache cured - hurrah!

Customer Research

My grown-up children came over to stay for the weekend and we spent several hours researching where they want to go in the Mediterranean. Our role in this adventure is clearly to move BV to suitable locations so that they can fly out and enjoy lazing about in their choice of idyllic locations. Seems to be a fair trade-off for not being closer to home next year for day to day life-support.

It did prove to be a very useful exercise though. Along with charts, pilot books and the Internet we also studied month by month historical data for the winds and currents. It highlighted that on our current timeline, after enjoying some time on the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal, we have to accept that the winds will most likely be against us when we get into the Western Mediterranean. Getting anywhere until we are about as far east as Sardinia is likely to involve sailing hard on the wind with lots of extra sea miles tacking backwards and forwards. East of Sardinia life is likely to get a lot easier with winds on the beam and BV sailing more upright; faster sailing pointing directly towards our destinations.

Understanding the extra time it might take, and the potential conditions getting from the Straits of Gibraltar on to the Balearics and then Corsica and Sardinia, is important for developing our plan. I'm starting to wonder if my kids have got it right - just get your folks to do all the hard work and simply fly in to enjoy the top locations!

As well as the more cognitive planning and dreaming, Nicky and I hired an electric plane to tackled the forecabin door. We had removed this last week and brought it home because the wood swells enough in winter for the door to stick slightly in the frame. After some careful work with a mallet and chisel the recesses for the hinges had been completed and all that was left was to plane off around 2 millimetres of the inside edge.

It seemed like small task but my heart was in my mouth as I 'drove' the electric plane along the edge of the door. One slip and the damage to the door would have either been very obvious to the eye, or need some much more experienced carpentry skills than I have to rebuild the inside edge of the door.

I did however pass my 'electric plane driving test' and we now have a forecabin door with the hinges accurately recessed and ready for varnishing. It was definitely not the most important job but the sticky door in winter had been a minor irritation since we have owned BV and we are far better placed to do the job properly here rather than half way around the Mediterranean.

A Room with a View

Under clear blue skies we made our way down to BV and discovered that the cockpit tent had been finished. Along with the clear blue skies there was also a bitingly cold wind that would normally see us staying down below as much as possible; perfect for trying out our new 'room'. With all of the new canvas panels in place, BV looks far from elegant when viewed from the outside. However, from inside the cockpit tent, it feels completely different. We have over 6 ft of headroom and big windows to view the scenery through; it feels cavernous. It was great to be able to eat and work in the cockpit, protected from the elements.


Given our plans for next spring to explore Galicia (which has a reputation for a lot of rain) on our way down to the Mediterranean, we think the new cockpit enclosure will add a lot to our quality of life when in port, especially outside of the warmer summer months.

Before our new-found enthusiasm for working in the cockpit wore off, we tackled a job we'd been putting off for weeks. Resewing the leather steering wheel cover is no fun in a cold and exposed cockpit but, with the new tent in place, we no longer had a good excuse not to tick off that job. The finished wheel looks great and was well worth the time.

As well as that cosmetic work we pulled out all of the life jackets, replaced the auto-inflation components and then pumped them up with the footpump so that we could check they have no leaks. Sadly all of the lights were also close to their expiry dates too so the chandlery did a very good trade in supplying us with new lights as well as the re-arming kits.

We also dug out the flares, checked they were in-date and reminded ourselves how to set them off. The lifejackets had to remain fully inflated for 24hrs making the cabin feel very cluttered with emergency gear. Partly that was also because we'd taken off the forward cabin door and emptied some of the galley lockers so that we could add some layers of varnish.

We particularly want to revarnish the galley area before we set off so that it is protected against the steam and heat from the cooker when we are heeled over. The lockers all seemed very bare without the usual piles of crockery in them but, even though it is not the best varnishing weather, it makes sense to get the layers of varnish on now to make more time for exploring next year.

The cabin door came off because we have found that it sticks slightly but only during the winter months because the wood swells very slightly in the damper winter air. We have re-cut the recesses for the hinges and will take the door home to plane off a couple of millimetres from the edge and then revarnish.

The seized footblock is still proving to be a major headache. There is now a large hole drilled most of the way through the centre of the stuck shaft. However, even with the application of a bolt extractor and beefy spanner it remains stuck fast. Next step is to cut a thread in the hole so that we can make a puller to see if that will allow the shaft to be drawn out. It's very frustrating when we have the replacement part but just can't get the old one apart or off. I'm sure anyone who has worked on restoring an old car or machinery will sympathise; there always seems to be just one stuck bolt that holds up progress!

Aside from labelling up the new switches and fuses linked with the now completed rewiring work, we also tried out a windscoop we have made. We chose to make one with effectively 4 scoops combined so that whichever direction the wind comes from one of them should always be pointing into wind. It is attached to the forward hatch and diverts the air down into the cabin. Working with the electric fans we have already fitted, we hope the combined effect will make a well ventilated and cooler boat to live in when we find ourselves in hotter climates.

So, once again we found ourselves travelling home after a few days working on BV with the car full of bits of wood, mostly cabin doors and the odd floorboard or two which will go into 'Nicky's painting and varnishing shop' for some tidying up and a few extra layers of varnish. We are definitely making progress but there still seems a lot to do before we will be fully ready. Less than four months to go!