Running down to St Peter Port

Sailing towards Roustel westwards.

Joy to the World on the way to Guernsey

Engine tips

Joy and I had a day out in Chichester Premier Marina 'Boat Show' today. The attraction was free flare disposal for Premier berth-holders!

There was a good talk from a chap called Jonathan Parker on 'Avoiding breakdowns at sea'. He spent 10 years working for SeaStart and said that 90% of the breakdowns he attended could have been avoided with simple preventative maintenance. He said that a yacht engine should not be treated like that of a modern car, where the bonnet is only lifted between services to top up the washer fluid, but like a classic car which is loved and tended.

We were reminded of the need for daily checks of oil, water, fan belt, & pre-filter, and oil change annually or every 100 hours. There were some good tips which are worth sharing:

- keep floor of engine bay clean so any new drips of oil or coolant are immediately obvious

- if at annual service the pre-filter is pristine you don't need to change the main fuel filter

- the bolts securing the impeller cover of the water pump can be replaced with some studs which make locating the gasket and cover easier (useful if you're drifting windlessly onto a lee shore!). Wing nuts then go onto the studs, easier and quicker to fit than bolts.

- diesel can stay in a yacht fuel tank for a long time as so little is used. Keep tank as full as possible even in summer. Use a diesel bug inhibitor, but this is not needed if you exclusively use Premier Marinas diesel as it is already added

- Use engine a lot because most of the fuel drawn from the tank is returned to it having gone through the filters so you're keeping the fuel clean (not sure us sailors quite agree with that!)

- Don't run engine at full throttle but at about 80%

- Spray engine including electrics with a corrosion inhibitor e.g. Corrosion Block

- Check round area of fan belt for black dust indicating wear.

Spring 2019

March 2019 – Spring at last! After a winter of fairly frequent short fettling trips down to Gosport from Sheffield we can look forward to the sailing season. Jobs have included:

·         Taking home the saloon sole panels, sanding back and re-coating with Rustin’s 2-part lacquer

·         Sanding back teak around the galley, companion way, wash-boards; again recoating with Rustin’s

·         Cutting out some new carpet pieces. The colour doesn’t quite match the existing, but heh, they’re better than the old

·         Replacing the cockpit seat teak with new panels from Howells of Poole. Quite a tricky job cutting out the templates, for which we used thick lining paper. Then an absolutely beastly job getting up the old stuff, ie thin teak on a ply base. Another time I’d let the professionals do it.

·         Genoa serviced at Kemps

·         Mainsail had some uv damage parallel to leach, apparently where sunlight penetrates the narrow opening in the mast. Repaired with a new panel by David Flew

·         Lift-out on Sealift at Haslar.  CopperCoat continues to look good, anodes good for another season

Our first trip will be along to Sovereign Harbour at Eastbourne, to leave the boat there for Ben & family to use the following weekend. We plan to join the MOA rally to Cherbourg and St Peter Port in July. Otherwise it’ll be Solent sailing this year, probably

Shalfleet (Newtown River, IoW) on a balmy September evening

Lest we should be the slightest bit boastful about our UK circumnavigation, her's a pic of Suhaili in Gosport marina