It’s a fantastic feeling to finish another season having cruised in great locations with no major problems or issues, bar our accident ashore with the broken glass.
Also to have shared experiences with wonderful family and friends (chronologically) Amy, Morris & Gail, Ian & Patsy, Kevin & Diane, Doug & Sharon, Amy, and Chris.
We have clarified the situation about hospitals in Turkey. When treated for our accident with broken glass we were charged Lira 694 (about NZ$485), and have been told it should have been either free, or considerably less.
Apparently the mistake we made was giving our New Zealand address. If we had given our address as Marmaris Marina for example, we would probably have received free treatment. In any case we don’t want a reason to test this theory!
Envoy in the slings after coming out of the water - the hull was very clean
Envoy on the hardstand in Marmaris, snug under her protective cover
The marina here is only about 70% full. This is partly due to less boats visiting Turkey, and partly due to more marinas having been built. The cost for our 14m boat is Euro 271 (about NZ$475) per month in the water and Euro 488 (about NZ$857) per month on the hard, including the cost of lifting in and out of the water. We spent only six nights in the water and then got lifted out. Envoy has a very good position – on concrete, directly outside the chandlery, and close to toilets, superette and bar. We spent a further six nights aboard Envoy on the hardstand, then returned to Auckland for a New Zealand summer.
Next year we plan to arrive back in late March, and head west via the Greek islands of Simi, Tilos, Niseros, Astipalaia, Ios, Sikinos, Folegandros, Milos and Kithera to Peloponnisos – this is the southern area of Greece, separated from the rest of the mainland by the Gulf of Corinth and the Corinth Canal. From there we will head north into the Ionian to position ourselves to visit Croatia in 2013.
TECHNICAL
On lifting Envoy from the water the hull looked excellent with negligible slime or growth. The difference this year was having two coats of antifouling rollered on rather than sprayed on. The contractor has since told us they have stopped spraying altogether and now only use rollers.
Mechanics assist us with pickling the water maker. This is not difficult, and next time we can do it by ourselves.
With help from a mechanic we inspected the main Lugger engine’s exhaust system, and found there is corrosion and thinning of the metal wall sections of the exhaust elbow and flange. These are the parts closest to the engine’s exhaust manifold. We’ll source replacement parts from Lugger while in New Zealand and replace them in April.
Mechanic Yilmas dismantling Envoy's dry exhaust system for inspection
The forward aircon is not working correctly. Servicemen had a look with no success, so we’ve removed the control unit for checking in New Zealand.
I reported earlier in the year that one of our four diesel tanks was leaking. There is no easy solution to fixing this due to the inaccessibility of the tank, so we’ve decided to leave the tank in ballast (to keep Envoy’s trim) using water in pet bottles. This leaves Envoy with a capacity of 2,900 litres in the other three tanks, and at around 8 litres per hour of usage, that’s plenty.
FINAL LOG FOR 2011: 196 days aboard since leaving Marmaris, 2,218NM cruised for 453 engine hours (total engine hours now 5,804).
In the next posting I’ll report on maintenance and cruising costs for this season.
