All is well and we are on the western side of mainland Greece anchored off Preveza. This posting brings us up to 29 August, and is big on technical stuff, so might be a very quick read for the fairer sex.
I was sitting in a taverna at Lefkas Marina having a beer with Doug on the last day of his visit, when to my huge surprise an old friend and Coastguard colleague, Graham Reiher, wandered up and said “gooday” in the New Zealand style. Neither of us knew that the other was in Lefkas, so this was quite amazing.
Graham was crewing aboard Roaring Meg, a Beneteau 44, with the owners Noel and Sharon, restaurateurs from Christchurch.
A couple of years ago Noel bought Roaring Meg in the US and Graham helped him sail her across the Atlantic to the Med. We had a great dinner out with Graham, Noel and Sharon, who were nearing the end of their cruise and finalising arrangements to leave Roaring Meg on a mooring in Ormos Vlikho for the winter, looked after by the Vlikho Yacht Club.
Sharon, Laurie, Graham, Noel and Di enjoy dinner at the Vlikho Yacht Club
Noel and Sharon’s yacht, Roaring Meg, in the Levkas Canal
.JPG)
Graham had a few spare days, so joined us aboard Envoy for a few days cruising around Lefkas and adjacent islands.
+eating+fish!.JPG)
+eating+fish!+(2).JPG)
Laurie and Graham on Envoy’s boat deck fixing a halyard lock
.JPG)
TECHNICAL: Graham is not only a successful businessman and a very experienced mariner, but an engineer and diesel mechanic. Being also a very active person he was eager to get his hands dirty in Envoy’s engine room.
We had a good look at our leaking starboard forward diesel tank, currently ballasted with bottled water. The leak developed a couple of years ago, but we’ve not fixed it partly due to the magnitude of the task (it will involve cutting away some of our salon’s teak decking to gain access), and partly as we don’t need the fuel capacity for coastal cruising. Graham has shown us a logical path forward with this problem, and we’ll tackle it back in Lefkas Marina before next year’s cruise.
Graham located our Lugger tachometer sender unit - mounted on top of our Borg Warner gearbox. He managed to get the tachometer working for a while, but its drive pin was badly worn and needed replacement. A few days later, back at Levkas Marina we were able to buy and fit a new sender unit, and it’s been working fine since.
Also of great interest was Graham showing me how to start our Lugger engine if the starter solenoid sticks, as sometimes can happen on any engine, using a screwdriver to short out the solenoid terminals. I tried this myself and will be happy to do so again if it’s ever necessary.
Graham uses a screwdriver like a stethoscope for listening to engines and components of engines. He listened to our engine etc and pronounced it extremely healthy except for noisy bearings on our alternator. This is the one which was reconditioned last year in Skiathos, but we need to get it serviced again over the winter. Meanwhile we do carry a spare if it’s needed.
The colour of exhaust smoke emitted from diesel engines is one way of diagnosing any technical issues with engines. We ran Envoy at a whole range of different rpm and temperatures, and there was no exhaust smoke discernable under any condition, which Graham advised as being an excellent sign. However the Lugger’s running temperature is an issue – read on if you’re interested.
When we bought Envoy in 2006 she ran hot at high rpm, i.e. 1,750rpm was good at 175dF, 2,000rpm good at 185dF, but running at wide open throttle (WOT) at 2,400rpm reached 205dF and still climbing. This was not a concern to the previous owner or to us because Envoy is normally run from 1450 to 1650rpm at which range the temperature is always fine.
However this year I’ve noticed that the temperatures have crept up from above, so that 1,700 rpm reads 190dF, at 1,800rpm it climbs quickly to about 200dF, and at 2,000 rpm reaches 215dF initiating the over-temperature alarm set at 210dF.
Graham said that running a diesel engine up to about 200dF is no problem.
I’ve since been in touch with my usual technical contact at Lugger, known as “Lugger Bob”, and he has told us the Lugger can be run continuously up to 215d, so there is absolutely no problem at our usual cruising rpm, or even a bit more. However a diesel engine should be able to run at (WOT), so we’ll check this further with a diesel mechanic when we go into Levkas marina for the winter. Current theory is an airlock in the Lugger cooling system, or a dirty and partially blocked interior of the gearbox heat exchanger, which is also connected to the Lugger's cooling system.
Meanwhile we’ll just enjoy cruising.
LOG. Up to 29 August had spent 152 days aboard, and cruised 1,420 miles for 270 engine hours.
I was sitting in a taverna at Lefkas Marina having a beer with Doug on the last day of his visit, when to my huge surprise an old friend and Coastguard colleague, Graham Reiher, wandered up and said “gooday” in the New Zealand style. Neither of us knew that the other was in Lefkas, so this was quite amazing.
Graham was crewing aboard Roaring Meg, a Beneteau 44, with the owners Noel and Sharon, restaurateurs from Christchurch.
A couple of years ago Noel bought Roaring Meg in the US and Graham helped him sail her across the Atlantic to the Med. We had a great dinner out with Graham, Noel and Sharon, who were nearing the end of their cruise and finalising arrangements to leave Roaring Meg on a mooring in Ormos Vlikho for the winter, looked after by the Vlikho Yacht Club.
Sharon, Laurie, Graham, Noel and Di enjoy dinner at the Vlikho Yacht Club
Noel and Sharon’s yacht, Roaring Meg, in the Levkas Canal
.JPG)
Graham had a few spare days, so joined us aboard Envoy for a few days cruising around Lefkas and adjacent islands.
On Graham’s last night we had a great dinner out in Lefkas town, and later partook in one of the latest crazes over here – putting your feet in a tank full of tiny, but very hungry live fish which eat the dead skin off your feet.
+eating+fish!.JPG)
See the fish eating Diane's feet
+eating+fish!+(2).JPG)
Laurie and Graham on Envoy’s boat deck fixing a halyard lock
.JPG)
TECHNICAL: Graham is not only a successful businessman and a very experienced mariner, but an engineer and diesel mechanic. Being also a very active person he was eager to get his hands dirty in Envoy’s engine room.
We had a good look at our leaking starboard forward diesel tank, currently ballasted with bottled water. The leak developed a couple of years ago, but we’ve not fixed it partly due to the magnitude of the task (it will involve cutting away some of our salon’s teak decking to gain access), and partly as we don’t need the fuel capacity for coastal cruising. Graham has shown us a logical path forward with this problem, and we’ll tackle it back in Lefkas Marina before next year’s cruise.
Graham located our Lugger tachometer sender unit - mounted on top of our Borg Warner gearbox. He managed to get the tachometer working for a while, but its drive pin was badly worn and needed replacement. A few days later, back at Levkas Marina we were able to buy and fit a new sender unit, and it’s been working fine since.
Also of great interest was Graham showing me how to start our Lugger engine if the starter solenoid sticks, as sometimes can happen on any engine, using a screwdriver to short out the solenoid terminals. I tried this myself and will be happy to do so again if it’s ever necessary.
Graham uses a screwdriver like a stethoscope for listening to engines and components of engines. He listened to our engine etc and pronounced it extremely healthy except for noisy bearings on our alternator. This is the one which was reconditioned last year in Skiathos, but we need to get it serviced again over the winter. Meanwhile we do carry a spare if it’s needed.
The colour of exhaust smoke emitted from diesel engines is one way of diagnosing any technical issues with engines. We ran Envoy at a whole range of different rpm and temperatures, and there was no exhaust smoke discernable under any condition, which Graham advised as being an excellent sign. However the Lugger’s running temperature is an issue – read on if you’re interested.
When we bought Envoy in 2006 she ran hot at high rpm, i.e. 1,750rpm was good at 175dF, 2,000rpm good at 185dF, but running at wide open throttle (WOT) at 2,400rpm reached 205dF and still climbing. This was not a concern to the previous owner or to us because Envoy is normally run from 1450 to 1650rpm at which range the temperature is always fine.
However this year I’ve noticed that the temperatures have crept up from above, so that 1,700 rpm reads 190dF, at 1,800rpm it climbs quickly to about 200dF, and at 2,000 rpm reaches 215dF initiating the over-temperature alarm set at 210dF.
Graham said that running a diesel engine up to about 200dF is no problem.
I’ve since been in touch with my usual technical contact at Lugger, known as “Lugger Bob”, and he has told us the Lugger can be run continuously up to 215d, so there is absolutely no problem at our usual cruising rpm, or even a bit more. However a diesel engine should be able to run at (WOT), so we’ll check this further with a diesel mechanic when we go into Levkas marina for the winter. Current theory is an airlock in the Lugger cooling system, or a dirty and partially blocked interior of the gearbox heat exchanger, which is also connected to the Lugger's cooling system.
Meanwhile we’ll just enjoy cruising.
LOG. Up to 29 August had spent 152 days aboard, and cruised 1,420 miles for 270 engine hours.
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